A novel by Lina Kostenko, from the perspective of a 35 yr old Kyiv programmer experiencing his own drama and the global communications abyss. Hardcover, 2012, Printed in Ukraine. 415 pp.

This much-lauded novel is seen through the eyes of a 35-year old programmer who is assessing globalization in a world of disinformation and indifference. The programmer notes everything that is troubling him. If he were to write a regular diary, and pay attention to family concerns, he might be able to process his wife’s anger, the problems at his workplace, and the fact that his young son, thanks to a friend, is expanding his vocabulary…But he can’t seem to keep pace. Instead, he makes diary-style notes of a socio-political nature, the content of which depends on what the next day will bring: Turkmenbashi has forbidden ballet; the Tailandese princess saw a mammoth; the Americans discovered a new planet in the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune; the Russians bomb Groznyj…