Description

It is 1991 and the two main ideologies of the twentieth century are about to collide in Russia.

Meanwhile, Volodia, a large cockroach smeared with cream and bits of blackened cucumber, is being chased by Anya into apartment 503 of a prefabricated concrete block that sways in the wind above Moscow. They decide to settle there – to the dismay of the other inhabitants. One night the humans declare that they have shared their life with vermin for too long. Volodia escapes and joins up with revolutionaries (aka Ants) in the station, but they are not quite what they seem so he boards the Trans-Siberian in search of a better world. Instead, he falls into the underworld of the Far East and meets characters who will be instrumental in bringing political changes and the new mafia to Russia.

‘How better to look at Russia after the fall of Communism than through the eye of an indestructible insect? A wonderful cross between Kafka and Gogol. Witty, ironic and thought-provoking.’ Bob Biderman