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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
Dramatised audio book not making sense. Losing track of characters. Will read later
medium-paced
This is not an easy read and the subject is depressing to say the least. Nevertheless, it is a briliant book, which gives a compelling, fascinating and important insight to a world I am still ignorant of.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Viktor, David
i read a book, i liked the book, and now all that's left to do is record my thoughts about said book. how tedious. who cares, in the end, this will serve but a headstone on a cloud too intangible for nature to comprehend.
i read war and peace and whilst i could grasp that much of the fiction was based on fact, the distance between now and then, seemed immesurable, the history unknown to me, the aggressor's motives elusive; facts, figures, waylaid for the fantasy. with life and fate, it was more difficult to discard reality, 80 years' separation, victims and perpetrators still living; history lessons, movies, books, psychological experiments all of them intent on dissecting this phenomena, all of them asking why and how could the whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter. knowledgeable as i was in the history of the holocaust, in all these classes, in all these readings, it never occurred to me to imagine all the minute details; all the little steps taken towards the chambers, the sign-postings. i knew of the leaders of course, but it never occurred to me, quite so viscerally, that there were people on the ground, paving the way. it never occurred to me that there were people tasked to disperse the gas, people responsible for the clean up, people looting for gold in dentures. people, people, people.
it occurred to me to look to russia , seeking to find a protagonist state to root for, but there i found only the same state of affairs. russians struggling against the shackles of a fascist regime only to rebind themselves to the shackles of a totalitarian government.
this book is timeless. how could a whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter? for the same reason you are sitting there whilst millions are being herded to their slaughter. they sat there because they had jobs to go to, bills to pay, petty grievances to nurse, colleagues to out-do; they sat there because they had depressive states to contend with, smiles to feign, managers to impress, they sat there while history repeated itself, and you sit there, all the while history repeats itself. it doesn't matter what year it is, somewhere out there people are killing each other, for oil, for sovereignty, for supremacy, for a few more kilometres of land to call their own.
character - my main gripe with this books is the characters, and the relationships they had with each other. from the synopsis, i would be reading about he lives of the Shaposhnikov's, but right up until the end, i had trouble figuring out who was who in relation to who. at some point i stopped trying to figure it out, instead choosing to focus on the characters' whose arcs hooked me the most - lyda and her profound grief, viktor and his isolation, david, dear god david. if i were to judge this book just on these characters' chapters, it would be a 5 stars. alas, there were many other characters, i wish their interconnectedness to the main family line had been more fleshed out - 4/5
writing - lyrical at some points, straightforward in most and easy to digest - 3/5
plot - this is history, what greater plot could there be? 5/5
4.5/5
i read a book, i liked the book, and now all that's left to do is record my thoughts about said book. how tedious. who cares, in the end, this will serve but a headstone on a cloud too intangible for nature to comprehend.
i read war and peace and whilst i could grasp that much of the fiction was based on fact, the distance between now and then, seemed immesurable, the history unknown to me, the aggressor's motives elusive; facts, figures, waylaid for the fantasy. with life and fate, it was more difficult to discard reality, 80 years' separation, victims and perpetrators still living; history lessons, movies, books, psychological experiments all of them intent on dissecting this phenomena, all of them asking why and how could the whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter. knowledgeable as i was in the history of the holocaust, in all these classes, in all these readings, it never occurred to me to imagine all the minute details; all the little steps taken towards the chambers, the sign-postings. i knew of the leaders of course, but it never occurred to me, quite so viscerally, that there were people on the ground, paving the way. it never occurred to me that there were people tasked to disperse the gas, people responsible for the clean up, people looting for gold in dentures. people, people, people.
it occurred to me to look to russia , seeking to find a protagonist state to root for, but there i found only the same state of affairs. russians struggling against the shackles of a fascist regime only to rebind themselves to the shackles of a totalitarian government.
this book is timeless. how could a whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter? for the same reason you are sitting there whilst millions are being herded to their slaughter. they sat there because they had jobs to go to, bills to pay, petty grievances to nurse, colleagues to out-do; they sat there because they had depressive states to contend with, smiles to feign, managers to impress, they sat there while history repeated itself, and you sit there, all the while history repeats itself. it doesn't matter what year it is, somewhere out there people are killing each other, for oil, for sovereignty, for supremacy, for a few more kilometres of land to call their own.
character - my main gripe with this books is the characters, and the relationships they had with each other. from the synopsis, i would be reading about he lives of the Shaposhnikov's, but right up until the end, i had trouble figuring out who was who in relation to who. at some point i stopped trying to figure it out, instead choosing to focus on the characters' whose arcs hooked me the most - lyda and her profound grief, viktor and his isolation, david, dear god david. if i were to judge this book just on these characters' chapters, it would be a 5 stars. alas, there were many other characters, i wish their interconnectedness to the main family line had been more fleshed out - 4/5
writing - lyrical at some points, straightforward in most and easy to digest - 3/5
plot - this is history, what greater plot could there be? 5/5
4.5/5
I listened to the eight-hour BBC radio dramatisation of this and it did not disappoint. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, Janet Suzman, David Tennant (dr who wassup), Greta Scacchi, Malcolm Storry and Harriet Walter. Definitely going to return to this and read the hardcopy at some point.
This book is outstanding and the back story of its publication is incredible. For either reason, this book deserves to be read! Often compared to War and Peace, I believe it is much better (and Tolstoy would not mind that heresy).
J'ai commencé ce livre avec appréhension vu les 1175 pages qui le composent, mais le sujet m'intéressait et je n'ai pas regretté de me lancer dans l'aventure !
On suit l'histoire d'une famille russe au cours de la Seconde guerre Mondiale et plus particulièrement au cours de la bataille de Stalingrad, célèbre pour avoir été une des grandes défaites d'Hitler. L'auteur nous plonge autant dans le quotidien d'une famille banale que dans celui des soldats au front, ou encore des prisonniers des camps allemands et russes. Vie et Destin englobe finalement tous les aspects de plusieurs vies au cours de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale et sur un aspect qui a été selon moi assez peu développé.
J'ai regretté quelques longueurs, qui m'ont parfois fait perdre un peu le fil. N'ayant pas l'habitude des noms russes, et vu la profusion de personnages, il m'était difficile au début de voir les relations entre les différents protagonistes, mais c'est venu assez vite. J'ai beaucoup aimé la plume, que j'ai trouvé simple et belle, pas de style ampoulé, pas de descriptions trop obscures ni d'utilisation de termes trop alambiqués, et c'est tant mieux sur une œuvre de cette ampleur ! Il y a beaucoup de références qui me faisaient défaut mais mon édition possédait heureusement des notes de bas de page bien utiles.
Bref, un très bon livre, une bonne critique du régime stalinien et hitlérien, des faits bruts qui renforçaient l'horreur de la situation, et un nouvel éclairage d'une des plus grandes horreurs du siècle dernier.
On suit l'histoire d'une famille russe au cours de la Seconde guerre Mondiale et plus particulièrement au cours de la bataille de Stalingrad, célèbre pour avoir été une des grandes défaites d'Hitler. L'auteur nous plonge autant dans le quotidien d'une famille banale que dans celui des soldats au front, ou encore des prisonniers des camps allemands et russes. Vie et Destin englobe finalement tous les aspects de plusieurs vies au cours de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale et sur un aspect qui a été selon moi assez peu développé.
J'ai regretté quelques longueurs, qui m'ont parfois fait perdre un peu le fil. N'ayant pas l'habitude des noms russes, et vu la profusion de personnages, il m'était difficile au début de voir les relations entre les différents protagonistes, mais c'est venu assez vite. J'ai beaucoup aimé la plume, que j'ai trouvé simple et belle, pas de style ampoulé, pas de descriptions trop obscures ni d'utilisation de termes trop alambiqués, et c'est tant mieux sur une œuvre de cette ampleur ! Il y a beaucoup de références qui me faisaient défaut mais mon édition possédait heureusement des notes de bas de page bien utiles.
Bref, un très bon livre, une bonne critique du régime stalinien et hitlérien, des faits bruts qui renforçaient l'horreur de la situation, et un nouvel éclairage d'une des plus grandes horreurs du siècle dernier.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I decided to read Life and Fate after noticing some foreign policy experts discussing it on Twitter in the context of recent events in Ukraine. I became even more intrigued when I learned it's a book "judged so dangerous in the Soviet Union that not only the manuscript but the ribbons on which it had been typed were confiscated by the state." It's a fascinating novel indeed, providing the perspective of a variety of characters impacted by the war: A small boy, a scientist, a soldier, a middle class family. I expected the historical perspective and found it very interesting. The characters came alive for me, and I empathized deeply with their experiences. What I hadn't expected: The translation was very fluid and natural, and many passages included imagery so beautiful they're best described as poetic. Life and Fate is a historic novel that's well worth the read... highly recommended.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes