Customer Reviews

The Funeral Party: A Novel

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Ludmila Ulitskaya has written an insightful novel on human behavior, and an amusing tale as well. The title put me in mind of what many would first think of when it came to an Irish Wake. However these émigrés from Russia begin their reminiscing, their grieving, and their personal battles well before the death of the man who is the center of their attention.

Ms. Ulitskaya brings a wide range of characters to her tale, from a young girl who seems almost selectively Autistic, to the dying subject who has lead the life of a Greenwich Village Don Juan, to the woman who adore him and revile their challengers for his affection. If this is not enough the poor invalid is hounded to become a Christian, however he also wishes to see a Rabbi, and thus the Author begins a conflict between religious positions that are represented by men who will never agree and will eventually be usurped in their function. Their final comedy takes place graveside when competing methods for the burial of the dead ring the grave for prominence of voice and position.

The Author spent time on a subject that I wish occupied more of her writing. She explored the need of émigrés to constantly seek affirmation that their Mother Country that they left behind was indeed not worthy of their citizenship. They must constantly reassure each other and themselves, with current events in Moscow is possible, that they indeed did not run away but moved on to a better life.

The book is well written although there appear to be either some awkward translation or outright errors with a word on occasion. This is not truly detrimental to the story, however it does interrupt the cadence of the tale when a jarring word that clearly has no place makes an appearance.

Well worth the allocation of some of your reading time.

In a New York City loft on the eve of the second Russian revolution (1991), a group of friends, mostly former Russians, gather to watch over their friend, an artist named Alik, who is dying. If this sounds like a plot of gloom, you're wrong. As the title suggests, it's a celebration, during which the Russian emigre experience late 20th century style, is rehashed with equal doses of humor and pathos, and colorfully told in a way that only a Russian author could do justice to.

"The Funeral Party" is a delightful novella that offers readers an intimate look into the lives of a select few characters who are as different as night and day. All of these colorful characters are connected to one another for two reasons; they are immigrants from Russia and they have all known and loved a dying man by the name of Alik. In his last days of life in August of 1991, they gather to say their goodbyes, and reflect on their own lives.

The prospect of death is a natural occasion for people to analyze their life - its triumphs and mistakes. And that is exactly what Ulitskaya's characters do. They ponder over their pasts and presents, and we progressively learn what their connection to the dying man was. We discover their passions and their fears, their frustrations and their hopes, their dreams and their realities. All are beautifully written and played out by believable, vivid characters.

Yet "The Funeral Party" reads less as a novel than a series of character vignettes, exploring the inner-workings of each player in this sad, final saga of Alik's life. The connection between them is loose, but perhaps it is lost in the translation. However, overall Ulitskaya offers a wonderful and odd portrait of a wonderfully odd familiy of Russian immigrants.

Although Cathy Porter seems to have translated a small body of work, this small body of work is excellent and well chosen. Her translation of Sophia Tolstoy's diaries, done originally some forty years ago, is masterful and gives poignant insight into the life of the novelist's long-suffering wife. In translating the diaries, Porter is both accurate and graceful in her choice of words; her footnotes are invaluable. One only wishes Porter had gone on to translate even more 19th century Russian memoirs and diaries (e.g., Sergei Taneev's diary or Sophia Tolstoy's letters to her sister Tatania). Sophia Tolstoy not only copied her husband's novels and other works, she herself translated his "On Life" into French. She also wrote two stories of her own: "Who's to Blame?" and "Song Without Words."

Ludmila Ulitskaya's The Funeral Party is a terrific novella. She manages to pack in a rich reading experience in about 150 pages with wonderful characters and an intriguing story. Alik, a Russian emigre is slowly dying of a mysterious, degenerative disease. The novella takes place over his final days, as people from his past drift in and out of the apartment while Alik himself drifts in and out of consciousness. The story is really about the people in Alik's life and not about Alik, a dynamic artist who has surrounded himself with an entertaining cast of characters. Alik's visitors contemplate love, life, death, the afterlife without a word being wasted. The characters are fully drawn and the dialogue is smart and snappy. Every once in a while, there is a translation hiccup, but other than that, this is a wonderful read. Enjoy!

One of the best books by Ulitskaya, strongly recommend it to anyone interested in modern Russian literature.

I liken Ludmila Ulitskaya to a Dostoyevsky of today. "The Funeral Party" offers a taste of the elusive Russian mind set.