Siberian Education

Lilin's astonishing account of his life takes you into some very strange worlds; frightening, violent and yet with spirited moments of redemption which both offer hope and keep you reading . . .a breath-taking memoir. -- Misha Glenny * * Mail on Sunday * *
Terrifying, fascinating, horrific and violent - Lilin's memoir is an eye-opening and gripping account of a childhood spent in the brutal Siberian underworld. -- Simon Sebag-Montifiore, author of Young Stalin
Force yourself to forget about categories of good and evil, you have to just be there and read . . . produces a thrill of pleasure that is hard to forget. -- Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah
Lilin's tale pulls no punches...a highly recommended account. * * Sunday Business Post * *
Nicolai Lilin's Siberian Education (Norton) paints a phantasmagorical picture of Transnistria, a former Soviet region where a subculture of "honest criminals" has long flourished. Lilin writes of this ritualized, xenophobic, gun-and-cross-toting milieu, "Our philosophy of life has a close relation to death; children are taught that taking someone else's life or dying are perfectly acceptable things, if there is a good reason. -- Lisa Shea * * Elle * *
With its exhaustive descriptions of ritual and tradition, Siberian Education at times resembles a work of cultural anthropology . . . Lilin has constructed Siberian Education as a Russian nesting doll, with stories unfolding inside of other stories, which yield yet more stories. -- Joshua Yaffa * * Wall Street Journal * *