Although this novella is short, it was hard to get into it at first. However, it reminded me of Russian essays which never seem straight forward, but get closer to the point by circling around it. Konstantin (Kostya) is a disfigured veteran of the war in Chechnya who was not save right away because his comrades thought him to be dead. He spends his day in a drunken stupor. However, his army comrades show up looking for another friend from the war days who has gone missing. They go on a quest to find their friend, and he starts telling his story in flashbacks. As a reader, you need to be willing to go in circles with him, but it's worth it in the end. I really appreciated that the end provided a more positive outlook than I expected from a Russian novella like that. ( )

Crudely structured, badly written, poorly imagined. Rum, unskilled, without nuance. Like the deliberately shocking scenes in "Deer Hunter" or "Born on the Fourth of July." Hard to imagine Gelasimov is considered a good writer.

Marek2010 (review below) is right that the book has a warm ending: but it's only one page. The rest is intended to be hard-bitten, tough, real, uncompromising, and it ends up being mawkish, sentimental, and scarred by clichés. ( )

A powerful novella about a Russian man who was disfigured fighting in Chechnya. ( )

This short novel is narrated by a young Russian soldier during the War in Chechnya, who suffers horrible burns to his face and body when the Armed Personnel Carrier he is riding in is blown apart by a grenade. His comrades do not rescue him immediately, assuming he is dead, and then are horrified to see him breathing. After his rescue, he returns to his home village, where his most useful activity is scaring his neighbor's children into obedience. He spends his days in a vodka-fueled haze of memory, regret and bitterness, and the novel zips back and forth between past and present in a schizophrenic fashion. The narration is simple and banal, as in this passage:

Usually it takes about three days to get used to the idea that a friend has died. Not one and not two. Sometimes even three isn't enough. Each time you remember him, you tell yourself, He's dead. But it still feels like you're lying. Not in the sense that he isn't dead but in the sense that you're still not ready to say those words. You can say them, but they're empty. Unconnected to life. There's an emptiness between them and reality. You sense that gap, and you can't figure out what's there, inside it. So you repeat it as often as you can; he's dead, he's dead, he's gone. But you're lying anyway. At least until three days pass. Then it's pretty much OK.

I bought Thirst because it was one of the e-books published by AmazonCrossing that was on sale for 99 cents last weekend. I'm not convinced that I received my money's worth, though. ( )

Konstantin is unable to find room in his fridge for all his vodka! He lines the bottle up on shelves, in the sink and on the floor. There is a good reason why Konstantin drinks so much, for his has not been an easy life.

He joined the Russian army to distance himself from his cold and unloving father and saw action in Afghanistan. It was during this conflict that Konstantin was cruelly injured. A grenade was thrown in to the APC he and his comrades were travelling in and, because he was the last to be rescued, his face has been horrifically burned.

Now he spends his days in a small apartment and his only purpose in life, apart from drinking vodka, is to scare the little boy next door in to behaving for his fraught mother Olga.

News reaches him that one of his former comrades has gone missing and he finds himself journeying to Moscow with his friends to search for him. It appears that they too have a fondness for vodka, so he is in good company.

Andrei Gelasimov is a very talented writer. He skilfully switches from one time frame and character to the next with seamless ease. His depiction of Konstantin and his lonely, sad existence is just beautiful. We learn more and more about Konstantin’s life and personality including his talent for drawing. This is a short novel, but easy to read and very worthwhile. Gelasimov reveals how all the characters are searching for something…looking for a different life, but, sadly, they are not going to find it in the bottom of a vodka bottle.

This book was made available to me, prior to publication, for an honest review. ( )