The Blizzard

Long-listed for the 2016 PEN Translation PrizeA New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceA dazzling, utterly distinctive saga from the internationally celebrated and controversial novelist Vladimir Sorokin, the shock jock of Russian letters (Harper's).Vladimir Sorokin [is] Russia's most inventive contemporary author . . . [Gambrell's] translation is as elegant, playful and layered as the original. -Masha Gessen, The New York Times Book ReviewGarin, a district doctor, is desperately trying to reach the village of Dolgoye, where a mysterious epidemic is turning people into zombies. He carries with him a vaccine that will prevent the spread of this terrible disease, but is stymied in his travels by an impenetrable blizzard. A trip that should last no more than a few hours turns into a metaphysical journey, an expedition filled with extraordinary encounters, dangerous escapades, torturous imaginings, and amorous adventures.Trapped in an existential storm, Vladimir Sorokin's characters fight their way across a landscape that owes as much to Chekhov's Russian countryside as it does to the postapocalyptic terrain of science fiction. Hypnotic, fascinating, and richly drawn, The Blizzard is a seminal work from one of the most inventive authors writing today. Sorokin has created yet another boldly original work, which combines an avant-garde sensibility with a taste for the absurd and the grotesque, all while delivering stinging truths about contemporary life and modern-day Russia.