Sankya

Sasha Sankya Tishin, and his friends are part of a generation stuck between eras. They dont remember the Soviet Union, but they also dont believe in the promise of opportunity for all in the corrupt, capitalistic new Russia. They belong to an extremist group that wants to build a better Russia by tearing down the existing one. Sasha, alternately thoughtful and naïve, violent and tender, dispassionate and romantic, hopeful and hopeless, is torn between the dying village of his youth and the soulless capital, where he and his friends stage rowdy protests and do battle with the police. When they go too far, Sasha finds himself testing the elemental force of the protest movement in Russia and in himself.



Originally published in 2006, Sankya is even more relevant today as a prism through which to view the recent large-scale actions against Vladimir Putin. It is Prilepin's first novel and is widely considered his best.