--- product_id: 5491240 title: "Happy Moscow (New York Review Books Classics)" price: "956045₫" currency: VND in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/5491240-happy-moscow-new-york-review-books-classics store_origin: VN region: Vietnam --- # Happy Moscow (New York Review Books Classics) **Price:** 956045₫ **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Happy Moscow (New York Review Books Classics) - **How much does it cost?** 956045₫ with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/5491240-happy-moscow-new-york-review-books-classics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Happy Moscow (New York Review Books Classics): 9781590175859: Platonov, Andrey, Chandler, Robert, Chandler, Elizabeth, Bourova, Nadya, Chandler, Robert: Books Review: Happy Moscow is a great introduction to Platonov - A great novel by a recently discovered Russian genius for English readers. While The Foundation Pit is considered Platonov's masterpiece, I think this is a much more accessible novel. Happy Moscow is a excellent introduction to a writer of strangely beautiful prose. Review: The Complete Moscow Kit - First, let's break down this book into its components. The longest section is HAPPY MOSCOW, a 110-page novella written by Platonov in the 1930s, but published posthumously only in 1991; more on this in a moment. The remaining 150 pages are essentially supportive materials, appendices, and footnotes. There are three essays by the principal translator, Robert Chandler, which are both scholarly and helpful. Then there are two short stories, an essay, and a screenplay, each of which explores similar themes to the novella, uses the same symbols, or features some of the same characters; the longest of them, "The Moscow Violin," is especially interesting in that it recycles almost identical passages, but in a different order and to different effect. The book ends with thirty pages of scholarly notes set in small type, and a bibliography. So rather than being a collection of stories, this is more like a complete kit for understanding the title novella and placing it in historical and scholarly context. While the novella itself is relatively approachable, the volume as a whole is not for the casual reader. Reading HAPPY MOSCOW itself, I could only think of words beginning with the letter S: symbolic, surrealistic, satirical. None of these terms entirely fits, but in combination they do. Moscow, of course, is the name of the city; it is also the first name of the principal female character, Moscow Ivanova Chestnova. An orphan, brought up in a state children's home, she is sponsored by an idealistic apparatchik to train as a pilot and parachutist, reaching fame and notoriety when her parachute catches fire and she descends on the city like a sparkling firework. Numerous men fall in love with her, and the book follows her as she moves from one to the other, even as her own life symbolically descends from the skies to under the earth, when she becomes a construction worker on the new Moscow metro. In a helpful stroke early in his introduction, the translator quotes a visitor to Moscow in 1935 complaining that the only maps available of the city portrayed either Moscow's past or its future, but not its present. There were maps from 1924, showing buildings that had since been torn down and roads rerouted. There were maps showing what the city would look like following the Ten Year Reconstruction Plan. But people were so intent on looking at the great leap forward that they had no interest in the temporary state of the city under their feet. Platonov's book is full of a similar idealism. This is most clearly shown by the men who help the heroine. We have the civil servant Bozhko, who uses Esperanto to correspond all over the world, in the hope of recruiting others to Socialist ideals. We have the engineer Sartorius, who is convinced that the problems of collectivization can be solved by the invention of a more perfect balance beam for weighing produce. We have the surgeon Sambikin, who has located the precise site of the soul in the large intestine, and claims to have found the essence of eternal life released in the bodies of the newly dead. Symbolism, surrealism, satire. Moscow the person is clearly in part a symbol for Moscow the city, but not all her actions are easily translatable. Many of Platonov's descriptions verge on surrealism, but then I suspect that Soviet Russia had more than a little surrealism of its own. And while Platonov's writing seems satirical, Chandler suggests that he may initially have been trying to win the approval of his political masters, whose own propaganda was scarcely less fantastic. In short, this is a unique and often brilliant book, but a perplexing one -- and there is far more here that any but the most serious student could want. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,107,659 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2,000 in Political Fiction (Books) #8,393 in Short Stories Anthologies #33,015 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars (33) | | Dimensions | 5 x 0.62 x 8 inches | | ISBN-10 | 1590175859 | | ISBN-13 | 978-1590175859 | | Item Weight | 9.6 ounces | | Language | English | | Print length | 280 pages | | Publication date | November 13, 2012 | | Publisher | NYRB Classics | ## Images ![Happy Moscow (New York Review Books Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71eBF3sgv9L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Happy Moscow is a great introduction to Platonov *by F***N on September 8, 2017* A great novel by a recently discovered Russian genius for English readers. While The Foundation Pit is considered Platonov's masterpiece, I think this is a much more accessible novel. Happy Moscow is a excellent introduction to a writer of strangely beautiful prose. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Complete Moscow Kit *by R***E on February 15, 2013* First, let's break down this book into its components. The longest section is HAPPY MOSCOW, a 110-page novella written by Platonov in the 1930s, but published posthumously only in 1991; more on this in a moment. The remaining 150 pages are essentially supportive materials, appendices, and footnotes. There are three essays by the principal translator, Robert Chandler, which are both scholarly and helpful. Then there are two short stories, an essay, and a screenplay, each of which explores similar themes to the novella, uses the same symbols, or features some of the same characters; the longest of them, "The Moscow Violin," is especially interesting in that it recycles almost identical passages, but in a different order and to different effect. The book ends with thirty pages of scholarly notes set in small type, and a bibliography. So rather than being a collection of stories, this is more like a complete kit for understanding the title novella and placing it in historical and scholarly context. While the novella itself is relatively approachable, the volume as a whole is not for the casual reader. Reading HAPPY MOSCOW itself, I could only think of words beginning with the letter S: symbolic, surrealistic, satirical. None of these terms entirely fits, but in combination they do. Moscow, of course, is the name of the city; it is also the first name of the principal female character, Moscow Ivanova Chestnova. An orphan, brought up in a state children's home, she is sponsored by an idealistic apparatchik to train as a pilot and parachutist, reaching fame and notoriety when her parachute catches fire and she descends on the city like a sparkling firework. Numerous men fall in love with her, and the book follows her as she moves from one to the other, even as her own life symbolically descends from the skies to under the earth, when she becomes a construction worker on the new Moscow metro. In a helpful stroke early in his introduction, the translator quotes a visitor to Moscow in 1935 complaining that the only maps available of the city portrayed either Moscow's past or its future, but not its present. There were maps from 1924, showing buildings that had since been torn down and roads rerouted. There were maps showing what the city would look like following the Ten Year Reconstruction Plan. But people were so intent on looking at the great leap forward that they had no interest in the temporary state of the city under their feet. Platonov's book is full of a similar idealism. This is most clearly shown by the men who help the heroine. We have the civil servant Bozhko, who uses Esperanto to correspond all over the world, in the hope of recruiting others to Socialist ideals. We have the engineer Sartorius, who is convinced that the problems of collectivization can be solved by the invention of a more perfect balance beam for weighing produce. We have the surgeon Sambikin, who has located the precise site of the soul in the large intestine, and claims to have found the essence of eternal life released in the bodies of the newly dead. Symbolism, surrealism, satire. Moscow the person is clearly in part a symbol for Moscow the city, but not all her actions are easily translatable. Many of Platonov's descriptions verge on surrealism, but then I suspect that Soviet Russia had more than a little surrealism of its own. And while Platonov's writing seems satirical, Chandler suggests that he may initially have been trying to win the approval of his political masters, whose own propaganda was scarcely less fantastic. In short, this is a unique and often brilliant book, but a perplexing one -- and there is far more here that any but the most serious student could want. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is a superb translation of Teffi's experience in fleeing ... *by A***R on August 13, 2017* This is a superb translation of Teffi's experience in fleeing the revolution from Moscow to eventually Constantinople. It's a unique mixture of humor, terror and near escapes from death. Not to be missed. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vn/products/5491240-happy-moscow-new-york-review-books-classics](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/5491240-happy-moscow-new-york-review-books-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vietnam* *Store origin: VN* *Last updated: 2026-05-19*