Ivan Chonkin is a simple, bumbling peasant who has been drafted into the Red Army. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he is sent to an obscure village with one week's ration of canned meat and orders to guard a downed plane. Apparently forgotten by his unit, Chonkin resumes his life as a peasant and passes the war tending the village postmistress's garden. Just after the German invasion, the secret police discover this mysterious soldier lurking behind the front line. Their pursuit of Chonkin and his determined ...
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Ivan Chonkin is a simple, bumbling peasant who has been drafted into the Red Army. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he is sent to an obscure village with one week's ration of canned meat and orders to guard a downed plane. Apparently forgotten by his unit, Chonkin resumes his life as a peasant and passes the war tending the village postmistress's garden. Just after the German invasion, the secret police discover this mysterious soldier lurking behind the front line. Their pursuit of Chonkin and his determined resistance lead to wild skirmishes and slapstick encounters.
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Add this copy of The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan to cart. $20.32, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth U. K.
Add this copy of The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan to cart. $20.32, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1978 by Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth U. K.
It has been decades since I read _The life and extraordinary adventures of private Ivan Chonkin_ but because there are no other reviews here of Voinovich's work, I can really recommend this one to start off with. One would have hoped that his humorous attack on pre Gorbachov Russia would be dated by now but as we see, the more things change in Russia especially, the more they stay the same. But the humor is boundless and worth the very short amount of time you need to get through this anything but ponderous Russian novel.
