Salon

Alexander Arkhangelsky's television talk show, "In the Meanwhile," is one of the few programs on Russian television to feature a lively discussion of cultural issues. The well-known presenter is also a historian, who has written a number of books, including a biography of the Emperor Alexander I and "1962," a collection of essays about the year of his birth, marked by accelerating space exploration, the Cuban missile crisis and many iconic cultural events.

His first foray into the novel genre, "The Cut-Off Price," was presented earlier this year at Moscow's international book festival. It tells the story of Stepan Melkisarov, an astute businessman who has encountered some problems in his personal life and decides to tackle them in a businesslike manner.

The story takes us to the stratum of new Russian society where money isn't a problem, where rare antique objects are sold and bought on a whim, where everyone keeps a retinue of servants to do all the menial work, where children study in exclusive Swiss boarding schools and mistresses are discarded at the age of 27. A lot of current Russian literature deals with these people, though I always somehow doubt that they really exist. Arkhangelsky, though, describes them matter-of-factly, in realistic detail; apparently, he knows a lot about them.

There are two things I find unsatisfactory about the novel. First, the plot: For Melkisarov's plan to work, too many things have to happen exactly the way he wants, and it doesn't really work that way in real life, even for very rich people. Second, the hero and his wife: The author obviously wanted us to like them, but they are both quite unlikable. How can you like people who turn to lawyers and con men the moment they sense a family problem brewing?

That said, the novel is remarkably well-written, and the various stories of success and failure are gripping and lifelike, if not always to the point. Through the eyes of his hero, Arkhangelsky reviews the whole span of Russia's recent history, from the sunset of the Soviet era to the present day. The new, post-Soviet people -- scientists-turned-businessmen, elite prostitutes, pompous filmmakers, starving artists and web-browsing kids -- all come alive on the pages. And the irony and the power of the author's observations give Arkhangelsky's book a rare narrative quality.