Then in 1957, comes his arrest, sentencing and transportation to the Siberian prison. The scene in the Lubyanka where Valery pleads guilty to whatever charges he’s facing, without knowing what those charges are is grimly absurd. He does it to avoid torture, which will see him confess anyway. It’s a window into the persecution of millions of Russians. another point that confused me was when valery spoke of the gulag to the students at the lab, and they were all in disbelief: As Valery uncovers the truth about City 40, things become ever more precarious for him. He knows if he speaks up to try to save lives he will probably be killed and so it's a constant inner battle of what to do and say.

Scientific research, KGB shenanigans, queer love, and the heartache of suffering children are just a few of the enriching intricacies Pulley traces with intelligent wit and confident narration. A gifted writer of well-drawn characters, Pulley has given the nuclear noir genre a fresh and stimulating take on Chernobyl-style terror. I wanted more of the kids , I wanted more of the women because atleast if the men were not only morally depraved but horribly characterised there would be something for me to latch on but no.... The language, also, is beautiful, the characters emotionally fleshed, and the plot superb. I had a visceral reaction at one point in the book – complete stomach aches for the worry I had about a particular event. That’s good writing! And here are some additional examples: THAT’S LITERALLY HOW THE BOOK ENDS!!!!!!!!! With every cool Russian woman dead or dying, and Valery going on a rant about how English women are probably all being abused by their husbands like…….what are we meant to take away from this, girl. The fact I am pondering over what on earth anyone is meant to take away from this book months later is a sign that the problem is me, for continuing to read these unhinged books 😭 The characters were distinct and well-drawn and made me want to see them succeed and survive. I learned a lot about radiation, even if I didn't understand it all, and it appalled me to know this kind of thing has taken place at various times around the world.The realism of this story is what is most disturbing. A threatened nuclear war and what Russia is willing to put their own people through to study the effects and uphold the illusion to the rest of the world they are the most powerful; even at the costs of their own human casualties. The Half Life of Valery K, but from Shenkov's point of view. Language: English Words: 27,205 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 22 Kudos: 63 Bookmarks: 18 Hits: 532 What I noticed, though – Pulley couldn’t keep her Britishness out of her writing. Not all the characters read Russian to me, especially Valery, and I found it distracting because I had to remind myself over and over that he was Russian. It may be that the vernacular is a little off; perhaps too many Britishisms are in the dialogue. Whatever the reason, Valery and a few of the others needed something to root them into the setting.

The Half Life of Valery K, the fifth novel by British author, Natasha Pulley, is a compelling story told in a conventional way. It is based on real events — a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster and subsequent cover-up in rural Russia in 1957 — and fills in the blanks with a plot, and characters, that teeter between darkly plausible and science fictional (so far, so Soviet). Again, he wanted to ask what was going on; but if she slammed his fingers in the door, his bones would turn to powder.

As for the actual plot, I felt that the seriousness of the historical events was glaced over, not purposely, but due to Pulley's flippant, whimsical writing style. Trying to be cheeky and clever when talking about genocide is a bit jarring. Terrible things happen in the book, and while she tried to make her otherwise passive characters do something to counteract it, the execution or solution did not sit well with me in many of the instances. I squirmed uncomfortably one too many times. We have 4 read-alikes for The Half Life of Valery K, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member. one lonely middle-aged man (46 M) meets another lonely middle-aged man (51 M) and together find peace for the first time in their lives Sverdlovsk was an ugly industrial city. Outside the airport, it was so warm that there was a misty rain glinting on the steps and the lamp posts and the bonnets of the taxis. There was no need for a coat, even. He was staring at the film of water moving under someone's windscreen wipers when the KGB lady hailed a taxi and put him in it.

Natasha Pulley’s whole thing is like M/M interracial romances in exotic (to a white British woman) locales, usually with a very plot-heavy timey wimey/conspiracy/adventure element which is very thank you to bloomsbury for sending me an arc of the half life of valery k in exchange for an honest review I do not believe at all in the happy ending for the village, or that the embassies would not have people watching them all the time and that they could put 70 people into the british embassy just like that, in Moscow in the 1960s. Or how they got them all out. Sorry, I do not believe that could have happened; Excellent Soviet-era historical fiction with a very compelling main character, this was a great read albeit quite depressing (especially in hindsight as Pulley makes it clear in the afterword that this is very heavily based in reality).One of Pulley’s favorite tropes are characters with good moral cores who have been put in situations where they feel, rightly or wrongly, that their only course of action is to cause pain and hurt. That trope is turned up to eleven in this book, as is appropriate for a novel about radiation experiments in Soviet Russia. With the Cold War raging, the stakes have never been higher for Soviet scientists. Radiation experiments could discover ways to mitigate or even cure radiation poisoning, saving millions of lives if the US ever nukes the Soviet Union. But radiation experiments can only be effective if a fair amount of ethics are thrown out the window. Is it worth harming some to save many? Where is the line? This is part mystery, part history, and part love story. Unraveling the mystery serves as the largest layer of the story, with hints at the actual historical events, and whispers of the love story gently appearing during quiet moments and bold actions. Since I'm not a big fan of love stories, I appreciated how the author handled this component of the connection between Valery and Shenkov. It seemed genuine and artfully indicated. The book is a mystery with three main players: Kolkhanov’s former teacher, who has summoned him here and tasked him with studying the effects of radiation on animals, an unusually principled KGB officer with whom Valery develops a friendship, and Valery himself. A lot of things went a bright colour to warn you that they were poisonous, and it was helpful even of lakes to do the same thing. plus the very idea of pairing a Gulag prisoner & a KGB agent? and the Gulag prisoner working in his youth on literal human experiments run by nazis? pulley did handle it with as much grace as she could i guess, but uhh... that is a Choice!

After “I didn’t mean to make you do anything you didn’t want to in Moscow.” and before Resovskaya’s lab, Valery makes his regular morning trip to Shenkov’s office and it does not go at all as usual. As for the novel, it’s very good. I adored Valery and was very invested in his plight. Pulley has an easy way of storytelling – her prose flows nicely and the plot is compelling. She even manages to make the science in the novel interesting and understandable. natasha pulley has such a solid grip on my stupid mortal being i no longer know what to do with myself. i asked how to sell my soul for an advanced copy of one of my most anticipated reads, and was blessed with one a few days later.Finally, I love science, so the scientific aspects of nuclear studies and radioactivity were of great interest (even if you don’t love science, don’t shy away!) Also Pulley has this trend in her books where all her female characters are unemotional, ruthless, often despicable girlbosses because defying gender norms I guess, and this sometimes results in interesting characters (like the antagonist of this book, a shady scientist lady who is the only compelling character). But then she does this thing where she will violently bulldoze every single one of these women because they get in the way of the gay couple. The girl Valery had a crush on? Shot in the head by Sexy KGB Man! Sexy KGB Man’s wife? She has terminal cancer after being forced to work in the radiation-poisoned town by her husband’s predicament! Evil scientist lady? She meets a violent end too, but this I’m less mad about because at least she injected some menace into this stale ass book. OH and there’s also an entire train carriage of women who get raped to death in front of Valery, for the purposes of making Valery grow a spine (it’s literally so he has something heroic to do i.e. take revenge on the rapists by murdering them all, in an attempt to make the audience sympathise with him more. Reader, I did not like him more.) how she doesn’t write romance per se, but writes about love. in the past, it’s the relentless waiting, the red thread that spans through time and history, an intimate unspoken understanding, an elbow touch.