Vodka Audio CD – Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

This is a complicated book. It is a murder mystery and a love story, loosely intertwined. It is the story of an alcoholic American, taking place in Moscow during the rush to privatize Russian businesses after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. I was in Eastern Europe at that time, basically doing the same thing.The personal struggle with alcohol by Alice Liddell is dramatic. The reader can glimpse into the Russian and Eastern European (the "East") psyche regarding that time, especially into how vodka is a basic and large part of the life of everyone in the East. Facts about the many types of vodka and the superstitions of the people (e.g., never shake hands over a threshold or to always have a cat as the first to cross the threshold of a new house) are accurate - I experienced most of them. The belief in the old witch of the forest, Baba Yaga, is accurate as is the cuisine in many scenes. Partaking of vodka throughout the business day is accurately portrayed; in the East, vodka is a part of both business and personal life.The murder component of the story revolves around war and post-traumatic stress syndrome and is believable more in the East than the West, seeing how vodka was closely interwoven into that part of the story. It is interesting and it helps explain the Eastern methods of police activities and provides a glimpse into the workings of the Russian mafia.I hope you persevere when the reading gets complicated; even better, read it twice, especially the epilogue, with a month or two to settle the story in between and, as we say in the East, "Na zdorvie!" (for your health).

Excellen book, a superb delivery from the UK!Cost me...almost for free!

Well written book

За здоровье! [za zda-ró-vye] Possibly not all that surprisingly, VODKA, the novel, is chockablock with mention of the Russian national drink and how it’s such an integral part of the Russian psyche as well as so much an integral part of the Russian economy. In fact, consider, Vodka, as one of this book’s major characters. While I was fascinated by the locale and time-period — 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, everything seeming to indicate that democracy isn’t always the best choice, by way of a replacement government, no matter what so many Westerners think to the contrary — I often felt as if I wasn’t so much reading a novel as a university international-economics text and being subjected to the ins and outs of attempted privatization of Russian industry, including a Russian vodka distillery. Obviously, the author is an authority on the subjects about which he writes, genuinely seeming to be fascinated by the country, its people, the “vodka connection”, and with the Russian volatile and often violent political situation, all of which seem to contain a decided mafia-gangster element. It’s less obvious, at least to this reader, as to why the U.S.-female protagonist of this tale has an equal-to-the-author fascination with all things Russian — including with its vodka and with one particular multi-tattooed gulag-alumni Russian mafia kingpin. In the end, the book provided me with a peek into the world that is Russia, leaving me far more cognizant of the nature of the place than I was before picking up the book, but I didn’t come away with any particular sense of having enjoyed a genuinely satisfactory read.

In 1991 Moscow, Russia struggles with the transition from Communism to Democracy as economic reform means increasingly difficult hardships in the short run and an increase in influence by the already powerful Mafia. Children are murdered and kidnappings are a way of life while food shortages have become dangerously normal. Chaos is the order in Russia.International Monetary Fund advisor Alice Liddell is in Moscow to privatize the Red October Distillery, makers of vodka. Alice naively thought a lack of time and selling the concept of privatization were the problems she would face. However, Alice soon learns that vodka flows in every Russian's blood and control of its production symbolic, which means the Russian mafia, is involved. Alice is tugged in two directions both involving the Red October Director and parliamentary deputy Lev, who some insist is the biggest crook in Moscow. As Alice fights her attraction to her boardroom opponent, she finds Red October corrupt and run by the Mafia. Lev also battles with his attraction to the visiting American while he wars with his Chechen archenemy.This exciting thriller provides an insightful look at Russia during the aftermath of the fall of Communism. Alice is a terrific character who wonders how ruthless and crooked Lev is though she desires him. Lev is an intriguing protagonist, perhaps antagonist, who puts a human face to the power struggle. Though the stormy Chechen subplot is very exciting and adds insight to the overall tale, it seems as if it belongs in its own novel as so much is going on in Moscow. Distilled, the star character remains vodka that links all Russians.Harriet Klausner