Faber & Faber The Zoo

Das Buch wurde mit Sachkenntnissen und viel Humor verfasst... sehr englisch...

This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for a while and I couldn't remember why I had bought it. I've picked it up a few times but put it straight back down as it didn't appeal. Decided this was going to be now or never!The story is narrated by Yuri who is a Russian boy living in the 1950s - he has been badly injured and is now disabled, both physically and mentally. He lives with his father in a zoo and they are struggling to survive under the regime. One day they are swept out to "treat" a strange old man and the story starts.Yuri's mental difficulties give him similar challenges to that of an autistic child. It's a very clever move by the author to create a neurological condition which is hard to define as it gives a huge amount of flexibility with Yuri's actions and thought processes.The book is 230 pages long and has 19 chapters. Just right for a snappy story combining comedy and pathos.This book is curious and fascinating. Of course, the story is based around Stalin's last days but we see the decline through the eyes of a child with a skewed view of the world.Whilst there is no record of an elephant expert visiting Stalin, it is true that he had body doubles which gives an aura of truth to this seemingly unlikely story.The novel is an intensely dark comedy about Stalin which has may parallels to the recent film "The Death of Stalin". It is obviously about the same topic and handles the subject in a similarly irreverent way, showing those around Stalin to be self serving idiots. Here, Yuri is used as an observer, adding a facet to the story which would not be achieved with a third person narrative (his simpleton appearance allows him to get close to Stalin then his advanced intelligence allows him to comment).I found this easy to read and the book flowed well. The first half is very engaging although it dipped away a bit about half way through and never completely recovered. 1950s Russia is not a happy place but Yuri knows nothing else so accepts whatever happens to him. The true sadness, which is well communicated between the lines, is the things he can't see and doesn't know about.

A different fictional perspective on the dark Soviet dictator Stalin. If I could criticise it would be that Stalin's fate in the book is a little stretching of credibility (I won't spoil the story by being more specific), because overall an interesting counter-factual littered with dark humour that I really enjoyed.