The Eight

Zakhar Prilepin — a prose writer, publicist, musician, holder of the awards "National Bestseller," "SuperNatBest," and "Yasnaya Polyana." Author of the novels "The Abode," "Sankya," "Pathologies," "The Black Monkey," "Some Will Not Go to Hell," collections of stories "Sin," "Seven Lives," "Militia Romance," and "Boots Full of Hot Vodka." A provincial town at the end of the nineties. A quartet of cheerful and impoverished friends from the OMON enters into a struggle with local bandits. They grew up with the understanding that the strongest here must be — precisely they: wolfhounds, oprichniks, "the Tsar's people"; and so they crush the unruly and shameless wolves themselves, not waiting for an order — out of a sense not even of justice, but rather of youthful bravado: who can outdo whom?.. Eight different stories about the male world. Strong friendship and strong shoulders, to hit or be hit, youthful daring and strength, an unstoppable urge to kiss someone else's wife, cruelty and tenderness — the "boyish tales" that brought Prilepin fame in "The Eight" have matured and gained weight. "The sensitive, flexible beast of Zakhar Prilepin's literary gift gracefully and softly bounces on every page of this book. It opens its mouth, stretches, hunts, breathing natural plasticity and freedom. One can only admire, only praise: how good he is, how good! ... But the beast has grayed at the withers. Besides youthful happiness, kissing someone else's wives, the sun that tickles one’s cheeks, the crunch of pink snow underfoot, the icy skin of the wind that chokes the mouth as soon as one steps out of the warm entrance — all this life that Prilepin captures so subtly and accurately, in "The Eight" there appeared reflection, a wise, calm author's view from the side: thus, maturity." Maya Kucherskaya, "Vedomosti" "Prilepin manages to grasp, forgive me, the very essence, forgive me once again, of Russian life. Yes, absurdity, violence, corruption, dirt, poverty, drunkenness, and other 'unobtrusive cattle-like behavior' — but also some kind of barbaric beauty and undeniable truth in all this and behind all this." Lev Danilkin, "Afisha" "The Eight