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The Troika [Paperback]

Stepan Chapman (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


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Under the glare of three suns, three beings travel across an endless desert. They argue, whine, wheedle and needle each other. Sometimes they switch identities when the sandstorms roar in. As The Troika rolls on, we learn more about Alex, who started out as a man, then became cyborg, then jeep. About Naomi, a veteran soldier who woke up from her cryogenic storage tank to a new life, now a dinosaur. About Eva, who fled her native land to escape her fate as an organ-donor for the emperor. Fantasy? Surrealism? The desert landscape spins and alters as we look at the man behind the curtain: mad angel Dr. Mazer, testing a controversial therapy program at his isolated asylum. Science fiction after all?

Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award for 1997,The Troika is speculative literature at its finest. --Bonnie Bouman

From the Back Cover

troika, n. [Russ.], 1. a vehicle drawn by a team of three horses abreast. 2. the minimum coordinate set required to define a single point in three-dimensional space. 3. a jeep, a brontosaurus, and an old Mexican woman.

Beneath the glare of three purple suns, manipulated by unseen forces three travelers cross an endless desert: Alex, who wanted to be a machine, Naomi, the human corpsicle, and Eva, who escaped the whale emperor of her native land....


Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Ministry of Whimsy Press (October 8, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1890464023
  • ISBN-13: 978-1890464028
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,626,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A challenging read, but worth the effort, June 27, 1999
This review is from: The Troika (Paperback)
Let me start with a warning: this is a difficult book to read. You can't skim it or read without your full attention like you can with -- well, with almost everything. The characters switch bodies (or think they do), they're unreliable narrators whose perceptions may not match reality, they contradict themselves, there are flashbacks and dream sequences galore. Only well into the book is it possible to even get any idea of what's going on. As confusing as The Troika can be, it is very much worth the effort. Trust is required here. You're on a drive, but someone else is at the wheel. Slide into the moment, enjoy the view and stop worrying so much about where you're going. You *are* going somewhere, but the trip itself is the best part of the experience. There are stories and images in The Troika that will stay with me for a long, long time. There are passages in the book that are as beautiful and carefully sculpted as anything I've ever read: the line of girls with their tongues frozen to the parking meters; skating upside down along the bottom of the ice; the fish-headed sacrifice who escapes moments before her heart is cut out. I was reminded of Dick, Kafka and others, but Chapman's voice is unique and original, and he clearly has a love of language and words. The Troika was one of the strangest books I've ever read, and among the best I've come across in several years.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars and you thought you had problems..., January 23, 2001
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This review is from: The Troika (Paperback)
Three connected, lost souls wander the desert submerged in madness and despair. Did I mention that one of them is a Jeep? This surreal story is at once intensely tragic and hopeful. I highly recommend it.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a fantastic shard of dementia, January 10, 2005
By 
This review is from: The Troika (Paperback)
Alex, Eva and Naomi are a jeep, an old woman and a dinosaur, respectively. Or maybe not. They're walking across and endless desert and they can't die. Or maybe not.

The Troika by Stepan Chapman is truly an excellent book, witty, profane, brilliant, demanding... much like Samuel R Delany's 'Dhalgren' or Philip K Dick's 'Valis' but not derivative of anything, it plays around with identity, with history, mythmaking, delusion, good, evil, insanity and redemption. It rewards repeated readings, and is rapidly becoming one of my favorite books.
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