Smashed in the USSR: Fear, Loathing and Vodka on the Steppes (2013) Ivan Petrov, Caroline Walton (multi)

Smashed in the USSR: Fear, Loathing and Vodka on the Steppes by Ivan Petrov, Caroline Walton


Format: mobi/epub/azw3
Length: 202 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction/Russia/Biography
Date: 28 May 2013

Who am I? An alcoholic and a tramp. But I am no white raven. Our alcoholics outnumber the populations of France and Spain combined. And that's only the men. If you count women you have to add on all Scandinavia and throw in Monaco for good measure.

For forty years Ivan Petrov careered, stumbled, staggered and rampaged all over the vast Soviet empire. Homeless (an illegal condition in the communist utopia), in and out of prison camps, almost always drunk, and with a gift for hilariously sending up the tragic absurdities of Soviet life, Ivan was a real-life Svejk. This is his unforgettable story, as told to Caroline Walton just before his death. The text is complemented by twelve original illustrations by Natalia Vetrova.

Author:

Ivan Petrov was born in 1934 in the industrial town of Chapaevsk. His father was shot by Stalin as an 'enemy of the people', and Ivan was brought up by his mother and violent stepfather - both alcoholics, along with most of the rest of the town. By his early 20s, Ivan had also succumbed to the lure of the bottle. 'Smashed in the USSR' is his eye-opening, frequently eye-watering story.