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ayla81's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
mehitabels's review against another edition
4.0
quite the enjoyable dis-distopian tale. funny, outrageous, with a perfectly flawed narrator, and the ridiculousness that only people with the best intentions can create.
the cherry on this delectable dessert was the afterword, written in 1990, where the author is forced to answer some heavy claims of precognition regarding the fate of soviet communism. tragically hilarious.
the cherry on this delectable dessert was the afterword, written in 1990, where the author is forced to answer some heavy claims of precognition regarding the fate of soviet communism. tragically hilarious.
hanklyhank's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not a student of either Russian politics or literature,, so I'm sure plenty of the deeper meaning (and possibly the jokes) passed me by on this one. That being said, I'm enough a child of the Cold War - and Voinovich is enough of a writer - that I didn't feel lost or let down. My sister asked what I was reading. I showed it to her and said, "It's funny as hell. It's a lot funnier than it looks from the cover." She, of course, replied, "It would have to be."
Moscow 2042 came out in 1986, written just a few years before perestroika and glasnost and the reforms that swept through the USSR. If you were around back then, you know the images that the American public received of life under communism - bread lines, ridiculous bureaucracy, censorship, drab clothing, heavy vodka drinking, plenty of propaganda at work. Interestingly, that's nearly exactly how Voinovich portrays his dystopian version of communism at work. Now, I have no real idea how day to day life in Moscow went in the early 80s, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't quite as glum as we were led to believe. Reading this one boosted that feeling - if it was already that bad, the dystopian, possible future would have been a hell of a lot worse.
I wondered a few things while I read this one. Who is he satirizing with his working class writer hero, ready to ride into Moscow on a white horse and be declared Tsar? How much of what he was satirizing was already happening and how much was extrapolation? And what is up with so many writers giving their late-middle-age alter egos young, willing, sexually gifted women to fuck? I mean, sure, I get it. But really? Were there honestly that many Russian spy babes out to rub their naughty bits up on aging writers? I doubt it. Probably helps keep warm, though.
But there were still plenty of tasty little bits to enjoy. The horrors of vegetarian pork. The concept of food and shit and whether one is the other. Long bills on caps to prevent the people from looking at movies projected on the clouds. I do tend to love books that take government control to the absolute extreme. Reading them is like whistling past the graveyard: can't happen to me! Nope, not here!
Moscow 2042 came out in 1986, written just a few years before perestroika and glasnost and the reforms that swept through the USSR. If you were around back then, you know the images that the American public received of life under communism - bread lines, ridiculous bureaucracy, censorship, drab clothing, heavy vodka drinking, plenty of propaganda at work. Interestingly, that's nearly exactly how Voinovich portrays his dystopian version of communism at work. Now, I have no real idea how day to day life in Moscow went in the early 80s, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't quite as glum as we were led to believe. Reading this one boosted that feeling - if it was already that bad, the dystopian, possible future would have been a hell of a lot worse.
I wondered a few things while I read this one. Who is he satirizing with his working class writer hero, ready to ride into Moscow on a white horse and be declared Tsar? How much of what he was satirizing was already happening and how much was extrapolation? And what is up with so many writers giving their late-middle-age alter egos young, willing, sexually gifted women to fuck? I mean, sure, I get it. But really? Were there honestly that many Russian spy babes out to rub their naughty bits up on aging writers? I doubt it. Probably helps keep warm, though.
But there were still plenty of tasty little bits to enjoy. The horrors of vegetarian pork. The concept of food and shit and whether one is the other. Long bills on caps to prevent the people from looking at movies projected on the clouds. I do tend to love books that take government control to the absolute extreme. Reading them is like whistling past the graveyard: can't happen to me! Nope, not here!
dajna's review against another edition
5.0
Appena finito e dentro di me sto facendo coreografie da ragazza pon pon. Questo romanzo è un capolavoro di satira politica e umana. Vladimir Karcev, il protagonista, è un pusillanime a cui viene offerta una grande opportunità: viaggiare nel futuro, visitare la Mosca di sessant'anni avanti, fare da testimone all'evoluzione del comunismo. Solo che il regime in cui si trova catapultato è semplicemente assurdo, una propaganda continua fine a sè stessa che, per capirci, potrebbe ricordare la Corea del Nord e il suo grande leader. Il grande leader, il Generalissimus, è stato sublimato a semi-dio. Poteri zero, propaganda 100. Mi è piaciuto particolarmente la ristrutturazione del linguaggio, con i mille apparati statali dagli acronimi assurdi e quasi impronunciabili. La scala dei bisogni è un'aberrazione della piramide di Maslow , l'apparato statale un Argo dai 100 occhi che scruta ogni foglia, ma non vede il bosco. La contropropaganda americana si fa a colpi di telefilm e pubblicità di McDonald. Tutti tradiscono tutti e quindi tutto rimane invariato. La rivoluzione, guidata da un assurdo mistico conservatosi in Svizzera per sessant'anni, è un piccolo capolavoro in sè, un magnifico esempio di finale circolare
The more things change, the more they stay the same, dicono gli inglesi.
Parlando appunto di Sim Simyč: il capitolo iniziale a lui dedicato è stato l'unico che mi abbia annoiato. Anzi no, mi ha irritato. Non è la prima volta che incrocio personaggi come lui, il primo che mi è venuto in mente è stato il Foma Fomič di [b:Il villaggio di Stepancikovo e i suoi abitanti|14623643|Il villaggio di Stepancikovo e i suoi abitanti|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474833944s/14623643.jpg|925118]. Come "semplice" scrittore, barbuto ed esiliato perché contrario al regime, mi ha fatto pensare a Solženicyn. Probabilmente anche perché la descrizione della nuova Unione Sovietica comprende una Prima Cerchia che ricorda nel nome [b:Il primo cerchio|11932322|Il primo cerchio|Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320598416s/11932322.jpg|377937], titolo che a sua volta rimanda all'inferno dantesco. Voinovich è un grande nell'ammiccare al passato e nel deridere il futuro per criticare aspramente il presente.
Il romanzo fu pubblicato nel 1987. Il muro di Berlino e l'Unione Sovietica caddero nel 1991. Voinovich è morto nel 2018. Non avete idea di quanto vorrei potermi sedere a un tavolo con lui e sentirlo parlare di quegli ultimi 30 anni e di come il suo Karcev avrebbe potuto affrontare cotanto cambiamento.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, dicono gli inglesi.
Parlando appunto di Sim Simyč: il capitolo iniziale a lui dedicato è stato l'unico che mi abbia annoiato. Anzi no, mi ha irritato. Non è la prima volta che incrocio personaggi come lui, il primo che mi è venuto in mente è stato il Foma Fomič di [b:Il villaggio di Stepancikovo e i suoi abitanti|14623643|Il villaggio di Stepancikovo e i suoi abitanti|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474833944s/14623643.jpg|925118]. Come "semplice" scrittore, barbuto ed esiliato perché contrario al regime, mi ha fatto pensare a Solženicyn. Probabilmente anche perché la descrizione della nuova Unione Sovietica comprende una Prima Cerchia che ricorda nel nome [b:Il primo cerchio|11932322|Il primo cerchio|Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320598416s/11932322.jpg|377937], titolo che a sua volta rimanda all'inferno dantesco. Voinovich è un grande nell'ammiccare al passato e nel deridere il futuro per criticare aspramente il presente.
Il romanzo fu pubblicato nel 1987. Il muro di Berlino e l'Unione Sovietica caddero nel 1991. Voinovich è morto nel 2018. Non avete idea di quanto vorrei potermi sedere a un tavolo con lui e sentirlo parlare di quegli ultimi 30 anni e di come il suo Karcev avrebbe potuto affrontare cotanto cambiamento.
missgray's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Excrement, Classism, and Xenophobia
vanjr's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting "Sci fi" in the Kurt Vonnegut tradition. Satire that is scathing. Fun.
nima_nimble's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
philuvarov's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0