Babylon (Paperback)

by Viktor Pelevin (Author), Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A humorous satire on consumer culture in post-Soviet Russia. The collapse of the Soviet Union may have opened up a huge potential market, but how do you sell competing brands when no one has ever heard of them? Gangsters, spin doctors and drug dealers scheme and collude. (Kirkus UK)

Product Description
Translated from the Russian, this razor-sharp satire on consumer culture, Russian style, follows the irresistible rise of a Moscow advertising copywriter, who specialises in adjusting Western adverts to the Eastern mentality and selling Pepsi, Seven-up, Gucci, Mercedes and Reebok to the rising middle class.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber (February 19, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0571205569
• ISBN-13: 978-0571205561
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,063,383 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this book = very enjoyable, May 15, 2007

By	Daniel F. Raile "jossipthesluice" (brighton, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Babylon (Paperback)

I thought Omon Ra was a lot of fun though it cleaved a little close to something like a formula for absurdist literature, where the unravelling of a seemingly credible and innocuous frame of narrative progresses with acceleration to all out rational oblivion...I couldn't make it through Life of Insects. The short stories I love though, the one about the Shed, the chickens, the 9th Dream of Vera Pavlanova is a masterpiece, to me. In Babylon V. Pelevin captures some of the duende that drew me to his short stories. A brilliant mix up of major themes and tones that holds together despite disparity, funny as hell, less rock and roll than Omon Ra but more drugs. Really incredible achievement in that he philosophizes pertinently without being too heavy handed, by employing techniques which take the lead out of heavy statements. Several typos and a handful of mis-translations but all in all the translation is readable and flows well.