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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Interesting and suspenseful telling of the lead up to the October Revolution. Miéville does fall into some overly verbose writing at times though.
informative
inspiring
sad
Informative, but lacking in important details the way it abounds in unimportant ones. Even as a big fan of history stuff, there's only so many re-tellings of committee votes and meeting minutes I can stomach. Where's the execution of the Romanovs? The bread riots? Was that really all of the "sealed train" story he felt was worth describing? Maybe I just missed it, because my eyes would glaze over for some passages and I would only snap back to consciousness when I caught a line about someone getting stabbed, but I can't help but think the book was organized in a weird way.
I really enjoyed it, but I found it hard to get into the flow of reading it.
New drinking game: every time a character that is either late sent into exile or is murdered by stalin, is mentioned, take a shot. Guarantee you will be drunk after the first two pages. Seriously though, Mieville's bio of all the characters at play during the revolution, that he puts in the end of the book was extremely helpful as many of them have similar names and were doing similar jobs.
Main complaint: He is either Lenin or he is Trotsky. Stop jumping back and forth between the two, it took me forever to figure out that he was referring to the same person despite know the name Lenin Trotsky cause he jumped back and forth constantly.
Main Pro: Super easy read, one of the easiest that I have come across when learning about Russian history. I was able to cut it up into little pieces, and read this books a month a day.
My first book about the Russia Revolution that was not written by a survivor or a Russia. Very well documented, I loved all the little tidbits and personal stories that were added. Helped me understand how the Revolution came into being and the work that lead up to October. A great read and one i would definitely suggest, if i had any friends who actually wanted to read about Russian history.
Main complaint: He is either Lenin or he is Trotsky. Stop jumping back and forth between the two, it took me forever to figure out that he was referring to the same person despite know the name Lenin Trotsky cause he jumped back and forth constantly.
Main Pro: Super easy read, one of the easiest that I have come across when learning about Russian history. I was able to cut it up into little pieces, and read this books a month a day.
My first book about the Russia Revolution that was not written by a survivor or a Russia. Very well documented, I loved all the little tidbits and personal stories that were added. Helped me understand how the Revolution came into being and the work that lead up to October. A great read and one i would definitely suggest, if i had any friends who actually wanted to read about Russian history.
"Twilight, even remembered twilight, is better than no light at all."
This book made me feel things I can't express in words.
This book made me feel things I can't express in words.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A thrilling and engaging retelling of the Revolution.
Stellar and detailed narrative history of the Russian Revolution of 1917. I've never read any of Miéville's fiction, but I imagine it's up my alley. The narrative is compelling, but I wouldn't call this a light introduction to 1917 (you will spend a lot of your time returning back to the glossary of names to remember who's who). It's a solid read, but you might want to take your time going through it, otherwise it can be disorienting.
A 4.5 star read; I'm honestly struggling between giving it a 4 or a 5.
This book covers those brief months between February and October 1917 in the Russian Empire, between the first revolution that overthrew the tsar and the second which overthrew the provisional government installed. It also briefly covers the leadup to 1917, as well as the aftereffects (aka Stalin).
It's.. it's a lot. Mieville gives a lot of depth to revolutions that are usually blithely summed up as "one for justice, one for power". Each month is given a separate chapter. Stories and voices that are mostly forgotten (a highly determined All-Russian Muslim Women's Congress met that spring! I had no idea!) are recounted here. That was something I enjoyed most - as Mieville is writing a sort-of "primer for laypeople", he doesn't have to stick to only the actions of Lenin, Trotsky, etc. but can give anecdotes of the "normal people". Revolutionary (or counter revolutionary) fervour swept to basically all corners of the Russian Empire.
Another thing that impressed me was how exciting Mieville managed to make what is, in essence, 9 months of meetings, strikes, more meetings, furious letter writing, the horror of WWI, more meetings, chaos in the streets, and yet more meetings. It's truly a talented writer who can make you feel tension not only when thousands march in protest, but also when people who broadly support the same idea meet to denounce each other over small-ish differences in policy. (This book certainly helped concretise my feelings of frustration with the current left: in the last 100 years we haven't managed to figure that bit out.)
It's also just a really interesting time in general to be honest. Lots of very passionate people who believed in something larger than themselves. Lots of things happening by fluke or chance, in a darkly hilarious comedy of errors.
So why not 5 stars? Well, one small issue is that even Mieville couldn't write this history in such a way that wasn't confusing at times. There's just so many names and so many sub-divisions! (There's a glossary at the back, but I didn't realise it for a while; this glossary btw is an even harsher reminder of what's to come than Mieville's epilogue, with seemingly every other character's short biography concluding with "executed by Stalin").
The bigger issue imo is that the theory of Lenin being a "German agent" is never truly discussed. Look, it doesn't have to be accepted as fact or given much weight. But without a brief explanation of possible German high command motivations when putting Lenin on a "sealed train", this decision seems bizarre. Moreover later accusations of Lenin as German spy are therefore portrayed as completely unfounded and out of left field. I just feel like the book would have been stronger with that in it, particularly as international meddling on the Whites' side during the following Russian Civil War is clearly pointed out.
Nevertheless, I thought this was a great look at a very complicated period in time and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in an exciting introduction.
This book covers those brief months between February and October 1917 in the Russian Empire, between the first revolution that overthrew the tsar and the second which overthrew the provisional government installed. It also briefly covers the leadup to 1917, as well as the aftereffects (aka Stalin).
It's.. it's a lot. Mieville gives a lot of depth to revolutions that are usually blithely summed up as "one for justice, one for power". Each month is given a separate chapter. Stories and voices that are mostly forgotten (a highly determined All-Russian Muslim Women's Congress met that spring! I had no idea!) are recounted here. That was something I enjoyed most - as Mieville is writing a sort-of "primer for laypeople", he doesn't have to stick to only the actions of Lenin, Trotsky, etc. but can give anecdotes of the "normal people". Revolutionary (or counter revolutionary) fervour swept to basically all corners of the Russian Empire.
Another thing that impressed me was how exciting Mieville managed to make what is, in essence, 9 months of meetings, strikes, more meetings, furious letter writing, the horror of WWI, more meetings, chaos in the streets, and yet more meetings. It's truly a talented writer who can make you feel tension not only when thousands march in protest, but also when people who broadly support the same idea meet to denounce each other over small-ish differences in policy. (This book certainly helped concretise my feelings of frustration with the current left: in the last 100 years we haven't managed to figure that bit out.)
It's also just a really interesting time in general to be honest. Lots of very passionate people who believed in something larger than themselves. Lots of things happening by fluke or chance, in a darkly hilarious comedy of errors.
So why not 5 stars? Well, one small issue is that even Mieville couldn't write this history in such a way that wasn't confusing at times. There's just so many names and so many sub-divisions! (There's a glossary at the back, but I didn't realise it for a while; this glossary btw is an even harsher reminder of what's to come than Mieville's epilogue, with seemingly every other character's short biography concluding with "executed by Stalin").
The bigger issue imo is that the theory of Lenin being a "German agent" is never truly discussed. Look, it doesn't have to be accepted as fact or given much weight. But without a brief explanation of possible German high command motivations when putting Lenin on a "sealed train", this decision seems bizarre. Moreover later accusations of Lenin as German spy are therefore portrayed as completely unfounded and out of left field. I just feel like the book would have been stronger with that in it, particularly as international meddling on the Whites' side during the following Russian Civil War is clearly pointed out.
Nevertheless, I thought this was a great look at a very complicated period in time and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in an exciting introduction.