The Man Who Couldn’t Die by Olga Slavnikova

In the turmoil of early-1990s Russia, a paraplegic veteran's wife and stepdaughter conceal the Soviet Union's fall from him in order to keep him and his pension alive, until it is revealed that the tough old guy has other ideas. The Man Who Couldn't Die by Olga Slavnikova tells the narrative of two women who strive to extend the life and the reasons and meaning of their own lives by building a society that doesn't change, the Soviet Union that never disintegrated. Marina places Brezhnev's photo on the wall after his stroke, alters the Pravda articles read to him, and uses her media connections to piece together complete newscasts of events that never happened.

Meanwhile, her mother, Nina Alexandrovna, is struggling to make sense of the baffling new world outside, especially in light of her husband's uncommunicative nature. While Marina is caught up in an out-of-control local election campaign, Nina finds that her husband is also plotting to murder himself and stop the charade. The Man Who Couldn't Die, masterfully translated by Marian Schwartz, is a darkly playful picture of the lost Soviet past and the craziness of the post-Soviet world that employs Russia's contemporary history as a backdrop for an investigation into deeper metaphysical problems.

Link to read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40338077