The Librarian

by Andrew Bromfield and Mikhail Elizarov

Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

Gromov is merely a forgotten writer of Soviet propagandist novels. But he has left behind his Books and the powers they impart - the Fury to tear enemies limb from limb, the Memory of a perfect childhood, the Strength to overcome all fear of death. These books transform believers from senile to lucid, cowardly to brave, weak to strong. Soon, Libraries of readers start to emerge, waging war on one another to seize precious copies of the Books and terrible consequences ensue.

Trapped in the middle of this world inhabited by society's outcasts - the decrepit, the heartbroken, the abandoned, the abused - is the young and unremarkable Alexei. Everything will change when he inherits a Book of Memory, and therefore becomes... a Librarian.

Blending depravity, black humour, reality and myth, Elizarov casts a satirical eye over Soviet Russia in this epic masterpiece and winner of the Russian Booker Prize-a tale of human longing, unwavering belief, and the search for meaning in a chaotic, illusory world.

'Elizarov is an heir to the classic Russian writers' Prochtenie

'Belongs to that glittering vein of the burlesque and fantastic, which runs through the strata of Russian literature like a seam of gold.' Magazine Littéraire

'Powerful, disturbing, and at the same time, uplifting' Vzgliad

'A truly bright author and an ingenious writer' Vladimir Sorokin, author of Ice Trilogy and Day of the Oprichnik

'The most radical of Russian Booker winners' Snob

'Uncompromising, bizarre and desperate' Gazeta

'How words can be more dangerous than machine-guns' Proza

'A world of myths... and a requiem for a broken country' Questions of Literature

'Immensely entertaining, The Librarian lives up to comparisons to the work of Gogol and Bulgakov while being very much its own thing' Jeffe Vandermeer, Slate

Mikhail Elizarov b. 1973 in the Ukraine studies literature and moves to Hanover Germany to study cinema. In 2001, Fingernails first caught media attention and his fourth novel The Librarian was awarded the 2008 Russian Booker Prize. He write for magazines including GQ and Playboy and currently lives in Moscow.

• ISBN10: 1782270272
• ISBN13: 9781782270270
• Publish Date: 12 March 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 November 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Pushkin Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781782270270

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

The books by Gromov, obscure and forgotten propaganda author from the Soviet era, have gained a bit of cult following. However this is not your normal fandom and his book are unlike anything you will ever read. These books have the ability to magically transform anyone; make the weak strong, the cowardly brave. Small groups have formed to protect these supernatural book with their leader given the title The Librarian. War breaks out between these libraries in desperate attempts to seize any copies of Gromov’s books they may have. The Librarian tells the story of Alexei, a loser who unexpectedly stumbles across one of Gromov’s books that changes his life forever.

This dystopian world created by Mikhail Elizarov is an obvious allegory for the Soviet Union, however it is something to be expected in post-Soviet literature. However Elizarov explores some interesting themes as well, in particular an idea of ‘blind faith’ in politics. The Librarian looks at the way people will thoughtlessly adopt a political system in which they are forced to inhabit. The author has a lot to say on the Soviet system and, like other Russian authors (in Soviet and post-Soviet literature), he adopts a satirical method to explore these ideas.

Alternatively, you could look at The Librarian from the perspective of the power of books. The entire novel is about people reading these books and gaining power, knowledge, and so on. This is the true power of books; as readers, we educate ourselves and learn empathy, and also get different political, historical or cultural points of view. While we might not gain the same amount of power as the people in this novel, we do gain power.

I found this book extremely interesting and I was engrossed the entire way through it. It is violent and could be a little too hard for some to handle but there is something worth exploring here. The Librarian won the Russian Booker Prize in 2008; this is very similar to the Man Booker Prize but for Russian novels. I had not heard too much about the Russian Booker Prize previously but I am now very interested. As a fan of Russian lit, I will keep an eye out for books translated into English so I can continue to explore more post-Soviet literature.

This book originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/magical-realism/the-librarian-by-mikhail-elizarov/