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Good Citizens Need Not Fear

From the Booker Prize longlisted author of ENDLING - 'Bright, funny and relevant' Margaret Atwood
By Maria Reva
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Check link for latest rating. ( 2,028 ratings, 324 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva is a collection of interconnected stories set in a crumbling Soviet apartment block. Through the narratives of its quirky residents, the book explores themes of resilience, absurdity, and survival amidst bureaucratic chaos. It artfully blends humour with poignant human experiences, portraying life in a surreal and uncertain world.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$11800

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate darkly humorous tales set against the backdrop of Soviet-era Ukraine. With interconnected stories exploring human resilience and absurdity in a bureaucratic world, it will appeal to those who relish thought-provoking narratives about survival and wit in challenging times.

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* 'Bright, funny, satirical and relevant. . . . A new talent to watch!' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter) * 'Bang-on brilliant' MIRIAM TOEWS *

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF ENDLING

'Bright, funny, satirical and relevant. . . . A new talent to watch!' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter)

This brilliant and bitingly funny novel-in-stories, set in and around a single crumbling apartment building in Soviet-era Ukraine, heralds the arrival of a major new talent.

A cast of unforgettable characters--citizens of the small industrial town of Kirovka--populate Maria Reva's ingeniously entwined tales that span the chaotic years leading up to and immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. Weaving the strands of the narrative together is an unforgettable, chameleon-like young woman named Zaya: an orphan turned beauty-pageant crasher who survives the extraordinary circumstances of her childhood through a compelling combination of ferocity, intelligence, stubbornness and wit.

Inspired by her own family's history, Reva's Good Citizens Need Not Fear takes us from paranoia to tenderness and back again, exploring what it is to be an individual amid the roiling forces of history.

'A comic triumph' GLOBE AND MAIL

'Bang-on brilliant' MIRIAM TOEWS

'Luminous' YANN MARTEL

'Outstanding' ANTHONY DOERR

'Maria Reva's enthralling debut of interlinked short stories achieves the double effect of timelessness and timeliness' KAPKA KASSABOVA, GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva is widely praised for its dark humour and satirical take on life under a totalitarian regime, using interconnected short stories set in Soviet-era Ukraine. The book is noted for its poignant storytelling, combining absurdity with tenderness, while tackling themes of resistance and human resilience amidst political dysfunction. Critics appreciate Reva's mastery in balancing humour with serious themes, offering a debut that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Her work marks a significant entry into literary fiction, heralded as both innovative and relevant.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780349012681

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 February 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Virago Press Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 200g

Pages: 224

Collections

2026 Auckland Writers Festival Festival Fiction Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Maria Reva

About the Author

Maria Reva was born in Ukraine and grew up in Canada. Her story collection, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, won the Kobzar Book Award and was a finalist for the Writers' Trust of Canada's Fiction Prize. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. She also works as an opera librettist.

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