Reviews

This was an entertaining collection of short stories filled with equal parts tenderness, heartbreak and dry humour. It all centers in and around a cast of colourful characters living in a single crumbling apartment building in Soviet-era Ukraine. The collection felt reminiscent of collections like Snow In May by Kseniya Melnik and Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno. However, I did prefer the other two to this one. Marra's collection had more complexity, nuance and depth in its characters and their circumstances, while this read a little more light-hearted and forgettable. Melnik's collection, on the other hand, was more sweeping in its scope as it covers nearly a century under Soviet rule, while this is more insular and domestic in it's setting and storytelling. There were also certain themes that repeated themselves in different stories making it a tad predictable. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this collection and found it entertaining whilst reading. The writing is simple, playful and laced with dark humour. I found Bone Music, Letter of Apology, Lucky Toss and Roach Brooch, particularly memorable in its outlandishness and in the authenticity of its characters. It's one I'd recommend on the whole, but probably not one to rush and buy.

kchin's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

etakloknok's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

khelemer's review

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5.0

“The statue of Grandfather Lenin, just like the one in Moscow, 900 kilometers away, squinted into the smoggy distance…”

The opening words of Maria Reva’s GOOD CITIZENS NEED NOT FEAR immediately signal what it’s about through the image of a selfsame figure, serving both as a reminder of the perceived identical landscapes across the Soviet years and as a “model" citizen in the truest sense of the term. The characters in this novel (despite its pretense as a book of short stories, the intricately interconnected narratives really do deserve the moniker) face the manifold tropes associated with Soviet life and literature, from the enterprise of creating and selling illegal bone records to a fresh take on the trope of the Soviet apartment building mishap. The perceived flattening of life before the fall is tested through vibrant characters asserting themselves amidst a bleak backdrop, while after the fall, the stories reveal how pulling the rug out from under such a world causes the whole thing to collapse. If the first part of the book shows citizens manipulating a lifeless landscape, the latter half of the book illustrates a grotesque afterlife, an undead city full of the ghosts of the past in the forms of the teeth of a saint, insect larvae, and graves swallowing people whole.

Reva’s masterful work is a delightful read from start to finish, appealing both to readers familiar with her various topics from censorship to Chernobyl tourism in (post-)Soviet reality as well as to anyone who enjoys tightly bound narratives teeming with humor and wit, as well as the air of desperation as characters inquire if “as soon as you want something, you lack it; and if you do get it, it can easily be taken away."

pearlmusings's review

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

starseek3re's review

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dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

In Good Citizens Need Not Fear, the residents of a building in a town in Ukraine find unique ways to weather the end of the USSR.

I quite liked this book. I found the stories absurd but believable (for the most part) and truly enjoyed seeing the neighbour’s stories weave into one another. I especially enjoyed following Zaya’s story.

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