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The Last Hiccup
1929 Russia, Vladimir 8 suffers chronic hiccups. In a Moscow hospital, famous Sergei Namestikov conducts bizarre experiments for a cure until his rival, Alexander Afiniganov, discovers pure evil beneath the boy's blank eyes and removes the child from polite society. Abandoned by all but his hiccups, we follow Vlad home via surreal encounters for 12 years.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2012
About the author
Christopher Meades
5 books119 followersChristopher Meades is a Vancouver author whose novel The Last Hiccup won the 2013 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction.
His first novel The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark was released by ECW Press in 2010, followed by The Last Hiccup (2012) and For The Love of Mary (2016). Fall 2017 will see the release of Hanna Who Fell From The Sky (Park Row Books).
His story The Walking Lady won the 2009 Toyon fiction prize. His fiction has been featured in The Fiddlehead, Upstreet, The Dalhousie Review, Vancouver Province, Write On, The Delinquent (UK), Welter (Baltimore U.), Inch, Cause & Effect, Inscape, Toyon, The Offbeat, Delivered (UK), The Feathertale Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Canadian Stories, The Potomac Review, The Penguin Review, Thema and Nonymous.
His first novel The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark was released by ECW Press in 2010, followed by The Last Hiccup (2012) and For The Love of Mary (2016). Fall 2017 will see the release of Hanna Who Fell From The Sky (Park Row Books).
His story The Walking Lady won the 2009 Toyon fiction prize. His fiction has been featured in The Fiddlehead, Upstreet, The Dalhousie Review, Vancouver Province, Write On, The Delinquent (UK), Welter (Baltimore U.), Inch, Cause & Effect, Inscape, Toyon, The Offbeat, Delivered (UK), The Feathertale Review, Sierra Nevada Review, Canadian Stories, The Potomac Review, The Penguin Review, Thema and Nonymous.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 11, 2014
Whilst trolling through the ebook aisle at the virtual library, I came across this oddly named novel. The title, coupled with the striking cover, almost suggests a childlike aspect; however, this is not a story for the kiddies.
Russia, 1929. Vlademir is a little boy with a seemingly incurable case of the hiccups. Two renowned doctors, fierce rivals, compete to find the magic bullet that will effect a cure. Sergei is tortured by his inner demons, while Alexander is obsessed with his own brilliance. They have stashed the little boy in an insane asylum while they try everything from shock therapy, to starvation, to asphyxia to rid Vlademir of his yelping spasms. Also in the mix is a narcoleptic nurse, a dwarfling psychiatrist, and a traitorous orange cat.
The writing is full of primo descriptions. I could see (and came all too close to smelling) a deaf old woman with an odorous foot fungus cooking her meals on top of the radiator, her two cats endlessly twining around her ankles. Fabulous! We learn of a 'cruel and confusing checkered floor pattern' at the Metro station. Also good was the elderly woman with her room full of clocks and her obstinate son who studiously ignored those timepieces in favor of his own wristwatch. Not a big deal, but it tickled me.
An unusual read.
Russia, 1929. Vlademir is a little boy with a seemingly incurable case of the hiccups. Two renowned doctors, fierce rivals, compete to find the magic bullet that will effect a cure. Sergei is tortured by his inner demons, while Alexander is obsessed with his own brilliance. They have stashed the little boy in an insane asylum while they try everything from shock therapy, to starvation, to asphyxia to rid Vlademir of his yelping spasms. Also in the mix is a narcoleptic nurse, a dwarfling psychiatrist, and a traitorous orange cat.
The writing is full of primo descriptions. I could see (and came all too close to smelling) a deaf old woman with an odorous foot fungus cooking her meals on top of the radiator, her two cats endlessly twining around her ankles. Fabulous! We learn of a 'cruel and confusing checkered floor pattern' at the Metro station. Also good was the elderly woman with her room full of clocks and her obstinate son who studiously ignored those timepieces in favor of his own wristwatch. Not a big deal, but it tickled me.
An unusual read.
April 28, 2024
DNF @ 27%
May 12, 2017
I just found out The Last Hiccup won the 2013 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction. You can read about the award and the novels that were part of the shortlist here
Thanks for checking out my book ...
Thanks for checking out my book ...
December 7, 2013
The first thing I want to say about Christopher Meades is that he can put a sentence together like no other. His use of the English language is absolutely beautiful, and simply put, it's like literary magic. It's quirky, unique, and by Odin's beard it's damn funny. His use of imagery conjure vivid scenes full of detail, some that caused me to throw my head back in laughter, and the dialogue is always a joy to read.
Although I didn't like The Last Hiccup as much as I did The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (if you haven't read it yet then I suggest you put your life on hold so that you do!), it's still a great book. My first thought upon reading the title was "How does one write a book about everlasting hiccups?" But Christopher Meades does it and does it well! I'll admit that I hadn't expected it to play out the way it did, but that's not a bad thing. Vladimir is an interesting, complex character, and the rest of the cast are just as great. Especially Dr. Sergei, some of his scenes were my favorite.
Lastly, Meades' definitely has a flair for dramatic endings. This one certainly doesn't disappoint. I was glued to the pages and could hardly keep myself from ripping them out in the haste I was in to turn them.
After The Last Hiccup, and especially The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark, I can hardly wait for Christopher Meades' next novel!
Although I didn't like The Last Hiccup as much as I did The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (if you haven't read it yet then I suggest you put your life on hold so that you do!), it's still a great book. My first thought upon reading the title was "How does one write a book about everlasting hiccups?" But Christopher Meades does it and does it well! I'll admit that I hadn't expected it to play out the way it did, but that's not a bad thing. Vladimir is an interesting, complex character, and the rest of the cast are just as great. Especially Dr. Sergei, some of his scenes were my favorite.
Lastly, Meades' definitely has a flair for dramatic endings. This one certainly doesn't disappoint. I was glued to the pages and could hardly keep myself from ripping them out in the haste I was in to turn them.
After The Last Hiccup, and especially The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark, I can hardly wait for Christopher Meades' next novel!
August 17, 2012
Probably a 1.5.
Vladimir lives in Russia and he has the hiccups for 12 years... No one seems to be able to cure them! It starts out with him hating them but then they come to be a part of his identity even though everyone else finds them annoying.
The only reason this book got a 1.5 instead of a one is because you start to see things through Vladimir's eyes halfway through the book and he is slightly more likable than the rest of the characters. I really disliked the portrayal of almost all the women in this book. The men are not much better. I could tell the author was trying to be funny but it just came across as sexist.
I also thought this was a waste of a good era to write about. All the rich cultural and historical things you could choose write about and for a good third of the book, you have no idea it's taking place in the 30's except for when it says "1929" at the beginning of the section...
Also, the end is stupid.
Vladimir lives in Russia and he has the hiccups for 12 years... No one seems to be able to cure them! It starts out with him hating them but then they come to be a part of his identity even though everyone else finds them annoying.
The only reason this book got a 1.5 instead of a one is because you start to see things through Vladimir's eyes halfway through the book and he is slightly more likable than the rest of the characters. I really disliked the portrayal of almost all the women in this book. The men are not much better. I could tell the author was trying to be funny but it just came across as sexist.
I also thought this was a waste of a good era to write about. All the rich cultural and historical things you could choose write about and for a good third of the book, you have no idea it's taking place in the 30's except for when it says "1929" at the beginning of the section...
Also, the end is stupid.
April 30, 2012
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
This quirky piece of literary fiction almost exactly illustrates, nearly as a textbook example, the inherent problem of writing quirky literary fiction; that once you get past the quirky gimmick that draws people in (here, the tale of a boy in 1930s Russia who starts hiccuping one day, and literally doesn't stop for decades), it can become an insurmountable challenge to come up with anything interesting after that, a common problem among academic short-story veterans who try taking on full-length novels. And so in author Christopher Meades' case, he adds a rambling, digressive plot that involves our hero being shuttled away to a sanitarium for years, to re-enter society just in time to not understand the profound changes to Russian society that Stalinism and World War Two have brought, and to get caught up in a series of adventures that help to illuminate Forrest-Gump-style many of the developments this part of the world saw in the early 20th century; and while this can be clever at times, and is definitely at least well-written, the vast majority of the book really has nothing to do with the titular gimmick at all, and in fact it's hard to understand what the hiccups are doing in this story in the first place other than to serve as a "running motif" off which to hang the bland, underdeveloped plot, yet another common thing you see among academic veterans of short fiction trying to pad out one of their ideas into a full novel. Interesting for what it is, it's absolutely worth your time if you ever come across it at the library or on a friend's bookshelf, but I can't honestly encourage people to go and actively seek out a copy.
Out of 10: 7.9
This quirky piece of literary fiction almost exactly illustrates, nearly as a textbook example, the inherent problem of writing quirky literary fiction; that once you get past the quirky gimmick that draws people in (here, the tale of a boy in 1930s Russia who starts hiccuping one day, and literally doesn't stop for decades), it can become an insurmountable challenge to come up with anything interesting after that, a common problem among academic short-story veterans who try taking on full-length novels. And so in author Christopher Meades' case, he adds a rambling, digressive plot that involves our hero being shuttled away to a sanitarium for years, to re-enter society just in time to not understand the profound changes to Russian society that Stalinism and World War Two have brought, and to get caught up in a series of adventures that help to illuminate Forrest-Gump-style many of the developments this part of the world saw in the early 20th century; and while this can be clever at times, and is definitely at least well-written, the vast majority of the book really has nothing to do with the titular gimmick at all, and in fact it's hard to understand what the hiccups are doing in this story in the first place other than to serve as a "running motif" off which to hang the bland, underdeveloped plot, yet another common thing you see among academic veterans of short fiction trying to pad out one of their ideas into a full novel. Interesting for what it is, it's absolutely worth your time if you ever come across it at the library or on a friend's bookshelf, but I can't honestly encourage people to go and actively seek out a copy.
Out of 10: 7.9
December 16, 2012
I just... don't know about this one. I wanted to like it, but didn't especially. (I did finish it in two days, though. I'm not sure why that feels significant, but it's rare that I barrel through a story so intently.) It's the story of a little boy, Vladimir, who gets the hiccups one day and just doesn't stop having them. Hours, days, weeks, years go by and they still don't stop. The first part of the book is devoted to some doctors' attempts to make the hiccups stop, and when I was reading this section, I just wished it were a short story, rather than a short novel. Then things move along a little and it's from Vlad's perspective, which does improve things, but it just never quite gels for me.
I think the nearest book I could compare this to would be Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, though I can't say why and it's been a few years since I read that. I suppose they're both slightly absurd stories that feel as if they ought to be fables, but neither one comes with the moral that you expect at the end. I preferred Perfume by a pretty long shot, anyway.
I think the nearest book I could compare this to would be Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, though I can't say why and it's been a few years since I read that. I suppose they're both slightly absurd stories that feel as if they ought to be fables, but neither one comes with the moral that you expect at the end. I preferred Perfume by a pretty long shot, anyway.
November 29, 2012
What a strange book full of unusual characters. The story line took all kinds of twists and turns I didn't expect. The writing was wooden at times but still kept my interest and kept me guessing as to what would happen next. (Was he born a psyco or was he made one?)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2012
Disturbingly and darkly funny. It made me snort and cry.
May 2, 2013
this was a very interesting book that read like some sort of folk lore, but with added humor and more interesting characters in it.
it's a slim book, a rather quick read, but it packs in quite a lot of 'adventure' -- if you can call the travels of Vlad adventures. he's an interesting boy (and then, man), with not much to say, besides hiccups. i think the real punch behind this book are all the madcap characters he meets along the way. while it's set up to be a story about Vlad -- it's really not. it's the story of everyone around him. from his doctors, to his mother, to all the people he meets in his travels across Russia (and Mongolia).
i found most of the characters he met charming and likeable and they often made me chuckle. even the ones i may not have been supposed to. the story is really well written, quiet beautiful prose. Meades has a nice way with words...good descriptions that keep you wanting more.
the ending left me a little bewildered. i was actually quite disappointed by it. to be honest, i really disliked it. but the over all quality of the book, the writing, the characters and the story were enough for me to overlook the final chapter, the 'resolution' and rate the book 4 stars.
i would read another Meades book in a heartbeat.
it's a slim book, a rather quick read, but it packs in quite a lot of 'adventure' -- if you can call the travels of Vlad adventures. he's an interesting boy (and then, man), with not much to say, besides hiccups. i think the real punch behind this book are all the madcap characters he meets along the way. while it's set up to be a story about Vlad -- it's really not. it's the story of everyone around him. from his doctors, to his mother, to all the people he meets in his travels across Russia (and Mongolia).
i found most of the characters he met charming and likeable and they often made me chuckle. even the ones i may not have been supposed to. the story is really well written, quiet beautiful prose. Meades has a nice way with words...good descriptions that keep you wanting more.
the ending left me a little bewildered. i was actually quite disappointed by it. to be honest, i really disliked it. but the over all quality of the book, the writing, the characters and the story were enough for me to overlook the final chapter, the 'resolution' and rate the book 4 stars.
i would read another Meades book in a heartbeat.
April 17, 2012
The Last Hiccup, a work of historical fiction, is somewhat outside my 'comfort zone' of genres. Fortunately for me, I don't think it fits very comfortably inside that genre, so I was very pleasantly surprised. It was funnier, and stranger, and more rollicking than a lot of other historical fiction, and maybe even than a lot of other novels in general.
The protagonist, Vlad, also impressed me. At the beginning of the story I was worried that I would never be able to relate to him, but by the end, I discovered that he had a lot of depth. He's like that shy guy in your social circle that, one day, you realize you know really well, and really like, even though you're not sure how or when that happened.
The bleak setting(s) for this story allow all the characters to show some colour, without needing to sacrifice any subtlety in the descriptive style of the book. This serves to make the supporting cast in this book interesting without being garish, and humorous without being too comical.
And finally, I loved the ending - it kept me guessing, and kept me awake reading, and I was surprised. A great read!
The protagonist, Vlad, also impressed me. At the beginning of the story I was worried that I would never be able to relate to him, but by the end, I discovered that he had a lot of depth. He's like that shy guy in your social circle that, one day, you realize you know really well, and really like, even though you're not sure how or when that happened.
The bleak setting(s) for this story allow all the characters to show some colour, without needing to sacrifice any subtlety in the descriptive style of the book. This serves to make the supporting cast in this book interesting without being garish, and humorous without being too comical.
And finally, I loved the ending - it kept me guessing, and kept me awake reading, and I was surprised. A great read!
May 1, 2012
Vladimir is celebrating his eighth birthday when he starts hiccuping and continues and continues. Of course, his mother is very concerned and when the hiccupping does not stop travels from her small town in Russia to a bigger one in order to consult with a doctor. This doctor tries all the tried and true methods of stopping the hiccups to no avail.
Vlad is brought to Moscow by Sergei Namestikov, a famous physician. Numerous treatments are tried; bizarre, painful and unsuccessful. Sergei's nemesis and an even more famous doctor, Alexander Afiniganov is brought in to see Vlad.
Alexander believes that Vlad is the essence of pure evil and spirits him away from Moscow into the outer reaches of Mongolia. Vlad grows up comforted by his hiccupping and returns to Moscow a changed man.
This book is quirky and filled with dark humour. It is vaguely historical as it is set in 1930s Russia. I thoroughly enjoyed the read but felt I would have liked to read a bit more of Vlad's years in Mongolia.
I love the quirkiness of Christopher Meades' works. They really appeal to me. And I loved, loved, loved the ending.
Vlad is brought to Moscow by Sergei Namestikov, a famous physician. Numerous treatments are tried; bizarre, painful and unsuccessful. Sergei's nemesis and an even more famous doctor, Alexander Afiniganov is brought in to see Vlad.
Alexander believes that Vlad is the essence of pure evil and spirits him away from Moscow into the outer reaches of Mongolia. Vlad grows up comforted by his hiccupping and returns to Moscow a changed man.
This book is quirky and filled with dark humour. It is vaguely historical as it is set in 1930s Russia. I thoroughly enjoyed the read but felt I would have liked to read a bit more of Vlad's years in Mongolia.
I love the quirkiness of Christopher Meades' works. They really appeal to me. And I loved, loved, loved the ending.
April 6, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this new book by Christopher Meades!
Meades has such a unique and quirky writing style. He is able to create a miniature work of art with each phrase - some bold word choices here, some subtle details there. All these touches come together to create a comprehensive vision of character and story unlike anything else that I have read.
The characters are multi-dimensional and I never quite resolved if I was routing for or against them. The darkly comic tone throughout the novel kept me smiling and sometimes even laughing out loud.
My only complaint is that I wish there was more. There is a significant time gap in the middle of book and I had to use my imagination to fill in the details - imagine that - an author making me think!
There are certainly elements of parable, lost father figures and growth expressed as a physical journey. But at a basic level it is simply an enjoyable story.
Meades has such a unique and quirky writing style. He is able to create a miniature work of art with each phrase - some bold word choices here, some subtle details there. All these touches come together to create a comprehensive vision of character and story unlike anything else that I have read.
The characters are multi-dimensional and I never quite resolved if I was routing for or against them. The darkly comic tone throughout the novel kept me smiling and sometimes even laughing out loud.
My only complaint is that I wish there was more. There is a significant time gap in the middle of book and I had to use my imagination to fill in the details - imagine that - an author making me think!
There are certainly elements of parable, lost father figures and growth expressed as a physical journey. But at a basic level it is simply an enjoyable story.
April 9, 2012
I come here to praise Chris, not to fear him. I was a fan of his debut novel The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark, an unceasingly silly chase novel that gave me no end of pleasure. So when approached, I gladly agreed to blurb his novel (a professional first!), for his sophomore effort The Last Hiccup is everything I look for in a novel; funny, weird, vaguely historical, barely linear, ambiguous, and saturated with synchronous diaphragmatic flutter. Having suffered from a lengthy bout of the devil's esophageal convulsions myself (seven days, no fooling), perhaps I'm inclined to sympathize with Vladimir, the young Russian boy who starts hiccuping at age eight and continues to do so for decades.
Read the rest of the review here.
Read the rest of the review here.
April 9, 2013
This book was odd. It was presented as some sort of "battle between the all-powerful forces of good and evil" as represented by ... hiccups, somehow? But it actually had nothing to do with that. The only part that comes close is when Vladimir - the young boy with hiccups, whose doctor is trying everything he can to cure him - is meeting with a psychiatrist who tells the doctor that Vladimir is a psychopath, pure evil, no soul, will kill them all and feel nothing, etc. Not only do we not get to know what Vladimir did or said to prompt this diagnosis, but the pure evil is not really mentioned again. And Vladimir (spoiler!) never kills anyone, and doesn't act evil or even particularly unpleasant to anybody either. So what the hell? I don't know. That's about all I have to say on this one. Perhaps I would have liked it more if it was presented more accurately, but ... maybe not.
September 28, 2012
My face might have frozen into the pained expression I maintained while reading this. I'm sorry. This was meandering and full of dead-end threads. It's a farce I guess. Maybe I just don't get it--that's altogether possible. But from the very first page where I found, I think, an error, I just read on out of curiosity. I don't think they had peanut butter in remote villages in 1929 Soviet Union. I'm not even sure peanuts are common in that part of the world. Quibbling, maybe but it set a tone. I can't recommend this.
July 3, 2012
I've never read anything quite like this book before! Congratulations Christopher Meades on creating a unique and quirky world filled with many finely crafted sentences and interestign situations. Though I felt a bit sorry for Vlad, especially during the early chapters (yikes!), I definitely wanted to know that he was going to be okay. LOVE the cover as well!
September 25, 2012
Excellent. My heart wept for Vladimir through his whole journey, especially by the end of the book, when I was outraged but pleasantly surprised,and without spoiling anything I can say the ending suits the story perfectly. Loved it.
November 16, 2013
A bit disturbing story. But once I started, I just couldn't stop. There is something about this book which I can't quite place with words!
January 19, 2016
Absurdly delightful and dark.
November 14, 2018
I was immediately captivated by the story. Meades sentences are beautiful and I enjoyed his writing, but as the story went on I found the book to be disturbing and too creepy for my tastes. I continued reading because I wanted to know how it ended and then was sorry because I felt there were lose ends to be tied up that weren't and I was so disturbed by some of the events I wished I hadn't read the book at all. I'm sure many will enjoy it, but its just not my kind of read.
April 23, 2012
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This novel was pretty unusual, and while I did enjoy reading it, I'm not quite sure what to make of. It opens in 1929 in Russia, when eight year old Vladimir gets a case of the hiccups that never goes away. Despite and extended stay at the Moscow Hospital, eventual concern for his sanity, fears that he is a dangerous sociopath, and a 12 year stay at a remote Mongolian monastery, Vladimir's hiccups remain. At the age of 20, he finally leaves Mongolia and travels across a Russia in the grip of WWII to return to Moscow and then his home village.
Vladimir's journey involves encounters with a lot of interesting and often odd people. I was particularly fascinated with Sergei and Alexander, the rival doctors who treat Vladimir, and their longstanding rivalry. There's a lot of dark humor, and poignancy along the way. Also, the ending is wonderfully written and one of the best moments of the novel.
Ultimately, while I lied what was there, I wanted more from this book. I would have liked more details about Vladimir's time at the monastery (Meades essentially glosses over it), more of Vladimir's inner life, and more about his relationship with his doctors and the treatments they attempt.
This novel was pretty unusual, and while I did enjoy reading it, I'm not quite sure what to make of. It opens in 1929 in Russia, when eight year old Vladimir gets a case of the hiccups that never goes away. Despite and extended stay at the Moscow Hospital, eventual concern for his sanity, fears that he is a dangerous sociopath, and a 12 year stay at a remote Mongolian monastery, Vladimir's hiccups remain. At the age of 20, he finally leaves Mongolia and travels across a Russia in the grip of WWII to return to Moscow and then his home village.
Vladimir's journey involves encounters with a lot of interesting and often odd people. I was particularly fascinated with Sergei and Alexander, the rival doctors who treat Vladimir, and their longstanding rivalry. There's a lot of dark humor, and poignancy along the way. Also, the ending is wonderfully written and one of the best moments of the novel.
Ultimately, while I lied what was there, I wanted more from this book. I would have liked more details about Vladimir's time at the monastery (Meades essentially glosses over it), more of Vladimir's inner life, and more about his relationship with his doctors and the treatments they attempt.
April 2, 2012
I really enjoyed this book!
Little Vladimir sucked me in at once, and the humour, while subtle at times, had me laughing out loud during some parts. Without being spoilery, I can say that the scene in the barn and the killer cat had me giggling with glee.
Christopher Meades's writing feels like an artform in itself, with the way it flows and paints beautiful pictures in your mind.
His characters are wonderfully endearing and this story almost has a folktale feel to it.
Of course, with the good must come the bad, and in The Last Hiccup, sadly, there IS some bad.
It's just not long enough. Mr. Meades skips full years that I would have LOVED to have read about.
I also found there was too much detail in the beginning about Valdimir's Doctors and not enough about Valdimir himself.
But the ending...Ah, the ending. That completely makes up for any faults or shortcomings this book may have.
It's beautiful and touching and almost serene. The perfect ending for such a wonderful novel.
Little Vladimir sucked me in at once, and the humour, while subtle at times, had me laughing out loud during some parts. Without being spoilery, I can say that the scene in the barn and the killer cat had me giggling with glee.
Christopher Meades's writing feels like an artform in itself, with the way it flows and paints beautiful pictures in your mind.
His characters are wonderfully endearing and this story almost has a folktale feel to it.
Of course, with the good must come the bad, and in The Last Hiccup, sadly, there IS some bad.
It's just not long enough. Mr. Meades skips full years that I would have LOVED to have read about.
I also found there was too much detail in the beginning about Valdimir's Doctors and not enough about Valdimir himself.
But the ending...Ah, the ending. That completely makes up for any faults or shortcomings this book may have.
It's beautiful and touching and almost serene. The perfect ending for such a wonderful novel.
April 6, 2012
The Last Hiccup is the story of Vladimir, a ten year old boy who has the hiccups. Vlad is taken away from his mother and moved to a hospital. He undergoes harsh treatments and then is kidnapped by a doctor and taken to a Northern Mongolia and left. He leaves a decade later as a young man only to find the world had changed. His life then continues with a journey of harsh reality and sadness.
I did not like "The Last Hiccup" because I felt sad for Vlad through the entire book. I did find a bit of joy when he was reunited with his mother for I an sure she suffered immensely not knowing where he was all those years.
Please don't let my review discourage anyone from reading this because it is wonderfully written. It is an incredible tale and journey in a harsh world that truly could have taken place.
I did not like "The Last Hiccup" because I felt sad for Vlad through the entire book. I did find a bit of joy when he was reunited with his mother for I an sure she suffered immensely not knowing where he was all those years.
Please don't let my review discourage anyone from reading this because it is wonderfully written. It is an incredible tale and journey in a harsh world that truly could have taken place.
April 7, 2012
Another entertaining read from Christopher Meades!
The story is set in a period and place I've previously known very little about - Russia in the 30s. Within that context, the author demonstrates the incredible lengths that society goes to address an ailment of the protagonist, Vladimir. This treatment progresses through many stages of his life, as he travels far from home and back again a changed man. This journey gives the reader an alternate look at life-changing events, while demonstrating how trust eventually leads to betrayal and sacrifice.
Although a serious look at a tragic character, this story is laced with humor and unexpected twists which kept me smiling and guessing as I flipped though pages at a record pace. Highly entertaining and enlightening, I can recommend this book to anyone seeking a twisted look at society through the eyes of an unknowing boy.
The story is set in a period and place I've previously known very little about - Russia in the 30s. Within that context, the author demonstrates the incredible lengths that society goes to address an ailment of the protagonist, Vladimir. This treatment progresses through many stages of his life, as he travels far from home and back again a changed man. This journey gives the reader an alternate look at life-changing events, while demonstrating how trust eventually leads to betrayal and sacrifice.
Although a serious look at a tragic character, this story is laced with humor and unexpected twists which kept me smiling and guessing as I flipped though pages at a record pace. Highly entertaining and enlightening, I can recommend this book to anyone seeking a twisted look at society through the eyes of an unknowing boy.
February 28, 2013
Pile poil le bouquin qui part d'une excellente idée et qui se plante dans tous les sens. Heureusement, la prose est belle. Mais c'est tout.
L'histoire se déroule en 1929 et 1940, en Russie. Soviétique la Russie, rappelons le.
Apparement c'est une Russie soviétique un peu fantasmée parce que bon, les gens ont faim, mais c'est pas la famine, les paysans ont des fermes privées, il y a certes des références aux évènements qui se deroulent en Russie et dans le monde, avec des caméos de l'armée rouge, mais bon, de façon generale, les temps sont durs, mais rien qui fonctionne vraiment si tu as appris ton histoire et déjà lu de la litterature qui se déroule dans ces années là.
Et la fin est ridicule à mon sens.
Enfin bref. Deux bouquins in a row qui me déçoivent. Pourtant la couverture était vachement chouette (et le resumé intriguant). Comme quoi, la communication ...
L'histoire se déroule en 1929 et 1940, en Russie. Soviétique la Russie, rappelons le.
Apparement c'est une Russie soviétique un peu fantasmée parce que bon, les gens ont faim, mais c'est pas la famine, les paysans ont des fermes privées, il y a certes des références aux évènements qui se deroulent en Russie et dans le monde, avec des caméos de l'armée rouge, mais bon, de façon generale, les temps sont durs, mais rien qui fonctionne vraiment si tu as appris ton histoire et déjà lu de la litterature qui se déroule dans ces années là.
Et la fin est ridicule à mon sens.
Enfin bref. Deux bouquins in a row qui me déçoivent. Pourtant la couverture était vachement chouette (et le resumé intriguant). Comme quoi, la communication ...
April 2, 2012
What happens when the only way you know how to live is with the constant metronome of hiccups every 3.7 seconds? That convulsive yelp, screaming through your system on the clock, you time your life by that sound.
Vladimir's tale is an exquisite journey that takes us from a tiny village in Russia to Moscow to a rural monastery in Mongolia, and back to Russia again, spanning the period of pre- and post-World War II. It is a tale of comedy, tragedy, love, betrayal, and the phenomenon that happens when a 20-year old man with an 8-year old's mind steps out of time into a world vastly different than the one he knows, filled with distrust, fire, massacre, and war.
The Last Hiccup is a picaresque through the soul, the phrenic nerve, and the human condition. Except more awesome.
Vladimir's tale is an exquisite journey that takes us from a tiny village in Russia to Moscow to a rural monastery in Mongolia, and back to Russia again, spanning the period of pre- and post-World War II. It is a tale of comedy, tragedy, love, betrayal, and the phenomenon that happens when a 20-year old man with an 8-year old's mind steps out of time into a world vastly different than the one he knows, filled with distrust, fire, massacre, and war.
The Last Hiccup is a picaresque through the soul, the phrenic nerve, and the human condition. Except more awesome.
January 30, 2014
1929 Russia, Vladimir 8 gets hiccups when blowing out 8th birthday candles, is sleepless for school next day. Hospital tests are torture, too real, when my veins also could not take any more needles last year doctors put in tubes, all removed within days. Past mutilated beheaded patients, nurses, deformed midget psychiatrist Markus, to chauffeur Aefin with poor vision, who put 249 people to death, in gruesome methods p 51.
Enough. My relatives were killed and chased from Russia by Reds. Skip to last two pages and be glad time not wasted in between.
Enough. My relatives were killed and chased from Russia by Reds. Skip to last two pages and be glad time not wasted in between.
October 24, 2012
This was one of those books where I think I wish I had written something like it...those with story lines ones that make you think how did he come UP with that??? However, I liked the writing more than I liked the actual story, in the end. The ending in particular left me with a "really? that's how it's ending??" feeling. Definitely a creative topic, but I was more impressed with the writing itself than with the story, which felt abrasive at points when I was not looking for something abrasive. Definitely have to be in a certain mind frame to read a book like this. Can't wait to see what the author writes next!
September 19, 2012
I wasn’t sure what to make of this book and almost gave up on it two-thirds through. If it is symbolic and allegorical in a post-modernist style, it’s not apparent until the end. The plot wanders through ten years of Vladmir’s hiccupping and various efforts to end them and I wanted it to get to the point. The hiccups come to represent our sense of our own world – that which we relate to, and defines us. Meades throws in themes of trust and betrayal, good and evil, our craving of the status quo. Originally I thought two stars but the eleventh hour symbolism, and some off-the-wall screwy zaniness that can only be a version of dark humour, elevates it to a three.
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