Receiving and Reading The Grim
As we arrived to our summer holiday home this year, there was a weird little book waiting for me on the living room table. It was an unexpected gift that my partner had ordered for me; a paperback book he had bought because it is relevant to some of my research interests. “It’s related to a YouTube channel called Grim Hustle, where a Russian mafia boss, who is actually a fictional character, is giving life advice. It looks like there is some kind of a spiritual cult or community built around the content. And now there is this book,” he said. I looked at the dark cover of the book featuring an elderly man with a fierce gaze staring right back at me. The cover design suggested this book is entertaining but edgy summer holiday reading for Real Men. Or for someone who does research on modern spirituality and communication technologies and is fascinated by social media phenomena and Internet communities. What is Grim Hustle? I wondered. I would soon find out.
Let’s start from the book. I did no background research whatsoever before jumping right into it. I read it, made notes, and plunged into figuring out the whole “cult” aspect of it only afterwards. My research did reveal that I had probably read the book wrongly. I had not adjusted my mindset to what I was about to read; I had no context and no understanding for what kind of an audience the book is written for. However, let’s first look at my uncontextualized -call it naive if you will- reading of the book.
First, the story. It is a coming-of-age story located in the world of a ready-to-collapse communism of the 1980’s. The events start unfolding in 1985 East Berlin, where Andrej, the son of a high ranking Stasi officer, resists Communism, seeing through its lies and deceptions, and ends up burning all bridges to his father, escaping Berlin with a black market con-artist, and taking an ever escalating route into criminal life. The book ends with him joining a gang of other career criminals in a Soviet gulag in Novosibirsk. The character is a hot-headed idealist who hates the System and develops a life philosophy underlining honesty, loyalty, and brotherhood while taking part in a few smuggling crimes. The narrator is positioned in a later point in time and is looking back at his young self’s adventures, commenting them with advice directed to the reader.
Let’s take a direct citation from my own notes I made when reading the book. July 29, 2025: “The cliched life advice in this book is embarrassingly bad. The writing is terrible -over-explaining, over-describing, and full of outdated and cliched expressions. The target audience is a teen or young adult boy who hasn’t read much literature but is attracted to hero stories and life advice and who has a tendency to think they have endured unimaginable hardships in their life. It is a book that should have been a TV show. It should be used as a warning example in creative writing classes.”
Page 72 of “Grim Begins”: “Making the decision to escape the Stasi shadow, and to rob the restaurant hosting apparatchik parties, was like plunging into a wild river. All I could do then was to allow the current of events to take me, and to hope that I would not crash into a rock or be dragged under by a treacherous undercurrent. So, I gave myself up completely to the flow and decided to accept what would come out of it.”
The writing style is emotional and embellished, trying to create a dramatic effect but losing me with the over-descriptive pompousness. The sentences proceed predictably but with a rusty clunk like a Soviet train transporting inmates to Siberia. The narrator is looking back in time at the actions and experiences of his younger self, making emotional, fatherly comments that hint at the looming presence of ever more sinister things that are lurking behind the corner. This “little did I know that” voice narrating through the adventures of his younger self is so repetitive that I needed to take regular mental health breaks to be able to read through the book. In addition, this narrator voice is smug, authoritarian, and oozing fake tough man energy more than a skull tattoo on the arm of someone living in their grandmother’s basement. The characters are flat and so stereotypical that it makes a mediocre Netflix show look like it came from the pen of a Nobelist. The only women present in the book are the protagonist’s soft, loving mother who dies at the very beginning of the story, the idealized archetype of a Mother; a girlfriend who dumped Andrej after he joined the military and is mentioned in a couple of sentences only (“stupid bitch”); and finally, the healer wife of one of the gulag inmates who sends herbal ointments and food as a gift for Andrej. It is not a storyworld created about or for women -they don’t exist in this universe, except as background props drier than plastic apples.
What is the message of the book? That being an honorable man of (Christian) faith you end up in a Soviet gulag? That you can “learn to play the system”, to use it to your advantage, “leaving those obeying its rules far behind” (p. 94)? The “system” is both communism and the empty and materialistic Western capitalism. Just like the prisoners in the Soviet Union yearned to escape from the system, modern democracies also host “people lost, hopeless and wanting to escape reality” (p. 98). Every criticism of the Socialist system is followed by a criticism of capitalism, “a mindless consumer society of isolated individuals” (p. 101). “Go toward the light, every fucking day” (p. 171) the voice urges. What light? Not the communist light nor the light of Western capitalism, but other than that, the light -the point- of the book remains a mystery, perhaps deliberately so.
This is kind of a self-help or life advice book with numerous lists explaining how to e.g. approach women or deal with bullies (p. 146-147). Setting clear boundaries but offering cooperation “will bring you far in life, no matter if you are in kindergarten, in prison, or in a boardroom.” An astute reader might ask at this point from which position is the narrator speaking -such life advice is usually given with the authority emerging from the fact that the speaker achieved something in life. Yet, it remains completely unclear as to why on earth would I follow the advice of this person. He has a rebellious heart, bless him, but also a criminal track record, and he doesn’t hesitate to promise to shed blood in order to join a gulag gang. Wow. Forget your Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh, here comes Andrycha!
The life advice given in the book is unbelievably cliched and lacks any kind of depth. Especially a person who has consumed even an average amount of self-help literature or online pep talks will expect to hear something like “Never react emotionally” or “Your sharpest word is silence” (p. 147), although coming from a persona whose first impulse at the first irritation is to beat someone into mashed potatoes and who is the voice in numerous YouTube videos and a book, this is hilariously conflicting. Sometimes the life lessons the character claims to have learnt are not just self-evident but downright naive and presented in a way that made sense only when I learnt afterwards that a lot of the advice-content of the book comes word by word from the YouTube channel it is linked with. For example, in the story Andrej learns the rules of how to communicate with women by writing love letters to the wives and mistresses of his fellow gulag inmates -against payment, of course. Insert here the contents of the equivalent YouTube video. The advice itself? Stay always in control because you are the boss and women are these sensitive, hard to understand little creatures. This is BS we have encountered numerous times decade after decade -nothing new under the sun here.
Is this a good book? Not in my opinion. Even if it does have unexpected plot twists and the historical background work seems convincing, the characters are flat as a pancake, the life advice superficial and childish, and the writing rather awful.
What on Earth Did I Just Read?
Now, this is where the review part ends and my research part, aka “What is Grim Hustle and what the f*** did I just read?” begins.
The book is co-authored by Wiktor Miesok and Felix Charin. While there are some Wiktor Miesok -profiles on LinkedIn, confirming the identity of this author is difficult, especially as Grim is the first book they have published. There is a Wiktor Miesok who is the CEO of White Matter AS, the company who published the book. The company was registered in Trondheim, Norway, on May 12 in 2025 -just before the book came out. The description on the Norwegian tax information website says (my translation) that the purpose of the company “Is to engage in creative and commercial activities within literary production, including the writing, publishing and distribution of books and other written material, both digitally and in print. Furthermore, the company shall offer services within personal development, including coaching, mentoring and consulting, both physically and digitally. The company may also engage in associated activities that naturally fall within this purpose.”
Felix Charin, the other author, is a German writer and director, according to his LinkedIn, specifically “for high-end fiction and CEO of GRIM VISION, a data-driven development company that focuses on Elevated Genre”.
The piercing pair of eyes on the book cover belong to Andrej Kaminsky, a German actor of Russian origin, born in Finland. He and Charin built together a global brand called GRIM Hustle that has millions of subscribers on their social media channels Ring of Grim and Grim Hustle. On the YouTube videos, you can see Kaminsky playing the book’s protagonist -now an elderly man, a seasoned mafia father figure- giving life advice.
What Is the Grim Hustle: A Small Storytelling Empire
So why does all of this seem a bit complicated? Because it is. A blogger keeping a site called Homo Ludditus seems to have recently gone through a similar rabbit hole for trying to figure out what the deal with the Grim Hustle is, see https://ludditus.com/2025/05/28/the-tate-brothers-equivalent-for-the-intellectual-type/ In this post, you can also find a book review on “Grim Begins”: https://ludditus.com/2025/06/13/grim-book-1-a-review-like-no-other/
In the following explanation, I have used the contents of Homo Ludditus, my own Internet and AI searches, and an article by Christian Feichtinger called “Jesus Was a Good Gangster”: Honor and Religion in the YouTube Channel Grim Hustle, published in 2024 in Journal for Religion, Film and Media.
In 2016, the Grim Hustle YouTube channel launched a series of short videos containing life advice and motivational speeches by a “Russian Mafia boss”. The channel gained more than one million followers in 18 months. As Feichtinger points out in his excellent paper -a paper that I would have loved to write myself- the main narrative is calling for a return to traditional values, especially honor and re-imagined Christianity, as an antidote to the corrupting modern society.
According to Feichtinger, the channel gained followers because of its appealing, professionally produced content and Kaminsky’s stunning performance. Most of the videos show Kaminsky performing his role in close-ups, giving life advice and recommendations on topics varying from business to personal struggles. Sometimes he is shown coaching a young mobster named Roman or another, anonymous adolescent, underlining his position as an elderly father figure in a mafia.
Then there is the business behind the videos. The Grim Foundation is a real foundation that hosts two glibal member’s clubs. There is the Grim Book Circle, promising to grow the members (500+ in early July 2025) by the best books. Ring of Grim is an exclusive network for high achievers and a male-only fraternity. There is a Reddit thread where one disappointed member of the fraternity describes it as a “money grabbing scheme”.
Next point of astonishment: Apparently, the insider circle is for high achieving professionals. They want doctors, lawyers, and other people with degrees like that to join them. Something doesn’t add up. I really hope there is no person beyond their 20s and with even one university degree who gets attracted to join the community because of perceiving the Grim YouTube content as high quality. And I’m not talking of most of the advice being kind of banal. There is also content that can be dangerous, such as advising people to not use prescription drugs (“Avoid these 6 deadly habits”). The same short video argues against short social media content. Luckily, according to the comment section, not everyone takes the advice completely seriously but with some sarcasm, along the lines of “Watching this on YouTube shorts while waiting for my Adderall to kick in”.
The Grim YouTube Community
It would be very easy to write a diminishing, snarky essay about this storyworld simply because the content is not of astonishing quality. But some positive things have to be said about this world. It is carefully crafted and provokes curiosity. It involves an engaging central character. It has many layers and levels. It engages people on multiple digital and offline platforms. Whether you only choose to watch one Grim YouTube video or go all in and become a paying member of the inside groupx, there is something on the buffet for many people. It is also an intriguing social media experiment that easily leads a curious person into a long journey of simply trying to figure out what is going on -is it all an act?
What is the Grim Hustle? An evolving narrative where many things are not what they look like. Based on the comment sections of the YouTube videos, it seems that some viewers have realized the “Russian Mafia leader” with piercing blue eyes and a thick accent is a fictional character played by an actor, and some have not. Then again, it does not seem to matter to the experience of many. After all, the YouTube videos are just a showroom to attract those who want to become paying members of the “inner circle”-or at least such an interpretation easily comes to mind. Some viewers state that while the Mafia boss is played by an actor, the content is still good. One might also ask why Andryuchka would be any more fictional character than let’s say Meghan Markle labeling bags of lavender in someone else’s kitchen pretending it to be hers? Yet, people watch her show. The YouTube comment sections are full of thank yous from people who have appreciated the content. Some of them are pouring their hearts out, often sharing their own struggles. These people do not seem all young, nor male. In fact, there is quite a lot of variety in the people leaving comments on Grim Hustle’s YouTube videos. Perhaps this is because the message is vague enough to appeal to a wide audience -truth, honesty, community, fighting the system. Yet, this seeming broadness also means many things remain unanswered, just like in the book. What cultural revolution are we fighting for? What is the goal?
Yet, I can understand why many people would be attracted by this content. It is refreshing to see an older man with a thick accent and a cool backstory give life advice. The unusual packaging is half of the magic. “I love this guy. Unlike 99.9% of everyone on YouTube, he gets right to the message. And every message is spot-on!”
Another viewer: “Man I wish I had a mentor like this gentleman when I was a kid but now that I’m approaching 70 his words have even more impact and meaning and tell all those little brothers and sisters out there listen to this gentleman closely he’s giving you good advice.” Another elderly viewer is commenting that looking at the messages left by much younger people he is worried that their fathers really did not teach these things to them. I kind of thought the same.
“It’s not that bad of an advice to say that people should use less social media”, my partner answered when I criticized the YouTube channel to him. “It’s not, but this channel is targeting people who really need to hear it from an invented character on social media and who perceive it as deep advice. That tells me that they never had parents or other people to sit them down and teach them these things, let alone to give them a home culture that would have allowed them to see how shallow and trivial this content really is,” I replied.
Summing Up the Hustle
Grim Hustle is continuing the long tradition of easily chewable life advice, but it does it with a twist. Yes, it makes James Redfield’s “The Celestial Prophecy” -a book so trivial and superficial that I still remember the shock effect it had on a teenage me- look like postmodern French philosophy. But it’s also created for Millennials and Gen Z who love shortcuts. “No need to read lot of inspirational books, your words is enough to inspire and become a real MAN” comments a viewer.
Indeed: As Feichtinger points out, the channel creates a masculine scenery and makes clear that men live suppressed lives without meaning and faith. The Homo Ludditus blogger Béranger notes that the Grim Hustle is like an intellectual alternative to the toxic masculinity related to the Tate brothers movement. He shows a table that ChatGPT created for him, contrasting the Ring of Grim with its dark and stoic warrior-philosopher vibe with the loud and alpha-influencer energy of the Tate Brothers’ Movement.
Feichtinger describes the YouTube channel as connecting traditional honor ideals and traditional Christian religion with motivational video style, trying to help the audience to withstand such perceived issues of modern society as lack of meaning, isolation, and the impact of social media. The Grim Hustle conceptualization of Jesus has little to do with traditional Christianity and is crafted to fit the spirit and message of Grim. He is presented as a strong, loyal and brave leader to look up to, a reimagined role model for audiences differing from those traditionally receiving Christian messages. Feichtinger also writes that what is depicted on the channel as traditional Christian religion can be seen as mere contemporary secular thought as it mixes ideas and practices of folk-religious magic and the kind of secularized magical thinking known from the New Thought movement -a movement emphasizing the idea that the right thoughts will produce positive effects and success- into its presentation of Christianity. This mixture is then legitimized through performing the aesthetics of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Feichtinger points out that the channel is not about starting a revolution; it is about building up small alternative systems of like-minded people that form brotherhoods to preserve traditional values. Feichtinger notes that with its “stylized mafia symbolism”, the content plays with the romanticized link between crime and honor. Such a criminal honor code underlining group loyalty and mutual favors has been popularized in many depictions of mafia seen on TV shows and movies.
I perceive the Grim Hustle as a (social) media experiment. What we have is an invented, atypical influencer selling you a book and a private club membership. Grim has its own curated and stylized world. The skulls and the Fight Club vibes, the Jordan Peterson gone mafia style approach. Even if the book is childish and terribly written to my taste, it will probably manage to come across as a deep and insightful page-turner exactly in those contexts and for those audiences for whom it is targeted. I cannot help but feeling that behind the scenes, a team of digital content producers and storyworld artists is having a lot of fun with this experiment, a co-authored “turn your personal crises into a blessing” -narrative (for an interested reader, a perspective to global crises and storytelling here).
This multi-platform narrative, co-authored with Felix, Andrej, and Wiktor, and probably more people in the background, and of course the audience -the readers, the watchers, the influencers, the commenters, the bloggers- does not have a strong “point”. That would be the end of the narrative. Do not believe that this is simply a project regarding life advice. It’s a whole “cinematic universe”, whatever that means. It is supposed to be mysterious. You’re supposed to want to know what is going on. Are there any interviews of any of the content producers? Do they share anything on their social medias? Of course not. The point is to keep the questions coming and play the game as long as the game lets itself be played.
What is the Grim Hustle: Final Words
Not everything that is naive is innocent. The Grim content is full of contradictions. The Homo Ludditus -blogger asks “So what the fuck has God to do with all this crap?”, referring to all the secular values and life rules promoted by the channel. Feichtinger notes that an honor code such as that represented by the Grim Hustle, one that is exclusive and partial, hardly matches the Christian ideology of all-encompassing mercy. The Homo Ludditus -writer wonders if this “conservative movement, this brotherhood” is actually a sect, noting his hope that Grim is not a facade for a movement emerging from the association of Western Rite Orthodoxy among young people with far-right thinking, something we could call “unapologetic masculinity”. Feichtinger also points out that although Grim Hustle doesn’t seem to be explicitly supporting current Russian politics -such as the war against Ukraine- the content does reflect the idea that Orthodox spirituality will save Western culture from its toxic traits, while the stylized Russianness and the promotion of patriotism plays into the kind of nationalism promoted by Russian government propaganda.
Thus, even if one could just say that Grim Hustle is a collection of curated self-help videos and one mediocre book, there seems to be many reasons not to trivialize its content. For sure, by its sheer volume -the hundreds of videos, the book, the circle- it will touch many people, and it might have impacts and ripple effects that go beyond those outlined by any co-author of this evolving narrative.
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