The Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena—dazzling, poignant, and lyrical interwoven stories about family, sacrifice, the legacy of war, and the redemptive power of art. This stunning, exquisitely written collection introduces a cast of remarkable characters whose lives intersect in ways both life-affirming and heartbreaking. A 1930s Soviet censor painstakingly corrects offending photographs, deep underneath Leningrad, bewitched by the image of a disgraced prima ballerina. A chorus of women recount their stories and those of their grandmothers, former gulag prisoners who settled their Siberian mining town. Two pairs of brothers share a fierce, protective love. Young men across the former USSR face violence at home and in the military. And great sacrifices are made in the name of an oil landscape unremarkable except for the almost incomprehensibly peaceful past it depicts. In stunning prose, with rich character portraits and a sense of history reverberating into the present, The Tsar of Love and Techno is a captivating work from one of our greatest new talents.
About First Readings
First Readings is a shared intellectual endeavor for all beginning Brown students. Now in its tenth year, the program provides first-year and transfer students with a common text designed to introduce them to the University and the pleasures and rigors of undergraduate academic life. Students receive the assignment over the summer and prepare a short response paper highlighting something they find particularly compelling, difficult, or unclear in the reading. During Orientation, students meet in small groups for a First Readings Seminar led by a faculty member or administrator. These seminars afford students the chance to meet their peers and to begin conversations based upon their shared readings and initial written reactions. The Dean of the College and Brown Alumni Association sponsor the program.