The Unpossessed City

This book reveals Jon Fasman's deep understanding and love of Moscow. While the plot entertains and moves along briskly, it is really his descriptions of the city and its inhabitants that captured and delighted me. Well worth the read!

I just finished listening to this audiobook. The narrator is awesome. He really brings the characters and narrative to life. I enjoyed the story, the intrigue, plot twists and especially the descriptions of life in Moscow were riveting.

It's almost like sharks darted out of nowhere and clamped their greedy jaws around his left shin and then started thrashing about, causing the water to foam up and his left leg to separate at the knee. And, even after that, it was as if he couldn't stop himself from dipping his lower leg, still spurting blood to the rhythm of his racing heart, and hanging on by a thin piece of flesh, back into the water to allow the sharks to continue their frenzy. That is the only way to describe what it felt like when he got himself into trouble with the absolute wrong people; Jim Vilatzer went into debt with Serbian Gangsters. He was 32 years old and still worked at his parents' restaurant. He had no foreseeable means to pay off his debt. I'm sure that the salt burned that wounded leg of his, while he dangled it in the water. Jon Fasman's "stop and go" writing dynamic emulates real life: For Jim Vilatzer, it's stretches of sluggishness in between bursts of catastrophic importance, while he enlightens himself to the fact that there may be greater evils in the world than loan sharks biting at the pant-leg he keeps his wallet in.

I tend to like books that transport you to unfamiliar places through the eyes of characters poised at familiar crossroads, in search of their identity, their roots and their possibilities. Fasman's new novel does just that. The opening chapter set in a Russian prison draws you in immediately with its tension and foreboding tone while the shift to Rockville, Maryland introduces you to Jim Vilatzer, a 32 -year old at odds with himself and his life. The plot moves swiftly and engages you throughout with unexpected twists and turns that make you want to know with increasing urgency how these worlds connect. But what I loved most of all in this book and in Fasman's last, The Geographer's Library, (and for that matter, what will keep me looking forward to whatever he writes next), is the writing itself. This is an author with a gift for immersing you in the locales he writes about, for making you feel as if you are in Moscow traveling alongside Jim, experiencing the city's "unpredictability and toughness" and at the same time, discovering its "unexpected, genuine moments of kindness."

This book was great on a number of levels. As a mystery, the plot was complex and surprising. As a novel, the writing was wonderful, a pleasure to read. And as a lesson about contemporary Russia, this book was fantastic. I feel like I understand more about Russia by reading this novel, in a way that I couldn't just by watching the news or reading non-fiction. This is a beautifully composed, nuanced book with very strong, almost cinematic imagery that makes the story electrifying. 100% recommend this book.