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one lonely middle-aged man (46 M) meets another lonely middle-aged man (51 M) and together find peace for the first time in their lives The book is a mystery with three main players: Kolkhanov’s former teacher, who has summoned him here and tasked him with studying the effects of radiation on animals, an unusually principled KGB officer with whom Valery develops a friendship, and Valery himself.
and i don't think every book should be catered to me obviously, but i adored natasha pulley's the kingdoms, and i was looking forward to reading this one! it's always interesting to read books in settings that are meaningful or familiar to me. perhaps this time it felt a little too personal and uncomfortable, and i couldn't shake off that feeling of wrongness, despite the book starting off strong and gripping right away. Pulley's broad perspective distinguishes her work from that of more-routine thriller authors. Studded with memorable characters and deepened by its exploration of thorny moral issues, The Half Life of Valery K is gripping popular entertainment with a pleasing intellectual heft.
What can you do when a government refuses to hear bad news about a deadly pandemic, climate change, a possible accident that will endanger the lives of millions, and instead prefers to broadcast lies and misinformation? This novel follows Valery, a scientist who was sentenced to the gulag during Stalin's regime and who is later transported to City 40 to work on the radiation research being carried out.
Overall, it's a story that's easy to follow and safe to enjoy. I really didn't have a problem with the plot until near the end. But the ending is a culmination of problems I have with all of Pulley's books, so it may not resonate with new readers. Also Pulley has this trend in her books where all her female characters are unemotional, ruthless, often despicable girlbosses because defying gender norms I guess, and this sometimes results in interesting characters (like the antagonist of this book, a shady scientist lady who is the only compelling character). But then she does this thing where she will violently bulldoze every single one of these women because they get in the way of the gay couple. The girl Valery had a crush on? Shot in the head by Sexy KGB Man! Sexy KGB Man’s wife? She has terminal cancer after being forced to work in the radiation-poisoned town by her husband’s predicament! Evil scientist lady? She meets a violent end too, but this I’m less mad about because at least she injected some menace into this stale ass book. OH and there’s also an entire train carriage of women who get raped to death in front of Valery, for the purposes of making Valery grow a spine (it’s literally so he has something heroic to do i.e. take revenge on the rapists by murdering them all, in an attempt to make the audience sympathise with him more. Reader, I did not like him more.) But also can we talk about how most of Pulley's female characters are mean hardasses? Grace, Agatha and now Rezovskaya (and Anna to a lesser extent), they all seem to be cut from the same ruthless cloth, and they are all eliminated in awful ways because they stand in the gay couple's way. I don't know if this is newsflash, but there is no need for these characters to be in the book? There's no reason for a woman to stand in their way... and honestly the ending made me feel incredibly queasy, because I honestly doubt Shenkov would have left his children. Nope. And the way he seems to have almost forgotten them? uffff. It just didn't sit well with me. Side note: Pulley’s original title, Rust Country, was a hell of a lot better than The Half Life of Valery K. But book trends are a thing, so I understand why the publisher pushed for it. Please shelve this book next to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and all the other The X Lives of Y books.i wanted to like this book, i wanted to like valery - and i did, until it was revealed he took part in human experiments on jewish people and homosexuals in nazi germany, with the literal, actual josef mengele. god i wish i was kidding. i cannot tell you how unprepared and blindsided i was encountering the smiling and polite character of dr. mengele in a (among other things, romance!!!!!) book that i knew handled heavy subjects, but maybe not *quite* like this. The everyday conversations, and the important ones. Language: English Words: 3,897 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 5 Kudos: 23 Bookmarks: 3 Hits: 158
At this point, Pulley has a very specific formula. If you liked her previous books, you will love this one. If you didn’t like her previous books, this probably won’t be your cup of tea. I happen to adore her books, so this was extremely up my alley and had me staying up past any reasonable bedtime because I couldn’t put the book down. It’s one of those awkward ones where I did still like the book, but it has parts which I disliked on a spectrum ranging from slightly to intensely. And I never thought this would be something I’d say about a Natasha Pulley book, but here we are. thank you to bloomsbury for sending me an arc of the half life of valery k in exchange for an honest review The novel opens in a prison camp, where our central character, the Valery K of the title, suddenly finds he's being transferred to who-knows-where. Is he being sent to a different camp? Is he simply going to be taken out into the woods and shot? Is he being set up for a second set of accusations and punishment? Is he about to be tortured to try to force out any information he didn't provide when originally arrested? The dialogue in this book was also just tonally all over the place given the events happening in the plot. At one point the main character says “I’m just a little science elf” TO A KGB AGENT. Bro, what?! I felt INSANE.He thought he’d controlled his voice well, but beyond the cubicle door, Shenkov stopped pacing, and there was a long silence. However, it felt like the writing was just a band aid for the larger issues this book had, both in plotting and in subject matter
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