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martydah's review
5.0
I've read books with multiple narrators before. Some are successful, the others are a complete mess. This book is one of the former.
I like pretty much any novel that has to do with Russian history and this one is great. The plot revolves around the life of Vladimir Lenin's wife Nadezhda Krupskaya as told by her mother Yelizaveta, a nameless narrator and 'interviews' with important individuals from the early Revolutionary period.
Nadya, as she is called for short, is a determined worker for the People, promoting education and schools for the workers and poor. She serves Lenin's cause unreservedly, following him around Europe during the period of his exile, and generally working herself to exhaustion. She even becomes friends with Lenin's mistress, the beautiful Inessa Armand. All the while her mother provides incite in to Nadya's and Lenin's private life.
Other historical figures, Maria Ilichnaya, Trotsky, Stalin, Fanya Kaplan (who was accused of shooting Lenin in 1918), even Tsarina Alexandra also put in appearances as 'interviewees,' giving their view of events. Meads deftly weaves all these perspectives together to give a very realistic, three dimensional portrait of a remarkable woman in remarkable times.
I like pretty much any novel that has to do with Russian history and this one is great. The plot revolves around the life of Vladimir Lenin's wife Nadezhda Krupskaya as told by her mother Yelizaveta, a nameless narrator and 'interviews' with important individuals from the early Revolutionary period.
Nadya, as she is called for short, is a determined worker for the People, promoting education and schools for the workers and poor. She serves Lenin's cause unreservedly, following him around Europe during the period of his exile, and generally working herself to exhaustion. She even becomes friends with Lenin's mistress, the beautiful Inessa Armand. All the while her mother provides incite in to Nadya's and Lenin's private life.
Other historical figures, Maria Ilichnaya, Trotsky, Stalin, Fanya Kaplan (who was accused of shooting Lenin in 1918), even Tsarina Alexandra also put in appearances as 'interviewees,' giving their view of events. Meads deftly weaves all these perspectives together to give a very realistic, three dimensional portrait of a remarkable woman in remarkable times.
abookishaffair's review
4.0
3.5 stars. "For You, Madam Lenin" is the story of the infamous Vladimir Lenin's wife, Nadya, told mostly from the perspective of Nadya's mother. Before this book, I knew very, very little of Lenin's wife so it was fascinating to me to get to learn a little bit more about her through this historical-fiction book.
The Russian Revolution is absolutely fascinating to me. It's such a watershed moment in history and it truly changed the course of history. This time period in history is filled with big personalities. I really like how this book brought some of those personalities to life. This book gives a good overview of some of the events surrounding the revolution. There are a lot of interesting people that make an appearance in this book such as Trotsky and Karl Marx's daughter.
The chapters are told from various points of view, not just Nadya's mother's point of view. Some of the chapters are very interesting such as the ones entitled "Interview with History," which features some of the historical figures in the book talking to an unknown entity. While it did take you out of the book a little bit, they were very interesting and added an almost dream-like feel to the book! I found myself wishing that there would have been a little bit more of a focus on the story itself.
Overall, this was an interesting story and whetted my appetite to learn more about so many different historical figures!
The Russian Revolution is absolutely fascinating to me. It's such a watershed moment in history and it truly changed the course of history. This time period in history is filled with big personalities. I really like how this book brought some of those personalities to life. This book gives a good overview of some of the events surrounding the revolution. There are a lot of interesting people that make an appearance in this book such as Trotsky and Karl Marx's daughter.
The chapters are told from various points of view, not just Nadya's mother's point of view. Some of the chapters are very interesting such as the ones entitled "Interview with History," which features some of the historical figures in the book talking to an unknown entity. While it did take you out of the book a little bit, they were very interesting and added an almost dream-like feel to the book! I found myself wishing that there would have been a little bit more of a focus on the story itself.
Overall, this was an interesting story and whetted my appetite to learn more about so many different historical figures!
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