Access Denied
IMPORTANT! If you’re a store owner, please make sure you have Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin, as you have customer based locks set up with EasyLockdown app. Enable Customer Accounts
Comrade Koba
A Novel
Out of Stock- Regular price
- $17.99
- Sale price
- $17.99
- Regular price
-
- Unit price
- / per
A tight, captivating story of a naive child's encounters with a Soviet dictator, the 20th novel by Robert Littell
Leon Rozental-ten and a half, intellectually precocious, and possessing a disarming candor-is suddenly alone after the death of his nuclear physicist father and the arrest of his mother during the Stalinist purge of Jewish doctors. Now on his own and hiding from the NKVD in the secret rooms of the House on the Embankment, the massive building in Moscow where many Soviet officials and apparatchiks live and work, Leon starts to explore. One day, after following a passageway, Leon meets Koba, an old man whose apartment is protected by several guards. Koba is a high-ranking Soviet official with troubling insight into the thoughts and machinations of Comrade Stalin.
In this taut and layered novel, New York Times bestselling author Robert Littell deploys his deep knowledge of this complex period in Russian history and masterful talent for captivating storytelling to create a nuanced portrayal of the Soviet dictator, showing Stalin's human side and his simultaneous total disregard for and ignorance of the suffering he inflicted on the Russian people. The charm and spontaneity of young Leon make him an irresistible narrator-and not unlike Holden Caulfield, whom he admits to identifying with-caught in the spider's web of the story woven by this enigmatic old man.
In this taut and layered novel, New York Times bestselling author Robert Littell deploys his deep knowledge of this complex period in Russian history and masterful talent for captivating storytelling to create a nuanced portrayal of the Soviet dictator, showing Stalin's human side and his simultaneous total disregard for and ignorance of the suffering he inflicted on the Russian people. The charm and spontaneity of young Leon make him an irresistible narrator-and not unlike Holden Caulfield, whom he admits to identifying with-caught in the spider's web of the story woven by this enigmatic old man.
Extent: 176 pp
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 2022-03-31
Size: 20.2 x 12.9 cm
ISBN: 9781419748332
Praise for Comrade Koba
“In this short but compelling novel, Littell uses the interplay between a disarmingly discerning if naive boy and a tortured, self-justifying dictator to expose a tragic slice of muddled humanity behind the gray monolith of Stalinist Russia.”
Booklist
"Comrade Koba balances youthful innocence against infirmity and world-weariness with warmth, humor, and insight."
Historical Novel Society
...a capstone to Littell’s career, his decades-long quest to understand the origins of the Cold War, the nature of spying, and his own reckoning with Jewish identity and assimilation.
InsideHook
About the Author
Robert Littell is the author of more than a dozen other highly acclaimed novels, many about the Cold War and the Soviet Union, including his masterwork, the New York Times bestseller The Company, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award winner for Best Mystery/Thriller, Legends. An American born in Brooklyn, Littell now lives in France.
You May Also Like
View more
This product currently has no recommended items.
Sign up to our Newsletter
Our weekly newsletter is a curated collection of interviews, articles, stunning images and books we think you’ll love. Sign up to get 20% off.
In accordance with our privacy policy, you may unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid password
Enter
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.