Gods of the Steppe, Andrei Gelasimov
Gods of the Steppe, Andrei Gelasimov
List: $14.99 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.49

Gods of the Steppe

Author: Andrei Gelasimov, Marian Schwartz

Narrator: Nick Podehl

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2013


Synopsis

It is the summer of 1945. Germany has been defeated, Hitler has disappeared, and tensions are mounting ever higher along the Russian-Chinese border…where the threat of Japanese invasion haunts.For Petka, no life could be more thrilling and glorious than marching into battle alongside the Red Army. But he is only twelve, the bastard child of a fractured family, trapped in a village too tiny for his bursting spirit. So he must make his own adventure wherever he can find it. And if that means passing off a wolf cub as a puppy under the nose of his ferocious grandma, stealing bootleg alcohol for the bivouacked troops he worships, smuggling himself in a barrel across the border and into the line of fire, fighting for his life when his own aimless peers turn inexplicably vicious, or befriending an enigmatic Japanese POW who transcends Petka’s provincial world, then so be it.By turns comical, harrowing, poignant, and exhilarating, Petka reveals the soul of a boy who knows only to take from life all that he can—not merely what his circumstances allow. Nominated for the 2014 Rossica Translation Prize.

About Andrei Gelasimov

Andrei Gelasimov was born in Irkutsk, one of the largest cities in Siberia, in 1965. He went on to study foreign languages at the Yakutsk State University, as well as directing at the Moscow Theater Institute. In 2001 he came to popular literary acclaim in Russia when his story “A Tender Age,” which he originally published on the Internet, was included in an issue of the journal Oktyabr, and his novella and collection of short stories, Fox Mulder Looks Like a Pig,was released. Gods of the Steppe is his third novel to be published in English, following Thirst, for which Booklist praised “Gelasimov’s spare prose and pointed dialogue,” and The Lying Year, which was developed into a motion picture. Gelasimov’s work has garnered the Apollon-Grigorev prize and a Belkin prize nomination. Gods of the Steppe won the 2009 National Bestseller award in Russia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Georgi on June 03, 2015

Зачетох се в „Степни богове“ на Андрей Геласимов и с учудване установих колко бързо прелиствам страниците, колко леко се нося по повърхността на тази история, как уж невинно авторът ме хваща за ръка, завличайки ме все по-навътре в безкрайната руска степ. А там – моментни снимки на следвоенната дейст......more

Goodreads review by zxvasdf on August 27, 2013

I've said this before, and I'll probably still say it over and over again: I love contemporary Russian writers. They're locked in on an universally Russian aspect of nearly abject poverty and constant violence, yet manage to make it all seem like labours of love. In nearly every Russian novel I've r......more

Goodreads review by Albena on December 15, 2020

Книгата ме прати в сибирската степ и ме остави там. При хлапетата Петка и Валерка, при японския военнопленник доктор Хиротаро, при войниците, бабите, жените, козите, вълците, китайския контрабанден спирт и т.н. Лятото на 1945 година - Германия е победена, а Хирошима още не се е случила. В тази книга и......more

Goodreads review by Elena on February 16, 2025

очень странно читать такие книги во время войны, но надо уметь отделять тёплое от мягкого, зёрна от плевел и город от деревни. сначала я испугалась, что это будет что-то на манер "похороните меня за плинтусом", но слава богу – нет. потом вспомнился тимур с его командой, что вызвало некоторую носталь......more