Synopses & Reviews
This is the tragicomic story of a successful young architect, Fyodor, the reluctant single father of an adolescent son with Down syndrome. The son is a terrible embarrassment to Fyodor, who relies on his own parents to take care of him. Fyodor has fraught relationship with them as well. But then a fatal car crash and the accidental discovery of a mystical painting, "Petroleum Venus," force this self-involved father to ultimately embrace his troubled son, his parents' moral values, and the real things in life.
Petroleum Venus won the Debut Prize, was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize, nominated for the Russian Booker, and sat on the www.ozon.ru bestseller list for a year.
Synopsis
Based on personal experience, this is the tragicomic story of a single father of a 14-year-old son with Down syndrome
About the Author
Alexander Snegirev: Alexander Snegirev, born 1980 in Moscow, has a degree in Political Science, but currently works in construction design.
Winner of the Debut Prize for his collected stories Russian Rhymes (2005). His short novel How We Bombed America was awarded the Crown Prize by the Russian Writers Union in 2007.
In 2009, Petroleum Venus was shortlisted for the National Bestseller Prize, nominated for the Russian Booker, and sat on the ozon.ru bestseller list for a year.
His next novel, Vanity, was named the best book of 2010.