A Terrible Country
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ari Fliakos
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By:
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Keith Gessen
About this listen
“Hilarious. . . . To understand Russia, read A Terrible Country.”—Time
"This artful and autumnal novel, published in high summer, is a gift to those who wish to receive it."—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"Hilarious, heartbreaking . . . A Terrible Country may be one of the best books you'll read this year."—Ann Levin, Associated Press
A New York Times Editors' Choice
Named a Best Book of 2018 by Bookforum, Nylon, Esquire, and Vulture
A literary triumph about Russia, family, love, and loyalty—from a founding editor of n+1 and the author of Raising Raffi
When Andrei Kaplan’s older brother Dima insists that Andrei return to Moscow to care for their ailing grandmother, Andrei must take stock of his life in New York. His girlfriend has stopped returning his text messages. His dissertation adviser is dubious about his job prospects. It’s the summer of 2008, and his bank account is running dangerously low. Perhaps a few months in Moscow are just what he needs. So Andrei sublets his room in Brooklyn, packs up his hockey stuff, and moves into the apartment that Stalin himself had given his grandmother, a woman who has outlived her husband and most of her friends. She survived the dark days of communism and witnessed Russia’s violent capitalist transformation, during which she lost her beloved dacha. She welcomes Andrei into her home, even if she can’t always remember who he is.
Andrei learns to navigate Putin’s Moscow, still the city of his birth, but with more expensive coffee. He looks after his elderly—but surprisingly sharp!—grandmother, finds a place to play hockey, a café to send emails, and eventually some friends, including a beautiful young activist named Yulia. Over the course of the year, his grandmother’s health declines and his feelings of dislocation from both Russia and America deepen. Andrei knows he must reckon with his future and make choices that will determine his life and fate. When he becomes entangled with a group of leftists, Andrei’s politics and his allegiances are tested, and he is forced to come to terms with the Russian society he was born into and the American one he has enjoyed since he was a kid.
A wise, sensitive novel about Russia, exile, family, love, history and fate, A Terrible County asks what you owe the place you were born, and what it owes you. Writing with grace and humor, Keith Gessen gives us a brilliant and mature novel that is sure to mark him as one of the most talented novelists of his generation.
©2018 Keith Gessen (P)2018 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This earnest and wistful but serious book gets good, and then it gets very good. . . . [Gessen] writes incisively about many things here but especially about, as the old saw has it, how it is easier to fight for your principles than live up to them. . . . This artful and autumnal novel, published in high summer, is a gift for those who wish to receive it."—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"Excellent. . . . In its breadth and depth, its sweep, its ability to move us and philosophize . . . A Terrible Country is a smart, enjoyable, modern take on what we think of, admiringly, as 'the Russian novel'—in this case, a Russian novel that only an American could have written."—Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books
"[A] lighthearted yet morally serious novel."—Vadim Nikitin, The London Review of Books
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Performance
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At the age of 20, Chris Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. However, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him part of the city's working homeless with his toddler son.
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Very Good Story!
- By Lito Da Critic on 06-02-06
By: Chris Gardner
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The Good Friday Murder
- A Christine Bennett Mystery, Book 1
- By: Lee Harris
- Narrated by: Dee Macaluso
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Christine Bennett has left the cloistered world of nuns for the profane world of New York State, where murder and madness are often linked. At a town meeting, Christine volunteers to investigate a 40-year-old murder case long since closed. Now she'll move heaven and earth to exonerate a pair of retarded savant twins, now senior citizens, of their mother's murder on Good Friday in 1950.
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Polite procedural cozy
- By connie on 12-29-12
By: Lee Harris
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The Reluctant Communist
- My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea
- By: Charles Robert Jenkins, Jim Fredrick
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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In January of 1965, 24-year-old US Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins abandoned his post in South Korea, walked across the DMZ, and surrendered to communist North Korean soldiers standing sentry along the world's most heavily militarized border. He believed his action would get him back to the States and a short jail sentence. Instead he found himself in another sort of prison, where for 40 years he suffered under one of the most brutal and repressive regimes the world has known. This fast-paced, harrowing tale, told plainly and simply by Jenkins (with journalist Jim Frederick).
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Excellent history and human story
- By Anonymous User on 09-16-21
By: Charles Robert Jenkins, and others
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My Korean Deli
- Risking It All for a Convenience Store
- By: Ben Ryder Howe
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This sweet and funny tale of a preppy editor buying a Brooklyn deli with his Korean in-laws is about family, culture clash, and the quest for authentic experiences. It starts with a gift. When Ben Ryder Howe’s wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents’ self-sacrifice by buying them a store, Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along.
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Absolutely delightful!
- By Grace O'Malley on 03-19-11
By: Ben Ryder Howe
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Baltimore Blues
- Tess Monaghan, Book 1
- By: Laura Lippman
- Narrated by: Deborah Hazlett
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Unemployed at 29, Tess Monaghan is willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent—including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl "Rock" Paxton. In a city where someone is murdered almost every day, attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer's notoriety—and his noontime trysts with Rock's fiancée—make the case front page news...and point to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend's innocence could prove costly to Tess.
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I'm on #8 - This series is almost unique
- By connie on 02-19-12
By: Laura Lippman
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Gang Leader for a Day
- A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
- By: Sudhir Venkatesh
- Narrated by: Reg Rogers, Sudhir Venkatesh, Stephen J. Dubner
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. Gang Leader for a Day is the fascinating full story of how Sudhir Venkatest managed to gain entree into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment.
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Listen to this one first
- By DanO on 01-15-08
By: Sudhir Venkatesh
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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
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Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
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My Lovely Wife
- By: Samantha Downing
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances with whom you keep meaning to get dinner. We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
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Great narrator! Crazy story!
- By EasyBreezySunflower on 03-28-19
By: Samantha Downing
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You're Better than Me
- A Memoir
- By: Bonnie McFarlane
- Narrated by: Bonnie McFarlane, Alexander Cendese
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spirit of Mindy Kaling, Kelly Oxford, and Sarah Silverman, a compulsively listenable and outrageously funny memoir of growing up as a fish out of water, finding your voice, and embracing your inner crazy person from popular actress, writer, and comedian Bonnie McFarlane.
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Sandy!!! She wrote a book...it's crazy, a book!!!
- By Jonathan Placek on 03-02-16
By: Bonnie McFarlane
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Undocumented
- A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League
- By: Dan-el Padilla Peralta
- Narrated by: Dan-el Padilla Peralta
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy he came here legally with his family. Together they left Santo Domingo behind, but life in New York City was harder than they imagined. Their visas lapsed, and Dan-el's father returned home. But Dan-el's courageous mother was determined to make a better life for her bright sons. Undocumented is a classic story of the triumph of the human spirit. It also is the perfect cri de coeur for the debate on comprehensive immigration reform.
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A must read, but
- By Louise de Marillac on 10-10-15
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And When She Was Good
- By: Laura Lippman
- Narrated by: Linda Emond
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Heloise considers it a blessing to be a person who seldom attracts attention. In her suburb, she's just a mom, the young widow with the forgettable job, who somehow never misses a soccer game. In the state capital, she's the redheaded lobbyist with a good cause and a mediocre track record. But in discreet hotel rooms throughout the area, she's the woman of your dreams - if you can afford the hourly fee. For more than a decade, Heloise believed she was safe, managing to keep up this rigidly compartmentalized life. But her secret life is under siege. One county over, another so-called suburban madam has been found dead in her car, an apparent suicide.
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And When She Was Bad...
- By Carole T. on 08-18-12
By: Laura Lippman
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The Upside
- A Memoir
- By: Abdel Sellou
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1992, Count Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo, on the heels of his wife's diagnosis with a terminal illness, suffered a paragliding accident that left him a quadriplegic. Forty-two years old, trapped inside his luxurious Paris town house, he was an outcast for the first time in his life. Abdel, an unemployed Algerian immigrant who had been an outcast for his entire existence, would become Phillipe's unlikely caretaker. Quick-thinking, unsentimental, and more than a little wild, Abdel surprises both himself and his employer.
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loved it
- By RockyDog on 01-31-19
By: Abdel Sellou
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The Hour I First Believed
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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When high-school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives. But when Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right.
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excellent all around yarn
- By G. on 01-10-09
By: Wally Lamb
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Blue
- A Novel
- By: Danielle Steel
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Ginny Carter was once a rising star in TV news, married to a top anchorman, with a three-year-old son and a full and happy life in Beverly Hills - until her whole world dissolved in a single instant on the freeway two days before Christmas. In the aftermath, she pieces her life back together and tries to find meaning in her existence as a human rights worker in the worst areas around the globe.
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Striaght to the heart story telling.
- By Christine Richardson on 01-25-16
By: Danielle Steel
What listeners say about A Terrible Country
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-06-18
Wonderful!
This book was an amazing listen. I forgot by the end that the voice wasn’t actually the character, and it was such a nuanced and multifaceted look at Russia in a time where we are so often forgetting about the country’s people.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Melissa Cribb
- 11-15-18
Engaging. Revealing.
Engaging. Revealing. Culturally, politically and psychologically insightful. Full of heart and humanity. A young academic looking for a place to belong, an aging grandmother and a troubled country. Because of my perpetual interest in mysterious Russia (and its history), my favorite line was something about Russia being located in a very geographically and politically challenging location, being a vast country, and “barely governed.”
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- Trevor Hazen
- 10-03-21
very cynical
i liked it. i thought the protagonist was kind of pathetic and the story overall is very cynical politically but it paints a clear and compelling picture of what i assume is a semi-autobiography of Keith Gessen. if that is the case then I'm sorry for calling you pathetic, or at least your fictionalized version of you. i won't spoil it but the main character does something very, very stupid and it results in only positive consequences for him but very negative consequences for all his friends. at least he is self aware, but really has no convictions of his own to make things right. it's depressing.
the performance is great!
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- victoria Roberts
- 01-12-19
Applause
A round of applause for Ari Fliakos, who does a majestic job of narrating this book- a "light" novel with such depth about Russia. Keith Gessen imparts so much information in an effortless and delightful way. A wonderful writer. Many thanks for this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jeff Lacy
- 05-30-22
Entertaining
Ari Fliakos gives an engaging performance, embodying the many characters in the novel, as well as the pathos, the humor, and humanity of this robust novel
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ecarlson2
- 09-19-21
Incredible Perormance
Great novel. Superior audible performance. A quick, refreshingly thoughtful read. Would recommend if you’re looking to learn some Russian history and be entertained all the while.
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- RLV
- 09-01-18
Daily life in Putin’s Moscow
An American of Russian origin finds himself in Moscow with the unenviable job of caring for his frail, elderly grandmother. Although he speaks fluent Rusdian, he is a stranger to life in this corner of the world. The novel humorously tells the story of how the protagonist builds relationships and a social circle, one Russian at a time.
A fine novel.
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- hibernicus707
- 09-02-18
Don't want it to end
I'm about three-fourths through "A Terrible Country", and I don't want it to end. It's a great story from so many viewpoints-- as a tale of trying to make it in Putin's Moscow, a story of a grandmother-grandson relationship in which each needs the other, a story of coming to terms with life in a country not of one's choosing-- whether as a thirty-something academic or as an elderly woman whose whole world has changed beyond recognition. There is much practical wisdom and ironic humor as well. The narration is masterful-- the best I've heard in over 200 audio books I've listened to.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Paul Cassat
- 10-29-21
Fantastic
Best Audiobook I've listed to in years. Funny, heartfelt and thought provoking. If you like Ari Fliakos as a narrator (I do), you'll likely be very pleased with his performance.
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- Carolyn T.
- 06-23-21
A Modern Tale of Russia
A moving story about family set against the backdrop of modern day Russia. I enjoyed every single plot line of this novel—the myriad of characters depicted perfectly by the narrator, Ari Fliakos. Mr. Fliakos is an extremely talented narrator and edifies this story tremendously. Highly recommend this novel.
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