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Night Patrol and Other Stories

By Mikhail Kuraev

(46)

| Hardcover | 9780822314028

Book Description

"We live in a fantastic reality," Mikhail Kuraev writes. "Life itself, the turns of history, people’s fates are unlikely, amazing and fantastic." This is the strange reality, the fantastic world of Russia before glasnost, that comes to life in Kuraev’s remarkable short stories and novellContinue

"We live in a fantastic reality," Mikhail Kuraev writes. "Life itself, the turns of history, people’s fates are unlikely, amazing and fantastic." This is the strange reality, the fantastic world of Russia before glasnost, that comes to life in Kuraev’s remarkable short stories and novellas. Celebrated as one of the true innovators to emerge in recent years, Kuraev mines the rich literary tradition and the deep and not so distant past of his native Russia to produce tales that are both deeply moving and stylistically intriguing.
Though steeped in history, his stories pluck from obscurity the little people history ignores—and, in the Soviet Union of Stalin, often crushed. In the complex "Captain Dikshtein," a fictional account of an incident in the 1921 Kronstad, Kuraev evokes life within Soviet military culture and draws a vivid, difficult portrait of one particular life amid the ships and artillery. In "Night Patrol," a lowly member of the Soviet secret police narrates his evening rounds, interspersing the nightly arrests with reflections on his long career in the KGB. In "Petya on His Way to the Heavenly Kingdom," set in a construction site for a hydroelectric dam near Murmansk, a soldier’s murder of the village simpleton resonates through a small community committed to an enormous and enormously dubious technological project. Ranging over a broad landscape of historical foibles, Kuraev’s sympathetic wit and satiric brilliance have invited comparison to Gogol, but are finally unique. In this book, English-reading audiences will discover a new and challenging voice in a tradition that has given the world some of its greatest stories.

3 Reviews

  • 2 people find this helpful

    This book is a "Harry Porter" novel for adults. Originally written in Russian, this first book of a trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko has 3 stories about the adventures of Anton, a middle-level magician of the Night Watch in Moscow. In Lukyanenko's world, besides the humans, there are the Others who ha ... (continue)

    This book is a "Harry Porter" novel for adults. Originally written in Russian, this first book of a trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko has 3 stories about the adventures of Anton, a middle-level magician of the Night Watch in Moscow. In Lukyanenko's world, besides the humans, there are the Others who have supernatural powers. They are divided into the good ones who police the night, and the bad ones (vampires, werewolves etc.) who look after the day (the Day Watch).

    There has been a truce between the Night and Day Watches such that the two sides coexist among humans for hundreds of years, until some people with great potential and on the verge of joining either side tilt the balance.

    It's ultimately a battle between good and evil. The story offers a lot of actions and the author is quite good at describing the fighting scenes and various weapons and gadgets wielded by the Others. There is a twilight zone which is only accessible by the Others at any time. That's quite fascinating.

    However, I can't help comparing this twilight world with the Matrix - that it is nothing but a figment of the author's imagination. Sci-fi is not my cup of tea and after reading the 455 pages, I don't know what the point is. I am not interested in this battle which is meaningless and silly.

    For the next 2 books of the trilogy, I think I will pass.

    Is this helpful?

    ― Tracy W said on Jul 20, 2007 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

  • This volume is divided into three books – or distinct stories – following the development of the first-person protagonist, Anton, as a Light magician and an agent of Night Watch, and that of two uninitated Others – superhumans with magical powers and quasi-immortality – who become his allies.

    ... (continue)

    This volume is divided into three books – or distinct stories – following the development of the first-person protagonist, Anton, as a Light magician and an agent of Night Watch, and that of two uninitated Others – superhumans with magical powers and quasi-immortality – who become his allies.

    Having watched the movie Night Watch, which was adapted from Story One: ‘Destiny’, I had some preconceived ideas about the book, and frankly I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the text, not the least because the storyline tries to be clever and convoluted, and then spelt out by the protagonist as a flash of insight in the final 5% of the story's pages. This remains the model for Stories Two and Three in this volume, and I found it rather unsatisfying.

    That said, I quite enjoyed the threads of moral ambiguity that run through the volume (and in fact through the series), questioning the nature of Good and Evil and how easily actions in the name of Good inflict harm on its proponents and humanity at large alike.

    Overall, I think Lukyanenko's world of Twilight is imaginative, and there is much potential in playing with shifting frames of reference between Good and Evil, Light and Dark, so I'm happy to assume the series will get better with The Day Watch (of which I also own a copy).

    Is this helpful?

    ― Dummy Member said on Jun 2, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • What an interesting novel from Russia. It was really refreshing to read something from another country (although it was translated). I really like the whole light vs. dark scenario going on. It almost makes the light (or good) side seem like the real bad guys. I also like how each person actually ch ... (continue)

    What an interesting novel from Russia. It was really refreshing to read something from another country (although it was translated). I really like the whole light vs. dark scenario going on. It almost makes the light (or good) side seem like the real bad guys. I also like how each person actually chooses if they are light or dark and if one is dark, it doesn't make them evil. I almost have to wonder if Lukyanenko ever read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising. After reading Rising, I found some similar themes. I know they are all taken from mythology, but I found them to be very close, which fascinated me. The book is long and is actually three stories in one. However, it went really fast and I couldn't wait to continue on the story. I highly recommend this book to sci-fi fans.

    Is this helpful?

    ― cjspock said on Oct 3, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (46)
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 296 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0822314029
  • ISBN-13: 9780822314028
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • Pub date: Dec 01, 1994
  • Dimensions: 24 cm x 15 cm x 3 cm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Paperback
  • In other languages:
    • <span class='translatable' lang='Cover of '{[title]}''>Cover of '夜巡者'</span>
      夜巡者
      (繁體書)
    • <span class='translatable' lang='Cover of '{[title]}''>Cover of '守夜人'</span>
      守夜人
      (简体书)
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Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780822314028 Hardcover $79.95 $79.95 Amazon US
£69.00 £70.99 Amazon UK
$86.64 $84.70 Amazon CA
¥17859.00 ¥19646.00 Amazon JP
€63.7 -- Amazon FR
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+ 3 copies tradable: 1 in USA →
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