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A Novel of Modern Russia
by Svetlana Satchkova
In this gripping tale of contemporary Russia, a young film-maker and her friends run afoul of the government and its ruthless oppression of artists who dare to satirize the regime ...
When Maya, a young Russian film-maker, makes a low-budget horror movie with her friends, it seems like a promising start to a career in indie film. Little does she know that her jokey lo-fi satire will soon attract the attention of the autocratic censors at the highest levels of the Russian police state.
What follows is a gripping narrative of an artist being crushed by state power, and the choices that one makes within a system where free expression is literally illegal. The first novel published by a dissident emigre from Putin's Russia, The Undead, is a tense, piercing story that serves as a parable, and a warning, about political oppression.
"Some ostensibly humorous elements—Maya's romantic foibles and professional jealousies—fail to fully land, but her fraught relationships with fellow filmmakers adds to the novel's bleakly ironic conclusion. Throughout, Satchkova sustains an ominous vibe in her depiction of authoritarianism. It's a convincing cautionary tale of the dangers of political apathy." —Publishers Weekly
"There is nothing supernatural about the zombies in Svetlana Satchkova's savvy, frightening novel. They are all of us, wherever we are, who keep looking away when authoritarian forces crush expression. Witty and unsettling, The Undead is a cautionary tale about, among other things, never quite admitting where the danger lies until it's too late." —Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
"The Undead is a courageous and witty book about art and politics. With keen insight and wry humor, Svetlana Satchkova evokes a devastating artistic and moral reckoning. This fascinating, propulsive novel will stay with me." —Helen Phillips, author of The Need
This information about The Undead was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Svetlana Satchkova is a Russian-born journalist and writer who immigrated to the United States in 2010. She is an established arts journalist with bylines in the Rumpus, Newsweek, LARB, and others. She is currently a research fellow at the Jordan School for Russian Studies at New York University, has an MFA from Brooklyn College, and lives in Brooklyn. The Undead is her first novel in English.
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