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tat_andrv's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
barareads's review against another edition
4.0
i guess there’s quite a lot of people (in former ussr countries ofc) who know exactly what he’s talking about and for them it’s the easiest read ever, maybe even until the very last chapters, but if you have difficulty understanding him, you’re likely a much happier person
i’m not a happy person. even though i didn’t live in that time, i think the feeling of the 90s was passed on to me, it’s in my dna i’m pretty sure.
i enjoyed the first part, especially the sections that had to do with the hilarious ads the mc was coming up with, it’s literally funny as sh but also made me really bitter.
i’m finally certain that i’m not a fan of pelevin’s descriptions of character going nuts and having all those dream sequences and acid trips etc, he loves them, but they bore me to death. at the same time i fully understand how effective this stylistic choice is and appreciate it. but i’ll probably take a break from his prose for some time.
i’m not a happy person. even though i didn’t live in that time, i think the feeling of the 90s was passed on to me, it’s in my dna i’m pretty sure.
i enjoyed the first part, especially the sections that had to do with the hilarious ads the mc was coming up with, it’s literally funny as sh but also made me really bitter.
i’m finally certain that i’m not a fan of pelevin’s descriptions of character going nuts and having all those dream sequences and acid trips etc, he loves them, but they bore me to death. at the same time i fully understand how effective this stylistic choice is and appreciate it. but i’ll probably take a break from his prose for some time.
andgineer's review against another edition
2.0
Так получилось, что я читал это после более поздних романов Пелевина.
Совсем не понравилось.
Очень примитивно и не художественно мерзко.
Можно было бы списать, что в то время он открыл новый жанр.
Но еще более ранний Чапаев и Пустота мне нравится.
Как и более поздние, довольно однообразно прорабатывающие тему буддизма, но более читабельные и с интересными мыслями.
Совсем не понравилось.
Очень примитивно и не художественно мерзко.
Можно было бы списать, что в то время он открыл новый жанр.
Но еще более ранний Чапаев и Пустота мне нравится.
Как и более поздние, довольно однообразно прорабатывающие тему буддизма, но более читабельные и с интересными мыслями.
admorobo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sleepandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
The way the plot progressed in this novel was not what I was used to; this was a large reason in why I liked it. I don't mind being a little confused as to WHERE the story is going because it is still progressing, just not in the typical spoon fed intro-problem-solution-happy ending story. Pelevin's exploration of the anal-oral-displaced patterns from the perspective of Tatarsky's own exploration in contrast to Tatarsky's experience in the advertising industry was wonderfully written. I will definitely reread this book and plan to read more novels by this author.
blackoxford's review against another edition
5.0
The Only Drug You’ll Ever Need
What better therapy could there be for the protagonist, Tatarsky, to cope with the final trauma of the dissolution of the Soviet Union than the invention of advertising slogans? On the other hand, magic mushrooms might achieve the same end, namely, the removal of the “relict [sic] of the Soviet era, the slave mentality he still hadn’t completely squeezed out of himself.” This was necessary in order to play the Game With No Name that has taken over Russia.
The game, of course, is the game of language. As in the biblical legend of the ancient tower, language is changing in incomprehensible ways. Those who are in the vanguard of the changes are the ones most confused. They create the new words, which create commercial value. How do they do that? Capitalism, just like Communism, is built on words; just different words. The words necessary in post-Soviet Russia have to touch the Slav mind. Explosive words. Sexy words. Noble words of the Motherland and her deep culture of words. Words that fit with despair but promise greatness and plentitude.
And it works. Fizzy drinks, cigarettes, washing powder are the things words attach to. These things become the words, and vice versa. This is the magic by which transformation out of the Soviet mentality comes about. The magic affected absolutely everything: “... people weren’t sniffing cocaine, they were sniffing money, and the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill required by the unwritten order of ritual was actually more important than the powder itself.” Symbols, words, that is to say, language was being consumed everywhere as if it had real substance. No wonder the popular resurgence in God who also became real through the same process!
There is a curious subtlety in this process: “First you try to understand what people will like, and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” Lie? Truth? Both come in the same package. Haven’t you noticed? Same brand. Same factory. Same ingredients. All sourced from the same raw material: that infinitely deep well of language. It never seems to go dry. The more that’s extracted, the deeper it gets. And it’s free.
Language is a drug. No, THE drug. Soviet language cut the drug with all sorts of repetitive, inert crap. The same words over and over. Barely enough to get a buzz on. Vodka was a welcome refuge. Capitalist language is the real thing, crack cocaine with a Fentanyl chaser. You can only appreciate it if you’ve been weaned on the fifth-grade junk of socialism. Capitalism gives you the words to fly, to soar... to eat a really satisfying meal. Sure it takes some getting used to the stuff but once you’re on it, you hardly notice the hangover. Just up the dose and the ride continues. The apparatchiks didn’t want anyone to know about the well. Now they pump out as much of it as they can.
Having consumed the abundant new words of Capitalism, we digest them and they become part of us, indistinguishable from us. They are us. We then excrete the waste, upon which the magic mushrooms grow. “As far as Tatarsky was able to judge from the murky depths of his own Soviet mentality, the project was an absolutely textbook example of the American entrepreneurial approach.” The system is self-sustaining - we eat each other’s shit. How’s that for a fecund metaphor?
What better therapy could there be for the protagonist, Tatarsky, to cope with the final trauma of the dissolution of the Soviet Union than the invention of advertising slogans? On the other hand, magic mushrooms might achieve the same end, namely, the removal of the “relict [sic] of the Soviet era, the slave mentality he still hadn’t completely squeezed out of himself.” This was necessary in order to play the Game With No Name that has taken over Russia.
The game, of course, is the game of language. As in the biblical legend of the ancient tower, language is changing in incomprehensible ways. Those who are in the vanguard of the changes are the ones most confused. They create the new words, which create commercial value. How do they do that? Capitalism, just like Communism, is built on words; just different words. The words necessary in post-Soviet Russia have to touch the Slav mind. Explosive words. Sexy words. Noble words of the Motherland and her deep culture of words. Words that fit with despair but promise greatness and plentitude.
And it works. Fizzy drinks, cigarettes, washing powder are the things words attach to. These things become the words, and vice versa. This is the magic by which transformation out of the Soviet mentality comes about. The magic affected absolutely everything: “... people weren’t sniffing cocaine, they were sniffing money, and the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill required by the unwritten order of ritual was actually more important than the powder itself.” Symbols, words, that is to say, language was being consumed everywhere as if it had real substance. No wonder the popular resurgence in God who also became real through the same process!
There is a curious subtlety in this process: “First you try to understand what people will like, and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” Lie? Truth? Both come in the same package. Haven’t you noticed? Same brand. Same factory. Same ingredients. All sourced from the same raw material: that infinitely deep well of language. It never seems to go dry. The more that’s extracted, the deeper it gets. And it’s free.
Language is a drug. No, THE drug. Soviet language cut the drug with all sorts of repetitive, inert crap. The same words over and over. Barely enough to get a buzz on. Vodka was a welcome refuge. Capitalist language is the real thing, crack cocaine with a Fentanyl chaser. You can only appreciate it if you’ve been weaned on the fifth-grade junk of socialism. Capitalism gives you the words to fly, to soar... to eat a really satisfying meal. Sure it takes some getting used to the stuff but once you’re on it, you hardly notice the hangover. Just up the dose and the ride continues. The apparatchiks didn’t want anyone to know about the well. Now they pump out as much of it as they can.
Having consumed the abundant new words of Capitalism, we digest them and they become part of us, indistinguishable from us. They are us. We then excrete the waste, upon which the magic mushrooms grow. “As far as Tatarsky was able to judge from the murky depths of his own Soviet mentality, the project was an absolutely textbook example of the American entrepreneurial approach.” The system is self-sustaining - we eat each other’s shit. How’s that for a fecund metaphor?
andrea_c's review against another edition
4.0
Very cerebral and weird. Felt disjointed after finishing. Considering I read it between a Philippa Gregory and Marian Keyes novel this is probably the least intense reaction I could have.
evadis's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of interesting ideas, cool hallucinations and fun jokes, but for me this book was too much about these ideas, hallucinations and jokes and not enough about people (I guess I like that better).
binstonbirchill's review against another edition
2.0
Advertising, pop culture, hallucinogenic drugs, and satire about the modern world. If that sounds good to you then you might enjoy the book. However, if the first three are rather unappealing and you feel satire is very difficult to do well then you may feel like I do about this book. I found a few of the ads pretty funny but honestly there’s not a lot that appealed to me about the book. I felt like the ideas where there and I agree with some of the things pointed about as absurd about society but something about the book just failed to connect. I read it in English so that might not have helped.