Hanuman’s Travels

Translated from the Russian by Matthew Hyde

2020 Longlist

Hanuman’s Travels, is the picaresque tale of two asylum seekers, one a Russian Estonian man (the narrator) and the other an Indian (the protagonist), and about their daily lives in a Danish refugee camp and on the road in the late 1990s. While they are waiting to go to the Danish island of Lolland, which is said to be a paradise, the two companions in misfortune survive in any way they can. Among scams, big and small disgraces, humiliations and lies, a map is gradually drawn – a detailed map of itineraries where the hopes and the fears of thousands of marginal people flounder and intertwine. Andrei Ivanov was inspired to write this novel by his own vicissitudes as a stateless person living in Denmark.

About the Author

Andrei Ivanov was born in Estonia in 1971. His novels include Bizarre, Confession of a Lunatic and The Harbin Moths . Hanuman’s Travels was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize and won the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Prize for Russian-Language Literature.

Librarian’s Comments

A shocking but believable insight into the life of illegal refugees inside and outside the camps in Denmark. The authentic naturalistic description shows the refugees situation as dangerous, depressing and hopeless. The conflict between dreams and reality makes the quest a real challenge. Tartu Public Library, Estonia