"Throughout the madcap plotting, a
pervasive sense of menace never dissipates. An international comedy of errors
that ventures to knowingly bleak places." –Kirkus starred review
"In vertiginous scenes that evoke Kafka,
Dostoyevsky, and Alice in Wonderland, the police and prison officials
subject David to extortion, drugging, and interrogation, and even Putin himself
gets a cartoonish and nightmarish cameo. Not only is this sickeningly surreal,
it's a hell of a ride." –Publishers Weekly starred review
"Josip Novakovich's latest novel is a tour de
force that exposes the complete corruption of the Russian police and legal
system under Putin. David Dvornik is an insomniac, former investment banker,
Russophile, amateur historian, and ex graduate student from Yale, who uses
sarcasm and farce to describe the absurdity of his daily life in Saint
Petersburg. Novakovich turns the idea of
Crime and Punishment on
its head. Rather than the inevitable capture of the guilty, we see the
inevitable punishment of the innocent."
–Josh Barkan, author of
Mexico:
Stories "Crime and the lack of punishment–Josip Novakovich
conjures up a picture of Saint Petersburg that would terrify Dostoevsky." –Tibor
Fischer, author of
Under the Frog "
Rubble of Rubbles shows Josip Novakovich at his best. I know of no other writer
who knows how to ridicule the ridiculous and find meaning in the seemingly
meaningless. This is a comic novel with serious content, rich in dark humor and
startling cultural insights." –Jim Heynen, author of
The One-Room
Schoolhouse "This novel took hold of me from
the beginning and never let go. Kafkaesque for the first two-thirds, and then
something else. I am not sure what: maybe a bit of the Wizard of Oz, and a bit
Hitchcock, with a happy ending. I shall never think of Russia the same way, or
of Georgian wine. A timely book filled with humor and twists and turns." –Robert
Appelbaum, author of
Terrorism Before the Letter: Mythography and Political
Violence in England, Scotland, and France 1559-1642 "In a thrilling mix of an
adventure novel and satire, Novakovich provides us with a fresh glimpse into
that horrifying and mysterious Russian soul. So relevant that it's scary!" –Lara Vapnyar, author of
Divide
Me By Zero "Josip Novakovich's narrative
style–powerfully direct, crisply
precise, bluntly confident without arrogance–is instantly recognizable and entirely sui generis. No single
sentence goes to waste in his texts, no word a throwaway one. His prose
resonates with distant rhythms of faraway histories. He is one of the
preeminent storytellers of our time–and one
of the very best we have. In this remarkable, highly immersive novel, set in
early-aughts Russia poised on the cusp of becoming the moral catastrophe of a
state it is today, his satire is cutting and unswerving, his gaze steadfast and
uncommonly, uncannily observant." –Mikhail Iossel, author of
Every
Hunter Wants to Know
