Customer Reviews
Heads and Tails - By: T. R. Cowdret, 30 Mar 2008 
I am a tentative fan of Pelevin's work. This book contains alll that his readers expect of him and, for this reader, some of the problems that were present in his previous novels.
I love the cultural reference points which are at times flippant but almost always build to create very precise & apt analogies. I was particularly impressed by Pelevin's continuous reference to Bulgakov's 'A Dog's Heart' (which has some close plot similarities with 'The Sacred Book . . .').
Especiallly towards the end, however, I felt that the philosophical aspects of the book became too dense & were, to put it simply, confusing. I hold similar reservations concerning Pelevin's earlier novel 'The Clay Machine Gun.'
I enjoyed this book on the whole, however, & would certainly recommend it to readers with an interest in philosophy.
Maybe this is a bit of an anal point, but I was interested in how the title has been translated. On the cover the book is titled 'The Sacred Book of THE Werewolf' whereas on the title page inside the book the second pronoun is missing. Obviously Russian is a language without pronouns so I was wondering where this confusion arose. Re-reading those sentences, I realise how ridiculous this sounds. Oh well.
pelevin does it again, only weirder! - By: David Hoyle, 26 Feb 2008 
This book is similar to The Clay Machine Gun, in that it focuses on metaphysics, indeed, it seems to be one long metaphysical conversation at times. It is written with Pelevin's usual poetic gift for prose & it adds occasional touches of humour which are in tune with the story's sexual overtones. But I should stress that although the story is about a millenia-old prostitute, the tone is rarely tawdry. It is essentiallly a love/reality transcendence tail (tee hee) albeit involving a werewolf & a foxy distant Chinese relative. The tone is fairly dark at times, but this may largely be due to the presence of Nordic mythology motifs, which, if you've read the Edda, are obviously nuts!
I would also urge you to purchase it, if merely for the fact that his publishers might get round to printing his other books if this sells well!
Also, the other review for this book is actuallly about Numbers, which hasn't been published yet, so don't expect any bankers & Pokemon. This is about werewolves, werefoxes & the FSB, fun!
Pelevin at his best - By: , 22 Feb 2006 I read this book in Russian & think it's Pelevin's best novel. The story is very original & "post-modern": the main character is a "New Russian" banker whose life revolves around the number 34. His girlfriend thinks she is the Pokémon Meowth & his hitmen are two Chechen brothers affiliated to a secret Sufi sect. Pelevin displays his amazing ability to blend social satire, mind-blowing action, & Russian mysticism. Moreover, the novel does not suffer from over-sophisticated metaphysics that characterized some of Pelevin's previous books (in particular, Buddha's Little Finger). A must read!
