- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Vertigo (Nov 30 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1401224261
- ISBN-13: 978-1401224264
- Product Dimensions: 16.9 x 0.8 x 25.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #428,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Alik is a former Soviet soldier who has relocated to Coney Island only to become a gangland enforcer. He's haunted by memories of his past, and the only thing that soothes his angst is booze, heroin and his lover, the prostitute Marina. But as much as Alik encourages her to break away from the ganglord who owns her, Marina can't because of her daughter, who never leads the ganglord's side. So Alik comes up with a desperate plan to save all three of them, and in doing so, he'll find he's destined to repeat the past over and over again, including a past or two he might not even be aware he has, in a story that flashes from present- day run down Coney Island to the Russia of 10 years ago during the Second Chechen War to turn of the 20th century Coney Island, when the area was at its peak amusement park glory and wonder.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome, Gripping & Surreal,
By
This review is from: Luna Park (Paperback)
Reason for Reading: The Russian historical aspects and the publisher's summary had me intrigued.This is a very difficult book to give a summary as nothing is as it seems but let me tell you what appears to be happening as the book starts. Alik Strelnikov is a Russian immigrant who made a deal back in Russia which got him his freedom in America. This 'freedom' lead him to working for a second fiddle Russian mob group in Coney Island as an enforcer. Here he lives an existence with his girlfriend in an apartment drinking, listening to old Russian records and shooting heroin to forget what he has become. But he is plagued with dreams, nightmares actually, the same ones over and over, which show him in various situations in different uniforms and he is always afraid. These nightmares will take us back in history to pre-revolutionary Russia, to WWI, to the Chechen Wars and back to 1910s New York. This is an awesome, gripping story. The reader has no idea of what is really going on for some time. My mind contemplated these dreams as possible flashbacks to past lives, psychic visions of the past, a tortured man turning his real problems into symbolic messages and finally a simpler consideration, the raving dreams of a madman. Why he keeps having the dreams is not so important but the recurring themes that they carry are. With the ultimate one of betrayal being the most affecting on him. Then the book takes an extreme magical or psychedelic turn and one can possibly start to put things together until near the very end when the author hits us with a very subtle reveal we hardly notice it until the final page with it's shocking end. I actually stared at the last page for some seconds before the reveal sank in. A fabulous end! The writing and the art combine to make a surreal, strange, semi-conscious type of plot. This is not going to be a book for everyone. Not for the type who like their plots to begin at A and end at Z. The plot is incongruous and where it is going the reader cannot grasp until a certain point 2/3s of the way through. This is not a bad thing though. I found the book utterly captivating to read. It's one of those few books that stand out alone as an "I've never read anything quite like it before!" book. The art is fascinatingly done mostly in a palette of terracottas, greys and purplish blues that turn into lavenders at more lighthearted scenes (not that there are many of those). If you've ever seen old Communist posters or postage stamps from the era, the art reminds me of that style at times. Otherwise it matches the mood of the story perfectly.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scraps from the Cold War with Betrayal,
By Richard C. Geschke "In search of History!!" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Luna Park (Hardcover)
Having lived and worked in and around the South beaches in Brooklyn, I became intrigued with the title of this graphic novel. Reading this fast moving and realistic depiction of Russian mob influence conducted in New York, I sensed Kevin Baker's accurate detail and Danijel Zezelj's accurate nuance of Coney Island and of Russian culture.In essence Mr. Baker combines Luna Park, Russian wiseguys and a long gone historical prospective all rolled into a gripping and realistic adventure. Zezelj's art work metaphorically represents the long gone darkness of "Cold War" Russia and also serves to depict the faded glory days of "old" Coney Island. Baker's main characters in Alik Strelnikov and his lover Marina tells of the desperate dichotomy this couple faces in trying to break away from the old ways. In Baker's narrative, we see a new more brutal "Mafia" roaming the old haunts of Sicilian ghosts. The Russian mob spares nothing and gives absolutely no quarter. Russians of the "Cold War" era have no sense of "family" nor are restricted by the conscience of religion. Weaving into this scenario, Baker brings in the old grandeur of 1910's New York. Along with Zezelj's subtle and beautiful dark art, we are taken to a place where Baker calls all the shots and we as readers go along for the ride. The narrative takes on a dreamlike quality with rapidly moving scenarios. In the end Baker gives an ending which represents a thought provoking extension to a time when in America the earth stood still. Fantastic ride it is! I don't have enough stars for this one!! 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Russian Gangsters Get Surreal in Brooklyn,
By A. Ross - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Luna Park (Hardcover)
Stories about ex-Soviet gangsters in Brooklyn are kind of a trope at this point (especially in film), but this graphic novel offers them up in a new format with some striking artwork. Alik is a Russian veteran of the war in Chechnya who has come to Brooklyn to try and escape his dark past, which includes the loss of his true love. However, he's found escape of the wrong sort in heroin, and works as an enforcer for a small time Russian hoodlum. He's also obsessed with a beautiful fellow Russian hooker/fortune-teller who is in thrall to a powerful Russian mobster. While this all sounds straightforward, there are also surreal shifts back in time to what seem to be previous incarnations of him and his lover/wife, which seem to all end in (and foreshadow) tragedy. These dark dreams alternate with the mounting feud between Alik's overconfident boss and the more ruthless mobster who owns his lover, all leading inevitably toward a Coney Island shootout. What might have been a well-told, but routine, crime story is made into something more lasting and mournful through the use of these flashbacks and the amazing artwork. The artist is Croatian and he brings a European sensibility to it that lends the story a distinctive quality perfectly in sync with the story New York novelist Baker (Dreamland, Paradise Alley) has created. Definitely worth checking out by those interested in very dark stories and artwork.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic in both senses of the word,
By Sheila Martin - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Luna Park (Hardcover)
I'm a writer and illustrator of fiction myself and Coney Island is one of my favorite settings, so when I head the NPR interview with Kevin Baker I ordered "Luna Park" immediately and waited with anticipation for it to come. I was not disappointed. The story is compelling with unexpected twists brought even more to life by the dramatic artwork. I know I will keep coming back to it. Kevin Baker is also the author of "Dreamland," a more realistic depiction of Coney Island, (of a century ago) and another wonderful novel and inspiration for my work.
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