Festival Favorite
March's featured book is The Dream Life of Sukhanov, a novel by Olga Grushin
Book Summary
Even for a man on "the very best terms with the very best people," the Soviet Union on the eve of glasnost is a precarious place. So it goes for bitterly compelling antihero Anatoly Pavlovich Sukhanov, richly crafted in this debut novel by Russian emigre, Olga Grushin. After starting out as an avant-garde artist, Sukhanov marries the daughter of an iconic Soviet painter, becomes a critic and quickly rises to editor-in-chief of Art of the World, an influential journal devoted to disparaging the Western art that once inspired him. An enviable Moscow apartment, a dacha and a personal driver follow, but twelve years later, Sukhanov can no longer write, his wife and son know him for the sellout he is, and Gorbachev's ascension may mean the end of his sinecure. When a man claiming to be his long-lost cousin comes to visit, Sukhanov finds himself sleeping on his couch, where, as dreams of his former life haunt him, his past may catch up with him for real. Grushin, who has served as former President Carter's personal interpreter and as an editor at Harvard's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, offers a powerful and richly detailed examination of late Soviet society's harsh confinements--even for those who have all the right connections.
Excerpt
Read an excerpt on the NPR website.
Links of Interest
View a reading guide for The Dream Life of Sukhanov from Penguin Group.
Olga Grushin receives the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award for The Dream Life of Sukhanov.
Visit Olga Grushin's homepage.
Reviews
Washington Post
New York Times
San Francisco Chronicle
Purchase This Book (and Support the Festival!)
The Calvin College Campus Store is the official retailer for Festival 2008. You can buy The Dream Life of Sukhanov for a great price either through their website or in the store. When you buy through the Campus Store, a portion of all sales go to support the Festival of Faith and Writing.