Hvor skal man starte med en roman, som Pelevins fortælling om livet i Rusland i 1990’erne? Man kunne hæfte sig ved, at bogens hovedpersoner taler som mennesker men er forskellige insekter – i hvert fald noget af tiden. Man kunne tage udgangspunkt i den resignerede beskrivelse af den nye samfundsorden. Måske ville det også være relevant at bemærke, at romanen foregår i det nye udland, nemlig Krim, og at stemningen er en generel følelse af tab og ydmygelse.

I romanen møder vi forskellige figurer, der alle taler som mennesker, men som er forskellige insekter. Der er f.eks. de tre myg, der selvfølgelig er på jagt efter blod. Den ene hedder Sam, og han er en amerikansk forretningsmand, der møder sine russiske fæller med overlegenhed. Han er der for at afsøge nye markeder, og hver gang han har suget blod spytter han en prøve ned i en plastikbeholder.

Der er også et par møgbiller, der stoisk skubber hver deres stadig sfære af møg foran sig, og der er en ung flyvemyre, der bare gerne vil til havet og nyde sin ungdom, men som snart bliver styret af sit biologiske ur til at bygge rede og finde en mage at parre sig med. Der to natsværmere, der filosoferer over tilværelsen og diskuterer hvad meningen med livet er, mens de prøver at undvige de aggressive flagermus, der hele tiden svæver rundt i aftenmørket på jagt efter et nyt måltid.

På tværs af personerne tegnes et billede af et brutalt samfund, hvor livet for langt de fleste er en forgæves jagt på lykken. Udnyttelsen, volden og i sidste ende døden er konstante følgesvende for dem alle. Den opfattelse af samfundet står i kontrast til de fleste andre østeuropæiske bøger, jeg har læst. De har været drevet af lettelse over regimernes fald, vrede mod de tidligere magthavere og deres undertrykkelsesapparat eller måske en humoristisk nostalgi efter fortidens ro og stabilitet. Intet af det er til stede her: Det er mere en brutal naturtilstand uden håb om fremskridt.

The Life of Insects var en interessant læseoplevelse. Pelevin formår at skrive historien, så det egentlig ikke er underligt at hovedpersonerne er insekter. Desværre er det mere et interessant levn fra 1990’ernes Rusland end stor litteratur. ( )

I remember how excited I was when I heard that the "bug lady" would be visiting my daughter's preschool. Bug, lady, ladybug — a metamorphic marvel! Of course, she turned out to be an ordinary lady with a modest bug menagerie. But this novel is the real thing, with its cast of simultaneously insect-human characters straining against the chemical constraints of their curious life-cycles in the irrational landscape of the former USSR. Their stories interlink but are equally effective on their own: the tragic hemp bugs/stoners who crawl inadvertently into a "papyrosa" joint; the cockroach who digs for victory and is rewarded with a new life as a cicada; the mosquitoes, post-Soviet hucksters on the make, sampling the sanguinary diversity on offer at a Black Sea resort. The saddest story arc though is surely that of Marina the ant and her daughter Natasha, who rejects her mom's identity, wills herself a new one as a fly, and meets a sticky end.

There are so many ways of reading this (existentialism, post-Communist koan, modern nursery rhyme); perhaps too many. I think I prefer the more tangible satire of the stories in "The Blue Lantern" and "A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia", and most of all in Pelevin's classic novel of disillusion "Omon Ra". But as bug novels go, this is one of the best. ( )

La scena di quello che, all'inizio del libro si lancia dal balcone è da piegarsi in due dalle risate (per non parlare della zanzara yankee con la 24 ore, o della famigliola stercoraria)

There’s an allegory that could be teased out of this book but suffice it to say Brezhnev would have had the author sitting in a gulag for the rest of his short life while Stalin would have had Pelevin shot. There are two resorts by the sea; Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk and an unnamed one (Sochi) on the Black Sea across from Turkey. Isn’t it just too coincidental that we are reading this book that takes place in Sochi while the Winter Olympics are taking place there at the same time? In the Soviet Union, Sochi was a holiday spot for the workers who were guaranteed a yearly vacation. Could the comments on insects being poisoned by calcium cyanide since the wives need foreign currency, refer to the artificial famine (Holodomor) that took place in Ukraine? Stalin needed foreign currency to buy machinery for industrialization and got it by forcibly removing grain from Ukrainian farmers and selling it on world markets. Marina is impregnated by Major Nikolai from Magadan. Magadan was an infamous gulag on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in Siberia. Marina and Nikolai are ants which represent the military and the KGB. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 which allowed Russian soil to become Ukrainian soil again. Seryozcha the cicada represents prisoners in the gulags who laboured in mines or digging canals. Could the cannibalism by Marina and Natasha the ants represent the cannibalism that took place all over the Soviet Union during WWII or Holodomor? Do the dung beetles personify a slaving population? I enjoyed the book for I took a degree in Russian literature, language, and history at university and was constantly reading between the lines. On the other hand, if you don’t follow Soviet/Russian history, then you’ll probably be in the dark. ( )

I really enjoyed these short stories that are all intertwined in their own ways. As much as social commentary on Russia as a novel, this is an intriguing book that deserves more time. It's also very strange... essentially it's about a number of different insects, each of whom have their own characters and journeys to make. More than that would be a spoiler but I definitely recommend it. ( )