Top 10 best books by Russian authors: popular modern prose

The whole world knows classical Russian literature. The works of Pushkin, Chekhov, Dostoevsky are loved in many countries. Despite the fact that the names of modern writers are not widely known, their novels and works are popular with the modern reading part of the population, and are also awarded prestigious Russian and international literary awards.

We present you a list of the 10 best books by Russian authors: modern prose, popular for 2019. Subtle philosophical works that are interesting to read.

10 Ostromov, or the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Dmitry Bykov

At the heart of the plot of the novelOstromov, or the Sorcerer’s Apprentice” lies the so-called “Case of the Leningrad Freemasons” of 1925-1926. However, as is often found in other works of the author, it plays the role of only scenery for a complex narrative about human destinies at a turning point in Russian history.

In fact, this book is about rapidly changing ideas about good and evil, about courage, which seems to be something insignificant. In addition, there are reflections on whether our country is going to experience something similar again.

9. Bury me behind the plinth, Pavel Sanaev

“Bury Me Behind the Baseboard” is a poignant story of a nine-year-old boy, Sasha, who lives in the house of his grandparents. His mother lives with her new husband, so the grandmother does not trust the upbringing of her grandson to her “dissolute” daughter. She practically hates her and her son-in-law, calling him a bloodsucker dwarf, and constantly turns her grandson against her.

Her hurting “love” for her grandson is nothing more than a desire to get a submissive living toy, over which you can exercise your power in every possible way. This so-called concern for the child helps her to revel in a sense of her own importance and to be in her own eyes a martyr, all of whose misfortunes are associated with the ingratitude of loved ones, including her husband and grandson.

This dramatic story is based on childhood memories of the author of the story. For a long time he was forced to live in the family of his grandfather – the famous Soviet actor Vsevolod Sanaev and his wife Lydia.

8. Heart of Parma, Alexey Ivanov

In the novel “heart of parma” describes the events that took place in the XV century from the birth of Christ, but here the chronology is from the creation of the world. The Moscow principality, becoming stronger, is eyeing the wealth of its neighbors, near and far.

Rus’ is slowly but surely mastering the Urals. And there – not wild small peoples, but real pagan principalities, an almost prehistoric taiga world, bizarre and scary for outsiders. Here they do not pray to Christ and the Mother of God, in these places they worship the cruel gods of fate.

Will Orthodoxy overcome the thicket denseness of the taiga? Will representatives of indigenous peoples be able to become Russians? And will the Russians become locals?

7. Three apples fell from the sky, Narine Abgaryan

“Three apples fell from the sky” is the story of a small village, lost high in the mountains, and its inhabitants. Each of the characters has its own oddities, while you can see the incredible treasures of the spirit.

In style and content, the novel can be compared to Marquez’s Nobel Prize-winning work, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

6. Legends of Nevsky Prospekt, Mikhail Veller

“Legends of Nevsky Prospekt” is a collection of ironic stories about amazing characters and events that influenced the history of the northern capital.

The author describes in detail the everyday life of representatives of various professions: speculators, military men, sailors, prostitutes, ordinary citizens, officials, and so on.

5. Case of Kukotsky, Ludmila Ulitskaya

“Case of Kukotsky” is a novel that describes the long life of the family of Professor Pavel Kukotsky, a scientist who did a lot to ensure that the law on the re-legalization of abortions was adopted in the Soviet state. Against the background of the private experiences of the main characters, there are more global events related to the history of the USSR.

The work includes 4 parts. In the first one, a story is told about the life of the main characters: Kukotsky himself, his wife Elena, daughter Tatyana, taken under guardianship, as well as the former nun Vasilisa Gavrilovna, who has been living in this family for a very long time.

The second part of the novel is Elena’s dream, immersing her in a borderline state between life and death. The third part describes the life of the family until Tanya’s death during the second birth. The fourth part tells about several episodes from the life of Elena, who lives in Tamara’s family, and Tanya’s daughter Zhenya.

4. Sin, Zahar Prilepin

Novel “Sin” tells about the life of the alter ego of the author himself, introducing the reader to the rude, sometimes quite tough protagonist.

Prilepin draws his Zakhar as an unambiguously positive character, whose view of life boils down to a clear division of events and people into black and white, while the hero tries to remain on the “side of good” even in the most difficult situation. In principle, he succeeds in this: in the whirlpool of various adventures, he shows himself from the best side, putting all his strength into helping the suffering.

Here Prilepin creates, in a certain sense, the ideal hero of our time: a simple guy, endowed with remarkable worldly ingenuity and rich experience, trying to make this world a better place to the best of his ability.

3. Finist – a clear falcon, Andrey Rubanov

Novel “Finist – clear falcon” is written in the language of oral visitation. This story has never been displayed by anyone in written language, since at the time when all this happened, the alphabet did not yet exist.

A girl named Marya went around the whole earth and reached the very sky, trying to find her beloved – Finist, who was not a man. No one hoped that she would achieve her goal, but everyone helped her.

In those distant times, ancient snakes, mavkas, kikimoras and other fabulous creatures lived next to people. Three men were in love with Marya, not hoping for her reciprocal feelings. One of them – protected, the other showed the way to the ends of the earth, the third – brought to the sky. And Marya is driven by love, which can move the Earth off its axis …

2. Secret views of Mount Fuji, Victor Pelevin

Novel “Secret views of Mount Fuji” talks about a Russian businessman named Damian Ulitin and his startup “Fuji experiences”, which is a way to sell people happiness. The entrepreneur offers his clients to use the list of procedures, after which the long-lost joy of being will return to them.

Parallel to the main storyline, there is a description of how the protagonist’s girlfriend joins the New Hunters sect, which bases its teachings on the so-called “esoteric feminism”.

1. Pismovnik, Mikhail Shishkin

“Writer” is written in the style of love correspondence. The hero writes to his beloved from the front – he takes part in the joint campaign of the combined Russian, American, German, Japanese and French troops to Beijing to suppress the Ihetuan uprising, which took place in 1900. The main character lives a great life, which is reflected in the messages to her beloved who died in the war.

Mikhail Shishkin is considered by many critics to be the finest stylist of contemporary Russian intellectual prose. He manages to write easily and naturally about the most difficult for a person and the most important beautiful literary language, which, it seems, is worthy of poetry. In the center of the work – as always – love, longer than life.