The Defection and Subsequent Resurrection of Nikolai Pushkin

In 1989, a young Soviet hockey player defects to the West, where he hopes to see "Cats," meet Koch, and win the Stanley Cup. He’s surprised to find himself not in New York City but Buffalo, New York—where none of those things are likely. Instead, he falls in love with the music of Rick James, “Fight the Power,” and the beautiful sister of his roommate, the Buffalo Sabres’ truculent enforcer and the only Black player in the NHL. As he tries to defect once again, this time to New York City, the disparate lives of a neglected toddler, sullen teen, forgotten jazz great, overzealous KGB agent, “Tank Man,” Vladimir Putin, and a Russian dancing bear collide with devastating and absurd effect that will ripple across decades.


It’s a surreal romp through late-’80s world events and into the present, an exploration of youthful dreams, middle-age ennui, and a future that’s never quite what we’d envisioned. From the Los Angeles Times best-selling author of “AMP’D,” finalist for the 2017 Thurber Prize for American Humor.


ADVANCE PRAISE FOR KEN PISANI’S "THE DEFECTION AND SUBSEQUENT RESURRECTION OF NIKOLAI PUSHKIN"

“I just figured out what the world needs now. It needs Nikolai Pushkin, hero of Ken Pisani’s wonderfully strange and deeply felt new novel. Funny, surprising, bizarre, tender, 'The Defection and Subsequent Resurrection of Nikolai Pushkin' is a reminder not merely of what great storytelling can mean to us. But perhaps more importantly, about the vital need for us to see how wounded, fragile humans find strength, hope, and joy in this loony world.”
— John Kenney, author of the Thurber Prize-winner "Truth In Advertising" and the New York Times bestseller "Love Poems for Married People"


“The only person with more moves than hockey prodigy Nikolai Pushkin, snatched from behind the Iron Curtain in the late stages of the Cold War to become a member of the downtrodden Buffalo Sabres, is author Ken Pisani who chronicles what comes next. Pack a lunch of soul food and borscht. Take the ride. Say hello to Leonard Bernstein, Ed Koch and, oh, wait a minute, Vladmir Putin. Hold on through the curves and pay attention. You may think you know where you're going, but you have no idea. This is wonderful.”
— Leigh Montville, three-time New York Times best-selling author and former Sports Illustrated senior writer


“This is an incredibly funny novel with a gift for cultural specificity, a work of entertaining and transcendent satire that is quick on its feet much in the way as 'The Sellout' by Paul Beatty. This novel also lives comfortably in the world of Gary Shteyngart, who explores themes of assimilation and the American dream as well. An almost Dickensian epic with equal measure of earned sincerity and outlandish humor… a close companion to 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,' expertly weaving multiple stories together into an unexpectedly poignant American fable [with] creativity in every pore.” 
― The Black List


“A cocaine-fueled fever dream of a novel. Set in the twilight of the 1980s, it takes history, shoves it through a blender of surreal absurdity, and serves it up with a side of razor-sharp wit. Pisani writes with a breathless, unapologetic swagger. His characters are beautifully unhinged. The pacing is absolutely relentless. Beneath the glorious comedic chaos, there is a sharp, poignant look at youthful ambition and the sheer audacity of reinventing oneself. Clever, chaotic, and completely brilliant.”
— Susan Walter, USA Today best-selling author of "Murder at 30,000 Feet" and "Letters from Strangers"


“Unique, entertaining and touching, Ken Pisani’s new novel is packed with wit, heart and some inspired lunacy. I’m torn between feeling he wrote this book just for me and wishing I’d written it myself.”
— Michael Kun, author of "Eat Wheaties!" and "The Allergic Boy Versus the Left-Handed Girl"