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Shop nowThe Year of the Comet
Narrator
Daniel Gamburg
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Translator
Antonina W. Bouis
Length
8 hours 55 minutes
Language
English
An idyllic childhood takes a sinister turn. Rumors of a serial killer haunt the neighborhood, families pack up and leave town without a word of warning, and the country begins to unravel. Policemen stand by as protesters overtake the streets, knowing that the once awe-inspiring symbols of power they wear on their helmets have become devoid of meaning. Lebedev depicts a vast empire coming apart at the seams, transforming a very public moment into something tender and personal, and writes with stunning beauty and shattering insight about childhood and the growing consciousness of a boy in the world.
Sergei Lebedev, a poet, essayist, and journalist, is one of Russia’s most lauded young writers. He was born in Moscow in 1981 and worked for seven years on geological expeditions in Asia and northern Russia.
Antonina W. Bouis is one of the leading translators of Russian literature working today. She has translated more than eighty works from authors such as Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Mikhail Bulgakov, Andrei Sakharov, Sergei Dovlatov, and Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. She was born in West Germany and educated in the United States, where she earned degrees from Barnard College and Columbia University. Bouis, previously executive director of the Soros Foundation in the former USSR, now lives in New York City.
Reviews
“Examines the psychological trauma Stalinism continues to unleash—even on those who never lived during his reign…Antonina W. Bouis has translated the best of Soviet and post-Soviet writings…and the ease with which she renders Mr. Lebedev’s prose creates the illusion that both his novels were originally written in English.”
“Depicts objects in a stunningly, almost freakishly precise way, coaxing the metaphysical to express itself through the material.”
“Gorgeously written…leaves readers with a new insight into a towering moment in modern history.”
“One of the best novels to come out of Russia in a generation.”
“Absorbing…A seamlessly written child’s-eye view that conveys an adult understanding of history’s burdens.”
“You read and reread Lebedev’s lyrical, cutting prose with equal amounts of awe and enjoyment…Gorgeously written, unsettling.”
“A remarkable bildungsroman, set against the decline of the Soviet Union…A smart, convincing, and affecting novel.”
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