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Ex-bureaucrat-turned-successful Moscow businessman Max Borodin confronts the trials and tribulations of post-Soviet Russia as he copes with a nagging wife, exhausting mistress, troublesome brother, and the Russian mafia
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In this satirical romp through post - Soviet Russia, Womack describes a world of petty bureaucrats, shameless opportunities, and full-blown mafiosi.
From Kirkus Reviews:
The author of the Elvis-as-Messiah Elvissey (1993) and various dystopias of a near-future Manhattan (Random Acts of Senseless Violence, 1994, etc.) stays in the present in his latest--a portrait of Russia devouring itself in a frenzy of primitive capitalism. Imagine 1984 as told by Alex of A Clockwork Orange. Our unheroic narrator, Max Borodin, is a likable, rather elegant counterfeiter: not of rubles or dollars, but of history. For instance, his corporation produces irrefutable evidence that the KGB's attempts to brainwash Oswald were foiled by the CIA--and the precise opposite, depending on which American scholar is in the market. Max has a feisty young mistress who's married to his sometime business partner, and an entrepreneurial-minded wife who nags him but retains enough energy to negotiate the corruptions and decay of Moscow, where nothing can be accomplished without a bribe and everything's for sale. Max, a clever dog in this dog-eat-dog society, is a happy man, so much so that he pragmatically wants to put the future as envisioned by reformists behind; it simply won't work, he thinks. But trouble's on the horizon. There's Max's feckless brother, who tries to involve him in a theme park called Sovietland that will invoke nostalgia for the gulag and in which American tourists will be spirited away for interrogation by park employees posing as secret police. There's a powerful mafia trying to muscle in on Max's sweet operation. Finally, there's a sentimental, paranoid, right-wing politician who seems modeled on Vladimir Zhirinovsky; he has the kind of quirky vision that might get clever fellows such as Max killed. Womack succeeds mightily with his gleeful, sly black humor and with inspired atmospherics, such as an aside on poshlaia, the Russian variety of kitsch. If you're heading to Moscow, take this instead of Fodor's. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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- PublisherGrove Press
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 080213503X
- ISBN 13 9780802135032
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages320
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Let's Put the Future Behind Us (Jack Womack) by Womack, Jack [Paperback ]
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Jack Womack is known for writing unflinching, imaginative, utterly convincing novels set in the not-so-distant future. Compared to both William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut, and deemed "wonderfully inventive" by the New York Times, Womack's past work has won him awards and garnered excellent reviews. Now, with the appropriately titled Let's Put the Future Behind Us, Womack turns his attention to our contemporary world, with characteristically hilarious, and frightening, results. Former bureaucrat Max Borodin is one of Moscow's most successful businessmen. He strolls through the wreckage of today's Russia with ease--convincing people to do his bidding, providing its citizens (both friends and clients) with the luxury goods they covet, and generally leading a prosperous and satisfying existence. Life in what Max calls "the land of opportunity" isn't perfect, however: His wife, Tanya, nags him; his mistress, Sonya, exhausts him; his brother, Evgeny, constantly needs to be extricated from shady business ventures. And there are always the country's reasonable and unreasonable mafias, who are awaiting their chance to expropriate the profits of Max's Universal Manufacturing Company, which produced documents, historical and otherwise, to suit every purpose. "We can prove John Kennedy shot himself," Max notes, "as long as we are paid in advance." Then Sonya's husband, Dmitry, offers Max a business opportunity that is too good to pass up. Long used to reshaping history to suit the needs of his customers, or himself, Max discovers that the thinner you stretch the truth, the more dangerous it is to walk upon. A biting book filled with irony and black humor, Let's Put the Future Behind Us provides a seductive look at post-Soviet Russia and a cold-eyed examination of the darker side of the human soul. In this satirical romp through post - Soviet Russia, Womack describes a world of petty bureaucrats, shameless opportunities, and full-blown mafiosi. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780802135032
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Let's Put the Future behind Us (Paperback)
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(1997)
ISBN 10: 080213503X
ISBN 13: 9780802135032
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Jack Womack is known for writing unflinching, imaginative, utterly convincing novels set in the not-so-distant future. Compared to both William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut, and deemed "wonderfully inventive" by the New York Times, Womack's past work has won him awards and garnered excellent reviews. Now, with the appropriately titled Let's Put the Future Behind Us, Womack turns his attention to our contemporary world, with characteristically hilarious, and frightening, results. Former bureaucrat Max Borodin is one of Moscow's most successful businessmen. He strolls through the wreckage of today's Russia with ease--convincing people to do his bidding, providing its citizens (both friends and clients) with the luxury goods they covet, and generally leading a prosperous and satisfying existence. Life in what Max calls "the land of opportunity" isn't perfect, however: His wife, Tanya, nags him; his mistress, Sonya, exhausts him; his brother, Evgeny, constantly needs to be extricated from shady business ventures. And there are always the country's reasonable and unreasonable mafias, who are awaiting their chance to expropriate the profits of Max's Universal Manufacturing Company, which produced documents, historical and otherwise, to suit every purpose. "We can prove John Kennedy shot himself," Max notes, "as long as we are paid in advance." Then Sonya's husband, Dmitry, offers Max a business opportunity that is too good to pass up. Long used to reshaping history to suit the needs of his customers, or himself, Max discovers that the thinner you stretch the truth, the more dangerous it is to walk upon. A biting book filled with irony and black humor, Let's Put the Future Behind Us provides a seductive look at post-Soviet Russia and a cold-eyed examination of the darker side of the human soul. In this satirical romp through post - Soviet Russia, Womack describes a world of petty bureaucrats, shameless opportunities, and full-blown mafiosi. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780802135032
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Let's Put the Future behind Us (Paperback)
Published by
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, New York
(1997)
ISBN 10: 080213503X
ISBN 13: 9780802135032
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Paperback
Quantity: 1
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Rating
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Jack Womack is known for writing unflinching, imaginative, utterly convincing novels set in the not-so-distant future. Compared to both William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut, and deemed "wonderfully inventive" by the New York Times, Womack's past work has won him awards and garnered excellent reviews. Now, with the appropriately titled Let's Put the Future Behind Us, Womack turns his attention to our contemporary world, with characteristically hilarious, and frightening, results. Former bureaucrat Max Borodin is one of Moscow's most successful businessmen. He strolls through the wreckage of today's Russia with ease--convincing people to do his bidding, providing its citizens (both friends and clients) with the luxury goods they covet, and generally leading a prosperous and satisfying existence. Life in what Max calls "the land of opportunity" isn't perfect, however: His wife, Tanya, nags him; his mistress, Sonya, exhausts him; his brother, Evgeny, constantly needs to be extricated from shady business ventures. And there are always the country's reasonable and unreasonable mafias, who are awaiting their chance to expropriate the profits of Max's Universal Manufacturing Company, which produced documents, historical and otherwise, to suit every purpose. "We can prove John Kennedy shot himself," Max notes, "as long as we are paid in advance." Then Sonya's husband, Dmitry, offers Max a business opportunity that is too good to pass up. Long used to reshaping history to suit the needs of his customers, or himself, Max discovers that the thinner you stretch the truth, the more dangerous it is to walk upon. A biting book filled with irony and black humor, Let's Put the Future Behind Us provides a seductive look at post-Soviet Russia and a cold-eyed examination of the darker side of the human soul. In this satirical romp through post - Soviet Russia, Womack describes a world of petty bureaucrats, shameless opportunities, and full-blown mafiosi. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780802135032
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