Chekago - Softcover

Lowndes, Natalya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340489286 ISBN 13: 9780340489284

Publisher: Sceptre, 1989

Synopsis

Beautiful American Bobby Weston's proposal of marriage to Sasha Biryusov, a heavy-drinking garbageman at the bottom of Moscow's social scale, transforms not only Sasha's life, but also the lives of his fellow tenants in his communal flat

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Although the author has adopted a pseudonym to shield friends in the U.S.S.R., there is nothing scandalous or shocking about this domestic comedy set in contemporary Moscow. The irresistibly handsome, slow-on-the-uptake protagonist, Sasha Biryusov, shares a communal flat with five others, who are supposed to represent a cross-section of Muscovite society: there's Olga Melentyeva, a former aristocrat and intellectual, the Kuznetsovshe's a Jewish university teacherand their young daughter, and Lizaveta Kiprenskaya, a shrewish old-age pensioner. Olga introduces Sasha to a cultivated crowd, including a visiting American postgraduate student, Bobby Weston. Weston is eager to bed the dustman, but her weird sexual tastes send him running. Soon after she leaves, the flat comes under intense scrutiny by the KGB. Two plain-clothes policeman, known as Rocky and Bogat, take up residence in the flat, where they steal from their new flatmates and force them to listen to poetry recitations. To top it off, the widow with whom Sasha has been corresponding decides to move in as well. Sasha, who has muddled his flatmates into this mess, muddles them out of their predicament. Lowndes deftly depicts the large cast of characters who wander in and out of this lighthearted romp through the lives of these Muscovites. A bestseller in England, this is an entertaining read.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The farcical aspect of modern Soviet life, so puzzling to foreigners and so trying to inhabitants, is given full rein in this novel set in contemporary Moscow. Garbageman Sasha relies heavily on drink; Olga, resident intellectual in the communal apartment, is proper and restrained; old Lizavetta uses her age as a barrier; and Marina clings to the shreds of her aristocratic lineage. When Valentina arrives from the country to be Sasha's pen pal-cum-bride just as American Bobby leaves, things go from confused to sinister. Lowndes fills her narrative with memorable characters and incidents that include a hilarious and explicit sex scene which, with one brilliant stroke, brings all the problems of U.S.-Soviet differences to a very personal level. A riotous, racy, surreal tale full of biting wit, from an author to watch. Ann Donovan, Central Washington Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0340489286
• ISBN 13: 9780340489284
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384