Sergei Dovlatov,Antonina W. Bouis
Sergei Dovlatovâ€™s subtle, dark-edged humor and wry observations are in full force in ,The Suitcase, as he examines eight objectsâ€”the items he brought with him in his luggage upon his emigration from the U.S.S.R. These seemingly undistinguished possessions, stuffed into a worn-out suitcase, take on a riotously funny life of their own as Dovlatov inventories the circumstances under which he acquired them, occasioning a brilliant series of interconnected tales: A poplin shirt evokes the bittersweet story of a courtship and marriage, while a pair of boots (of the kind only the Nomenklatura can afford) calls up the hilarious conclusion to an official banquet. Some driving glovesâ€”remnants of Dovlatovâ€™s short-lived acting careerâ€”share space with neon-green crepe socks, reminders of a failed black-market scam. And in curious juxtaposition, the belt from a prison guardâ€™s uniform lies next to a stained jacket that once belonged to Fernand LÃ©ger.,Imbued with a comic nostalgia overlaid with Dovlatovâ€™s characteristically dry wit, ,The Suitcase, is an intensely human, delightfully ironic novel from â€œthe finest Soviet satirist to appear in English since Vladimir Voinovich.â€
Cultural,Russia,Fiction,Short Stories,Literature,Russian Literature,Humor,Literature,Classics,Literature,20th Century,Audiobook,Contemporary
The Suitcase