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jayisthebird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
merv_d's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
waqasmhd's review against another edition
1.0
something is wrong (with me)
my first francis spufford's book (golden hill) had less than 4 stars rating but i loved that book and i gave it 5 stars unashamedly. yet this one, it has 4 plus rating and i struggle to like it.
to be fair with the book, it started really well and i assumed (too soon) that its going to be another great one.
the problem i found with this book was that it did not feel cohesive. problem is with the structure of the book. every chapter with new person's perspective is too much especially when the stories of each person do not connect. some perspectives were repeated but not enough to bring the story together for me.
some chapters felt too theoretical, like reading a research-paper. overall it just felt bloated.
people apparantly find it interesting to read hence the rating but i am not here for this.
i just wish it had stayed the way it started or had fewer perspectives (it has 13 in total, i just counted to finish this review) or some meaningful connection between these chapters.
now wondering which under-rated book of his should i read next.
my first francis spufford's book (golden hill) had less than 4 stars rating but i loved that book and i gave it 5 stars unashamedly. yet this one, it has 4 plus rating and i struggle to like it.
to be fair with the book, it started really well and i assumed (too soon) that its going to be another great one.
the problem i found with this book was that it did not feel cohesive. problem is with the structure of the book. every chapter with new person's perspective is too much especially when the stories of each person do not connect. some perspectives were repeated but not enough to bring the story together for me.
some chapters felt too theoretical, like reading a research-paper. overall it just felt bloated.
people apparantly find it interesting to read hence the rating but i am not here for this.
i just wish it had stayed the way it started or had fewer perspectives (it has 13 in total, i just counted to finish this review) or some meaningful connection between these chapters.
now wondering which under-rated book of his should i read next.
kingarooski's review against another edition
5.0
The Soviet economy did not move on from coal and steel and cement to plastics and microelectronics and software design, except in a very few military applications...It continued to suck resources and human labour in vast quantities into a heavy-industrial sector which had once
been intended to exist as a springboard for something else, but which by now had become its own justification. Soviet industry in its last decades existed because it existed, an empire of inertia expanding ever more slowly...Every year it produced goods that less and less corresponded to human needs, and whatever it once started producing, it tended to go on producing ad infinitum...
Francis Spufford's book on life in Soviet Russia in the 50s and early 60s is an unusual mix of genres: part fiction, part historical account. I found this to be a fascinating read as each section of the book was prefaced by an accurate description of the economic and social situation at the time. This was followed by three to four short stories, fictional but based on things that did happen or could have happened. Most of the "characters" in the stories were historical figures in Soviet Russia. Some stories allow us to re-visit the character a few years down the line to find out how their life develops. This is a wonderful book and one I would love to read again in the future.
been intended to exist as a springboard for something else, but which by now had become its own justification. Soviet industry in its last decades existed because it existed, an empire of inertia expanding ever more slowly...Every year it produced goods that less and less corresponded to human needs, and whatever it once started producing, it tended to go on producing ad infinitum...
Francis Spufford's book on life in Soviet Russia in the 50s and early 60s is an unusual mix of genres: part fiction, part historical account. I found this to be a fascinating read as each section of the book was prefaced by an accurate description of the economic and social situation at the time. This was followed by three to four short stories, fictional but based on things that did happen or could have happened. Most of the "characters" in the stories were historical figures in Soviet Russia. Some stories allow us to re-visit the character a few years down the line to find out how their life develops. This is a wonderful book and one I would love to read again in the future.
whyareyouasking's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
transmortalinjection's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rooafza's review against another edition
5.0
The rise and fall of cybernetics and the Soviet utopian dream. Fascinating anecdotes about life in post-Stalin USSR and the tantalizing possibilities had the scientist-reformers prevailed over the Party.
kathrinpassig's review against another edition
5.0
(2023 ergänzt) Wieso habe ich zu diesem fantastischen Buch hier drin eigentlich nie was geschrieben? Es ist erstens vom Konzept her sehr gut. Im Buch erklärt eine Figur vorsichtshalber, wie es gemeint ist: Es sind die Geschichten verschiedener Personen, die in anderen Romanen über die Liebe o.ä. miteinander verbunden wären, aber hier ist es die Wirtschaft, die sie verbindet.
"In fact he was having a new idea. He was thinking to himself that an economy told a kind of story, though not the sort you would find in a novel. In this story, many of the major characters would never even meet, yet they would act on each other's lives just as surely as if they jostled for space inside a single house, through the long chains by which value moved about. Tiny decisions in one place could have cascading, giant effects elsewhere; conversely, what most absorbed the conscious attention of the characters - what broke their hearts, what they thought ordered or justified their lives - might have no effect whatsoever, dying away as if it had never happened at all. Yet impersonal forces could have drastically personal consequences, in this story, altering the whole basis on which people hoped and loved and worked. It would be a strange story to hear. At first it would seem to be a buzzing confusion, extending arbitrarily in directions that seemed to have nothing to do with each other. But little by little, if you were patient, its peculiar laws would become plain. In the end it would all make sense. Yes, thought Emil, it would all make sense in the end."
Und es enthält zweitens eine sowohl erklärtechnisch großartige als auch gänsehauterzeugende Szene, in der es darum geht, wie Krebs entsteht (im Körper eines sowjetischen Politikers). This only has to happen once. Schon wieder elf Jahre her, ich muss es unbedingt noch mal lesen.
Die deutsche Übersetzung ist, glaube ich, nicht so gut, ich erinnere mich dunkel an Beschwerden von Leuten, die sie zu lesen versucht haben.
"In fact he was having a new idea. He was thinking to himself that an economy told a kind of story, though not the sort you would find in a novel. In this story, many of the major characters would never even meet, yet they would act on each other's lives just as surely as if they jostled for space inside a single house, through the long chains by which value moved about. Tiny decisions in one place could have cascading, giant effects elsewhere; conversely, what most absorbed the conscious attention of the characters - what broke their hearts, what they thought ordered or justified their lives - might have no effect whatsoever, dying away as if it had never happened at all. Yet impersonal forces could have drastically personal consequences, in this story, altering the whole basis on which people hoped and loved and worked. It would be a strange story to hear. At first it would seem to be a buzzing confusion, extending arbitrarily in directions that seemed to have nothing to do with each other. But little by little, if you were patient, its peculiar laws would become plain. In the end it would all make sense. Yes, thought Emil, it would all make sense in the end."
Und es enthält zweitens eine sowohl erklärtechnisch großartige als auch gänsehauterzeugende Szene, in der es darum geht, wie Krebs entsteht (im Körper eines sowjetischen Politikers). This only has to happen once. Schon wieder elf Jahre her, ich muss es unbedingt noch mal lesen.
Die deutsche Übersetzung ist, glaube ich, nicht so gut, ich erinnere mich dunkel an Beschwerden von Leuten, die sie zu lesen versucht haben.
bechols's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written. Evokes a huge, subtle shift over time from optimism to resignation.
leevoncarbon's review
4.0
I can still recall a time in the early 1960s when I became aware of the world beyond the little town where I lived. I became fascinated with geography and with learning the names of capitals and residents of far away countries. The growing perception of a Soviet threat was part of my earliest understanding of things. The Cuban missile crisis when I was eleven years old is a vivid memory. So when I read positive reviews of this book about Russian in the late 1950s through 1970, I immediately obtained a copy. Enjoyed every bit of it. His approach to the subject works well - not a novel, not a history, not an historical novel - more like a collection of short stories based on historical records. By personalizing the events in this way, you get a better feel for the initial optimism and swagger in the Khrushchev era along with the constant dissonance between the promise of Communist Party and the realities of daily life.