A Simples Life: The Life and Times of Aleksandr Orlov

Nice

I love and appreciate the circumstances that led to the publishing of this book. All the communication activities that took place represent the "best in class" in Advertising campaigns and Alexadr Orlov is an excellent product of that. The attention to detail is amazing and Orlov is the coolest meerkat!

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR KIDS AND FOR ADULTS IF YOU LOVE THE COMPARE THE MEERKATS LIKE I DO - REALLY FUNNY TO READ!

Aleksandr Orlov and his family and friends are meerkat advertising characters for a UK price comparison website, "comparethemarket dot com" which they spoof as "comparetheMEERKAT". His catchphrase is "Simples!" Apparently they are a big sensation across the pond, but being a distracted Yank I was unaware of them until I saw some posts about them on expat friends' pages. This book was rushed out to capitalize on the popularity of the characters, and it is far more nicely done than one would expect in that circumstance. One thing the British do very well is cute little animal stories (e.g. Pooh, Paddington, Wind in the Willows and many picture books) and this could be described as a pop-culture version of same.Aleksandr tells how his ancestor meerkats migrated from the Kalahari Desert in Africa, to Russia where they began their business. He and other members of the family also get involved in boxing, "burrow-sleigh racing" (seems to be a sort of Meerkat Grand Prix), and the movie industry. There is also a tour of the Orlov family mansion, complete with floor plan, menus and photographs. In fact the whole book is copiously illustrated with photos, drawings, spoofs of movie posters, and all kinds of other things, and it's all printed on nice slick paper and well over 100 pages long. All kinds of puns on the word "Meerkat" and other in-jokes abound; for example, the adverts feature a poor employee named Sergei who's sort of a tech support Bob Crachit and all-around stooge for the wealthy Aleksandr, and Sergei features prominently in the book as well. If you have seen the "Compare the Meerkat" ad videos (which you can probably dig up on You Tube), you will recognize some of the photos and stories from there, but you do not need to have watched the ads in order to enjoy the humor of the book.Due to the number of Russian/ European history references in the story, as well as all the puns and the overall length, I would not recommend this for young children as they're unlikely to "get it", particularly if they don't live in a country where the Meerkats often pop up on TV. But older kids might like it, and adults who enjoy British animal stories and popular culture should also enjoy this melding of the two. Aleksandr and company could be characters in "Wind and the Willows", if that book was jolted a bunch of decades forward into the computer age. Perhaps it helps that I came to this story not having heard much of the hype and not having too many expectations, but I thought this was a really cute book.

Dies ist die bebilderte Lebensgeschicht des Erdmännchens Aleksandr Orlov. Die Figur basiert auf einer britischen Webekampagne für comparethemarket.com, einer Webseite für Preisvergleich. Die Geschichte ist sehr liebevoll aufgemacht - leider derzeit nur in englischer Sprache erhältlich.

Having read all of the negative reviews of this book I couldn't help but think that those people were taking this book far too seriously. Seeing how much of a popular icon Aleksandr Orlov was, it was only natural for his creators to look for ways to branch out and cash in on any other possible success they could harbour, wouldn't any smart businessman?Point aside, this book is very entertaining. It's written in the grammatical style of Aleksandr (it'll have you speaking along with it in your head to his accent, trust me!) and peppered with humour of all kinds, at least one of which is bound to suit your taste. As well as this the book also features images that won't fail to make you laugh as well, so overall there's a wide variety of things in the book to keep you reading if they don't keep you laughing as well.My personal experience with this book was once of complete enjoyment, my friends all loved it as well when I showed them it, and I'd highly recommend others to buy it because, for the price it is, it's fantastic value.