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Unable to get hold of a copy, I read a Kobo preview of this book, which I discovered quite by chance, whilst browsing through a list of titles. The name "Limonov" struck me as vaguely familiar. After a few moments, I remembered: Limonov, of course, the Soviet poet and gay icon of the 80s! An alluring figure that was a "bum" in New York and the darling of French intellectuals. What I didn't know, and found out from Carrère's book, was that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Limonov had fought alongside the Serbians in a nationalist war that resulted in genocide, and eventually ended up in Russia taking up the colours of a political party that combined adulation for Stalin with Nazi tendencies. Needless to say, I was bitterly disappointed... Carrère, who had known Limonov personally, was disappointed, too, but was also quite surprised to find out that a number of important figures within the Russian democratic movement (e.g. the assassinated journalist Politkovskaya) had spoken highly of Limonov. So he decides to further research Limonov and his party, and the result is this book.

Carrère's style is incredibly eloquent and draws the reader in from the first few pages, so I guess my rating reflects my disappointment at Limonov's subsequent development than the writing itself. In a way, Limonov reminds me of Blacky in Kusturica's film Underground, one of my favourite films of all time. There are obvious differences; Blacky is the prototypical working-class hero who fights against the Nazis in the second World War, and not a queer character who traverses the globe in search of adventure. Both, however, lose their bearings after the Soviet collapse and the breakdown of Yugoslavia, and, interestingly, take up arms in a conflict - that was to become one of the bloodiest in Europe - with the side of the perpetrator.