The Last Hiccup

April 1, 2012
Meades (The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark, 2010) draws literary fiction from 1929 Russia, where young Vladimir awakens one morning with hiccups, yelps occurring precisely every 3.7 seconds. The hiccups continue relentlessly. Vlad disrupts the village school, where his passion is Ileana, redolent of "caramel and peaches outside on a spring day." Folk remedies fail. Vlad, unable to sleep, nears collapse. His mother consults the village doctor, who calls upon a revered cousin, Sergei Namestikov, prominent Moscow physician. Sergei soon becomes father figure to the silent young boy whose gaze contains no joy or sorrow, no curiosity or anticipation. Examinations are unproductive. Treatments fail. Namestikov admits no defeat but finally consults Alexander Afiniganov, hated rival who has ever-bested him in honors and now in love, romancing Sergei's beautiful former wife, Asenka. Afiniganov believes Vlad's vacant stare is a window into the ageless struggle between "seraph and the devil's sprite." Without Namestikov's knowledge, Afiniganov spirits Vlad away to a Mongolian monastery and into the care of the mystic Great Gog, who believes good and evil battle within Vlad. There he grows to manhood, still hiccuping, until Gog dies. Vlad is blamed, and then pursued into the wilds by Gog's followers. Soon Vlad decides "sometimes in life, the person you are is the person you decide to be," and vows to return home. Meades' tale is peopled by every oddity of character, from a "dwarfling" psychoanalyst to a narcoleptic nurse to farmer Usurpet and his mute wife who has permission to bed whomever she chooses. Despite minor anachronisms, Meades reveals himself a gifted writer, deft with descriptions splashing surrealistic images like, "the muttony mixture of meat and carrots collided about in his open mouth like a small anguished creature trying to escape an ancient Romanian killing machine." Vlad's Pilgrim's Progress ends after he treks from Mongolia to meets his mother, Ileana, Dr. Namestikov, an empathetic army recruiter and his inevitable fate. An allegorical tale ripe with symbolism.

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April 1, 2012

This darkly comedic novel by the Canadian author of The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark follows the exploits of young Vladimir, a boy who can't get rid of the hiccups. Unable to sleep after weeks of hiccupping, Vlad is sent to Moscow to be treated by the best doctors in Russia. A team of doctors try everything from electroshock to drugs to metaphysical cures and even psychological treatments. Eventually Vlad goes to Mongolia to be cured of his possession by a mostly silent guru. After years in the wild, still hiccupping but at peace with his ailment, Vlad returns to a Russia much changed by World War II and by the onslaught of the 21st century. VERDICT This wickedly funny story begins as a satirically simple look at a boy besieged by modern medicine and develops into an admirable portrayal of an unlikely hero trying to find his way in an absurd world. This novel will amuse and touch lovers of original literature, both light and serious.--Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2012
Meades' off-the-wall parable opens in a Russian village in 1929, as eight-year-old Vladimir develops a persistent case of hiccups. With the local doctor at a loss, a renowned physician whisks him away from his loving mother and installs him in a Moscow hospital, where he is subjected to odd, dangerous, and increasingly desperate treatments. Nothing works. Ten years later, after being carted to Mongolia and returning home, Vladimir has made peace with his affliction, which becomes a reassuring presence in an unfamiliar world gone mad by war. The clean plotline and wacky, dark humor carry readers through every stage of his unusual story. Behind his expressionless eyes is just an innocent child, but people project their repressed thoughts onto him. Some believe he is psychologically disturbed or the devil incarnate. He also becomes an outlet for two women's unmet desires and the recipient of many unwelcome personal revelations, which sometimes works out to his advantage, sometimes not. A strange and surprisingly touching novel about how people find good and evil where they look for them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)