Humane Farewell / Novel

Russia, late 21st century. People lead uneventful lives, absorbed in evening talk shows and television dramas. But the most gripping series of all is The Humane Farewell — live broadcasts of the recently reinstated death penalty. The novel paints a picture of a not-so-distant future where the main characters attempt to outmanoeuvre the ruthless machinery of the state.

The ordinariness of death and terror, the forgetting of basic rules, the normalization of madness — all of this is captured in Mikhail Segal’s novel, which calmly and without emotional excess records the universal transformation of humans into unrecognizable monsters. At the same time, Segal’s films and stories always remain composed — like the calm of a strong, ironic person who has long since lost hope. He always inspires a sense of absolute reliability — and once again, he hasn’t let down those who believe in him.

Dmitry Bykov

This is a strikingly unconventional perspective on Russia’s imminent future, entwined with an exquisitely rendered meditation on love.

Yurii Shevchuk

A meticulous eye for detail paired with a haunting, almost weightless poignancy. Nuanced shifts oscillate between the grotesque and satirical to the tenderly lyrical, only to rupture—startlingly—with tragedy of a kind so stripped of melodrama it feels almost disquietingly pure. To read this novel is to surrender to a narrative both intellectually rewarding and quietly, profoundly pleasurable

Andrey Zvyagintsev