Product Description

Marital troubles? Sick of life? Suicide the answer? Why not get yourself a contract killer? Nothing easier, provided you communicate only by phone and box number. You give him your photograph, specify when and where to find you, then sit back and prepare to die. Murdered, you will be of greater interest than ever you were in life. More to him than met the eye will be the judgement. A mysterious killing lives long in the popular memory. Our hero meticulously plans his own demise, except for one detail: what if he suddenly decides he wants to live? This darkly funny tale is Kurkov on top form.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #146456 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Time Out
‘Kurkov is hugely talented. Truly very funny’

(Omer Ali, Time Out)
'This little book is truly very funny'

Christopher Tayler, Sunday Telegraph
A tragi-farcical yet meditative novella.

Customer Reviews

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After the slightly contrived, overly coincidental dissappointment that was Penguin Lost, Kurkov returns to form with his twisted view on the everyday, as ever the humour is served rich and dark as the central character having hired someone to kill him tries to undo the events that he has already set in motion. This is a short book and the unrelenting pace does at times seem to thunder through situations without really accounting for or exploring them. Kurkov seems more intent on the outcome, it is the idea he is exploring and so the chapters run like adrenalin as if the reader were the character in this precarious situation. Other characters a drawn in greys and have a seedy repressed quality that adds to the story and setting. If You liked Death and the Penguin this is written in a similar vein and retains that mix of melancholy and wit. A Matter of Death and Life delivers a sharp burst of humour and pathos that will leave you with a darkening glow inside.

Short, dark and funny.
Although I discovered Kurkov's writing a while ago, I have so far resisted the urge to read everything at once. Instead, I've been rationing his novels, much like one of his characters might eke out a wad of ill-gotten dollars stashed under the mattress. This is the third, and it doesn't disappoint.

A Matter of Death and Life is shorter than Kurkov's other works. Almost a short story in fact, and it has a plot to match - man wishes to die, but decides assassination is more glamorous than suicide, and hires a hitman to take him out. You can probably guess what happens after that.

The book packs in Kurkov's trademark black humour around this simple and engaging idea. His characters are their usual listless selves, with their rounds of cafes and bars, their unintentional involvement in murky underworld dealings. You can read it in an evening, and it'd time well spent.

Excellent read!
I am becoming a big fan of Andrey Kurkov and this book did not let me down. it is shorter than his previous novels but Kurkov still is able to develop the characters. At times it appeared a little predictable but the way Kurkov describes the city and everything within is brilliant. I would not buy this as an introduction to his work - get Death and the Penguin as that is a brilliant book - however this is well up to his usual style.