<p>War is raging in Georgia,Russian fighter planes are thundering overhead, and yet, for some, the fallingbombs cause no more impact than the slight ripple moving through the purifiedwater of their swimming pools, or the rattling of a spoon in their cappuccinocups. Filtered through the bleary and cynical mind of Shako—a journalist famedfor his appearance in Georgian Pepsi ads—<em>a</em><em>dibas</em>is a tragic satire describing the progressive falsification of his life,invaded by consumer goods, consumer sex, consumer carnage. A “war novel”without a single battle scene, Zaza Burchuladze’s English-language debut anatomizes theWestern world’s ongoing “feast in the time of plague.”</p>