Semyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. After waking to find his boots and overcoat damp on several mornings in a row, Semyon realises his excursions are a nightly occurrence. Concerned for his own safety and for the security of his marriage, he asks his friend and business partner Volodka to follow him on his nocturnal wanderings.

The next morning, Volodka gives Semyon a full report. He left the apartment a little after 2 a.m. and walked several blocks until he encountered a tall blonde, whom he kissed and accompanied to her door. But when he visits the address in the daytime, the bemused Semyon doesn't recognise the location. And stranger yet, someone has been watching Volodka watching Semyon.

As the adventure unfurls, an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother provides breast milk for an unusual recipient, and a vengeful cat is on the loose. All in all, there are some very strange goings-on in Kiev.

Reader Reviews

Kt K80

(1/5)

Dec 22, 2025

Was ist überhaupt passiert??? Ich musste eine Namensliste mit den Einzelnen Beziehungen anlegen um überhaupt zu verstehen wer wer ist und wie die Figuren verknüpft sind. Ich habe das Buch zu Ende gelesen und weiß es immer noch nicht. Die Charaktere sind shallow und man fühlt überhaupt nicht mit. Slow read. Leider nichts für mich.

Dana

(3/5)

Nu m-am putut hotari intre 3 si 4 stele.

David Hebblethwaite

Ten years on from the English-language publication of his debut, Death and the Penguin, comes Andrey Kurkov’s ninth book. The Milkman in the Night (translated from the Russian by Amanda Love Darragh) tells of three main characters whose lives intertwine in contemporary Kiev: Dmitry, the airport sniffer-dog handler who finds a case of ampoules containing a substance which has a remarkable effect on those who consume it; Irina, the single mother who sells her breast milk for a living; and Semyon,

Tony

(4/5)

Semyon walked past several houses and huts with their lights on. He had a strange feeling that he was in some kind of imaginary parallel world.Hey, me too!But I don't mean in a sci-fy kind of way. So don't let the opening paragraph scare you off. For all of you who read and loved Kurkov's cult classic Death and the Penguin ..... (Wait! What?) ....Think a funnier, more hopeful Bulgakov, with a cat less satanic, more archangel of justice. Think Murakami wearing a ushanka, drinking vodka with brea...

Malcolm

After his last outing, The Good Angel of Death , with its absurdist expedition across the Ukrainian east and further afield, Kurkov returns to his more conventional stomping ground – an equally absurdist contemporary Kiev with its dislocated people, scrambling politicians, corrupt(ish) militiamen and craving for success while not seeming to recognise what that success might be. There are few I’ve encountered who are better at satirising the aspirational but the deeply conservative post-Soviet...

Sauerkirsche

Herrlich skurril, mit einem ordentlichen Schuss schwarzem Humor.Andrej Kurkow gewährt dem Leser hier auf subtil hurmorvolle und verrückte Art und Weise, Einblicke in die ukrainische Seele.Er erzählt vom unterschiedlichen Alltag verschiedener Ukrainer und von nicht ganz so alltäglichen Erfahrungen und Begegnungen die sie machen, von denen eine schräger ist als die andere.

Johann Guenther

(2/5)

KURKOW, Andrej: „Der Milchmann in der Nacht“, Zürich 2011Zu Beginn treten sehr unterschiedliche Personen auf, sodass man sich als Leser nur schwer vorstellen kann, wie die zusammen passen sollen. Langsamen finden sie aber zueinander, auch wenn sie aus ganz unterschiedlichen Milieus kommen.Ob es typisch für die Ukraine ist, dass bei jeder Gelegenheit harter Alkohol getrunken wird oder ob es eine Marotte des Dichters ist?Auch scheint es bei den heutigen Erfolgsdichtern üblich zu sein ihre Städte z...

Linda

This is only the second of Kurkov's books that I've read but I do agree that he could be the Ukrainian Murakami, and I love Murakami. As well as enjoying the occasional marvellous sentence, especially the opening line, I also appreciated the insight into Ukrainian society. Looking forward to reading more Kurkov.

Grada (BoekenTrol)

What an amazing book. So recognizable and yet at times very strange. Not a very difficult read, but the many (pairs of) characters didn't leave any room to let my mind wander while reading.

Donna Lodge

Addictive. Playful. Russian.

Caroline

Kurkov writes a wonderful satire of corruption among politicians, priests, militia and security services in the Ukraine.Dima, a sniffer dog-handler at the airport conspires with 2 bag-handlers to steal a suitcase, but they're not sure what to make of the contents when they finally get the suitcase open. Semyon, a security officer to a politician, realizes that he's been sleepwalking in the night but he can't remember where he goes or what he does during his nocturnal journeys. He's worried he ma...

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The Milkman in the Night

The Milkman in the Night

The Milkman in the Night

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