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In Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov (Melville House), a man named Viktor Zolotaryov lands a seemingly cushy job writing obituaries of Ukrainian dignitaries who are not yet dead for a Kiev newspaper in the mid-1990s. Zolotaryov lives with his only friend, a forlorn penguin called Misha, adopted from the insolvent city zoo. Soon, the subjects of Zolotaryov’s obituaries begin to die under suspicious circumstances; Zolotaryov is charged with the care of a child, hires a nanny, hooks up with the nanny, and the mafia closes in, with bleak and absurdist consequences. Zolotaryov and the penguin attempt to navigate this world, each feeling out of their element, subject to machinations beyond their knowledge or control and ill-equipped to deal with them. The novel, first published in 1996, is particularly prescient of Ukraine’s present political climate. In a tamer, Canadian context, between reading this book and listening to CBC election coverage, I couldn’t help but relate to the penguin.