The Secret History of Moscow

The Secret History of Moscow is, judging by the wide range of reviews, the literary equivalent of an optical illusion:



You might read it and feel disconnected from the characters, as if you were living in a grey ice-slushy day with errands to run that mean wet boots and snow down your neck. Or you might read it and see the characters as part of a cultural mosaic, set against the background of gentle, fat flakes of snow falling out of a soft grey sky, the air crisp and fresh. The first time I read it, it was more of the first. The second, I was concentrating less on the primary characters and plot, and enjoying the tale-within-a-tale style, that gave tiny glimpses into Moscow and by extension, Russia.

"Yakov tried to keep the show more disappointment out of his voice. Nothing was ever easy, and he resented that his visit to a magical kingdom of fairytales was turning into a series of interviews. And corpse examinations."

It begins with Galina in the bathroom, struggling with her feelings. Her sister takes over and before one can turn around three times, has turned into a jackdaw and left her newborn baby behind. Finding her sister, Masha, becomes Galina's quest and raison d'être, bringing her first into contact with Fyodor, an alcoholic street artist, and then to Yakov, a divorced policeman settling uncomfortably into failure. When they witness a flock of crows disappear into a puddle, they know something mysterious is going on. Fyodor leads them to a subway station and they fall through an opening into the Underground.

"She always knew it would be a subway, and once again she lamented her lack of persistence. All this time she thought she was delusional, but in reality she wasn’t delusional enough to keep the hope alive."

Comparisons--not the least of which is Neil himself--abound to American Gods, but I'll be honest--this was far more palatable and charming. As we meet each entity in the narrative, we learn about a small piece of Russian history. Galina is a story of both mental illness and being a single female in modern Moscow. Fyodor indirectly illustrates the relationship between the Gypsies and townfolk. Yakov's grandfather gives insight into the days of control by the state and suspicion of outsiders. Countess Elena, wife of a member of the Decembrists' Revolt explains the no-win choices she faced. Sovin is a portrait of a plant scientist who fought in the wars and still ended up sent to a labor camp. Hershel was a Russian Jew in 1886 when persecution ramped up.

"Everyone liked to think that the worst was over, and that they were either important or inconspicuous enough to survive. Herschel smiled sadly at their self deception and felt embarrassed by his conceit—he was not so different from them after all."

Much of the history can be said to be grim, but that's what forgotten history means, isn't it? New York City's underground would no doubt have indentured servants, refugees starving in an overcrowded Irish tenement, women who were burned to death in factory fires with no exits. So perhaps these missing stories are indeed grim, and hard to connect to, but there's something to be said for just bearing witness to the descriptions, endeavoring to understand the cultural moment, that makes it worthwhile. That it is wrapped up in solid writing with interspersed forgotten fairy tale characters makes it more interesting.

"This place is for those of us who don’t mind being small, who can live without being noticed. Those who are not ashamed to hide. But even we fade away eventually— you can’t be small forever without disappearing."

The plot becomes almost secondary; though Galina has a single-minded focus on her sister, nearly no one else does, including Sedia. The Underworld is concerned about the incursion of the top world into their own and wants some reconnaissance done. For the plot-driven reader, this may prove unsatisfying. The format is almost--but not quite--the tale-within-tale story of [b:In the Night Garden|202769|In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1)|Catherynne M. Valente|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320548374s/202769.jpg|196179] or [b:Life and Death are Wearing Me Out|1320279|Life and Death are Wearing Me Out|Mo Yan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348876602s/1320279.jpg|1309625]. I finished the book quickly, but something about it called for a re-read. I thought the second time even better, a very satisfying, cathartic experience. A truly modern fairy tale, it may be one I have to add to my own library.

“He was still wide awake when the morning came - the light changed imperceptibly underground, with the glowtrees flaring up brightly, and the shimmer of golden dust that remained suspended in the musty air, as if millions of butterflies had shed the scales of their wings in midair.”


four and a half nesting matryoshka dolls show less

When Galina's sister turns into a bird and flies off leaving their mother to care for her newborn child, Galina is confused and perplexed but also determined to find her sister. Yakov is the downtrodden cop assigned to investigate the disappearance of Galina's sister and the others around Moscow who have met a similar fate. Together he and Galina, with the help of a street artist named Fyodor, must find their way into an underground version of Moscow. It is in this secret world that characters from myths, fairy tales and long forgotten religions abide and some of them are willing to help the travelers on their quest.

The Secret History of Moscow was a creative and intriguing urban fantasy novel. Ekaterina Sedia developed a unique world show more and wonderful multi-layered characters to inhabit it. I was captured by the story she wove and the way the Russian traditions and mythologies came alive in her writing. Fans of Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint will not want to miss this work. show less

Moscow itself is the most intriguing character of this urban fantasy. It's an ancient place with an often brutal past, and the book's setting of the early 1990s isn't very kind, either. The premise here is intriguing, and really, the book acts as a gentle primer to the wonders of Russian mythology. I'm largely ignorant of Russian fables beyond Baba Yaga; I tried to read Cat Valente's book Deathless a while back and was overwhelmed by the other-worldlyness of it. Sedia applies a deft hand as she brings in Russian history and storied characters. The pace is perfect.

That said, I never fully connected with the main character from the present day, Galina. She's too singular in her goal--to save her sister--and as a reader, we never get to show more know her sister before she's lost. Galina never felt like a person beyond that, and that made the ending too predictable in that regard. show less

**Spoilerish

A beautiful book. Less - dreamy? lyrical? than many folklore / magic realist books of this kind are. Harsh edges, and the English tasted slightly foreign and translated, which added to the effect. As if the writer was translating her words from the Russian, translating her ideas, a culture, and there were jags where it didn't come through easily.

Other things I've read about modern Russia always seem to moralize slightly, even if perhaps they don't mean to - to have an agenda or a preconception, to know where they've gone wrong. Here I didn't get that feeling. Just that she was portraying people and a country without judging them, without trying to predict or prescribe.

The ending was almost perfect, I think, and yet I show more couldn't appreciate it. I'd grown invested in Galina, I had hopes for her. Identified with her, I guess. show less

Sort of a mix between Gaiman's American Gods and Neverwhere-- but missing Gaiman's je ne sais quoi .
This was another book I selected due to the librarything recommendation engine-- I should learn my lesson and stop using it.
The storyline is:
People go missing. Galina hooks up with a couple of guys to help her find her missing sister and the missing people. There seems to be an increase in bird activity. Galina and gang travel to the underworld. They meet up with past gods, have odessyean adventures, learn who's been taking souls and turning them into birds, and almost save the day.

I'm a Russophile, and also a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. I agree that this is *reminiscent* of Gaiman's Neverwhere, but that is one of my all-time favorite books, and to actually *compare* the two is not useful. I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret History of Moscow, and would certainly recommend it -- but it would help if the reader were somewhat conversant with Russian culture and folklore, as that is part of the charm of this book. Expectations can really be a handicap. Go into this without expectations, and it is far more likely to enthrall.

Reviews at The Artemis Reader

Ekaterina Sedia is one of my new favorite authors. The Secret History of Moscow begins with the story of Galina who is looking for her missing sister after giving birth in the bathroom of their shared apartment. Galina spies a blackbird outside the window and is convinced her sister has been transformed. She is hesitant to say anything to her mother due to her history of schizophrenia. From there Galina encounters Fyodor, the artist, who has seen the strangeness invading Moscow, and Yakov, the cop, who has his own run in with the vanishing people and blackbirds. Together these characters venture into the underground world of Moscow to find out what is happening. The underground world Sedia creates is heavily show more influenced by Russian fairy tales, so having prior knowledge or access to a place to look them up is helpful while reading The Secret History of Moscow.

One thing I love about reading a Sedia novel is how easily I get sucked into the narrative. She weaves a colorful story with an ample amount of descriptions and character developments. The story started a little slow in the first 30 or 40 pages, the story moves quickly and before I knew it I had finished!

Sedia does an excellent job mixing fantasy, fairy tales and real people. I loved the mythological world underneath the streets of Moscow, it reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I think that is a large part in why I came to love The Secret History of Moscow. If you are a fan of Gaiman and the fantasy/mythological genres I definitely recommend looking into this book. show less