Monday Starts on Saturday, Arkady Strugatsky
Monday Starts on Saturday, Arkady Strugatsky
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Monday Starts on Saturday

Author: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Andrew Bromfield, Adam Roberts

Narrator: Ramiz Monsef

Unabridged: 8 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2017

Synopsis

Sasha, a young computer programmer from Leningrad, is driving north to meet some friends for a nature vacation. He picks up a couple of hitchhikers, who persuade him to take a job at the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy.The adventures Sasha has in the largely dysfunctional institute involve all sorts of magical beings—a wish-granting fish, a tree mermaid, a cat who can remember only the beginnings of stories, a dream-interpreting sofa, a motorcycle that can zoom into the imagined future, a lazy dog-sized mosquito—along with a variety of wizards (including Merlin), vampires, and officers.First published in Russia in 1965, Monday Starts on Saturday has become the most popular Strugatsky novel in their homeland. Like the works of Gogol and Kafka, it tackles the nature of institutions—here focusing on one devoted to discovering and perfecting human happiness. By turns wildly imaginative, hilarious, and disturbing, Monday Starts on Saturday is a comic masterpiece by two of the world’s greatest science fiction writers.

About Arkady Strugatsky

Arkady Strugatsky (1925–1991) was drafted into the Soviet army and trained at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955, when he began to work as an editor and writer. In 1958 he began to collaborate with his brother, Boris. Along with his brother, he is one of the most famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction. Together they wrote twenty-five novels and novellas, and their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.

About Boris Strugatsky

Boris Strugatsky (1933–2012) worked as an astronomer and computer engineer until 1966, when he became a full-time writer. Along with his brother, Arkady, he is one of the most famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction. Together they wrote twenty-five novels and novellas, and their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.

About Andrew Bromfield

Andrew Bromfield was born in Hull in Yorkshire, England, and for long periods has lived in Moscow, where he cofounded and edited the literary journal Glas. He now lives and works in rural Surrey. Bromfield has translated into English works by Boris Akunin, Sergei Lukyanenko, Mikhail Bulgakov, Daniil Kharms, Leo Tolstoy, and the Strugatsky brothers, but is perhaps best known for his acclaimed translations of the stories and novels of Victor Pelevin, including The Life of Insects, Buddha’s Little Finger, and Homo Zapiens.

About Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts is a staff correspondent for the Economist. For four years he was the publication’s Johannesburg bureau chief, reporting from Madagascar, Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and—illegally—from Zimbabwe, as well as from many areas in between. He has also reported from Southeast Asia, the Balkans, Europe, and the United States. A former student of international politics at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, he is now based in London.

About Ramiz Monsef

Ramiz Monsef has spent several seasons as a member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s acting company, and he is the playwright of OSF’s 2013 production The Unfortunates. He has also appeared onstage in New York and in numerous regional productions.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on May 31, 2022

Is such a thing as science fiction fairy tale possible? It is possible if a thing is Monday Begins on Saturday. The sofa, I thought. What has the sofa to do with it? I had never heard any fairy tale about a sofa. There was a flying carpet; there was the magical tablecloth. There was the invisibility......more

Goodreads review by Dan on December 05, 2015

This is one of the most fun and enjoyable books I've read in a very long time and it totally came of out of left field for me. There is a great documentary on YouTube titled Pandora's Box : The Engineers' Plot about how the Soviet Union attempted to use mathematical and scientific principles to brin......more

Goodreads review by George on July 23, 2022

What a fun read. Now How the hell am I going to get my hands on the rest of the books from this series in English... Younger Me You Fool, Why didn't you pay attention in Russian classes back in high school!? Anyway, regrets aside, to the review. The book comprises three humorous short stories featuri......more

Goodreads review by Sinem A. on January 04, 2019

Bu önemli yazarlara bu kitapla giriş yapmak bence güzel oldu. Hem bilimkurgu hem fantastiğin farklı bir yöntemle birleştirildiği bu tarz bir kitap sanırım daha önce okumamıştım. Bilim nedir büyü nedir aralarında nasıl bir ilişki olabilir üzerine eğlenceli bir serüvendi. kitap aynı zamanda Rus yaşam ta......more

Goodreads review by Mevsim on January 07, 2019

Bilim kurgu ve fantastik edebiyata uzak biri olarak, her ikisinin harmanlandığı bu kitap beni oldukça aştı sanırım. Uzun zamandır bir kitabın içine bu kadar giremediğim olmamıştı. Çok hacimli bir kitap olmamasına, içindeki çizimlerle eğlenceli bir yapıya dönüşmesine rağmen zorlukla takip ettim ben.......more

Quotes

“This melding of bureaucracy and the numinous is highly enjoyable and impossible to compare to any other work.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The best Soviet SF writers.” Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

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