Alek Popov
Translated by Daniella and Charles Edward Gill de Mayol de
Lupe (from Bulgarian)
First published in Bulgarian 2007, I read 2015 English
translation
254 pages, satire, dark comedy, snark
Many thanks to PeterOwen Publishers for providing a review copy of this book.
Fifteen years after receiving their father’s ashes in a black
box, the Bulgarian brothers Nedko (now known as Ned) and Angel still can't believe that he is really dead. In the meantime Ned has become a successful, high-paid
consultant working with a major firm in New York City. After failing to start a publishing company in Bulgaria, Angel miraculously wins the
green-card lottery and moves into Ned’s apartment overlooking Central Park. He
plans to stay there until he finds a job.
After a professional fiasco, Ned is sent back to Bulgaria to
track down Kurtz, a high-ranking member of the firm who has gone missing while negotiating a deal. Meanwhile, Angel scrambles to find work, finally finding a job with a dog walking agency. They must each figure out how to negotiate the increasingly ridiculous political situation that they find themselves in: Ned with Kurtz’s bizarre factory worker’s cult and Angel with the dog walker’s union known as the Dogsters.
