Reviews

Stalingrado by Vasily Grossman

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bridgeman98's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ericbdevil's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

srm's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

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? It's complicated

3.75

I set out to get this finished in a year, but thanks to life, it took a couple months longer. Still, I finally managed it. And I'm more glad than not that I read it, but I can't say I loved it. I can see what Grossman is doing with the cast of thousands and showing every corner of the war as it relates to Stalingrad, but I couldn't actually enjoy it. I'm entirely willing to admit this is more a matter of it not being my cup of tea than any genuine flaw with that writing, though. I can see why others would really love this, just not me.

Content Warnings

regan's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

menos's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

karinlib's review against another edition

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4.0

Unfortunately, I read the bulk of this book during Putin's invasion of Ukraine, so I found myself being rather irritated.

One can certainly see the influence of War and Peace on this work (and, I assume the sequel [b:Life and Fate|88432|Life and Fate|Vasily Grossman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320447178l/88432._SY75_.jpg|2435598]). Vasily Grossman was a journalist during WWII, and even volunteered to be at the front to be an eyewitness of the unfolding events.

Although, there was a lot of Soviet propaganda in this book, I enjoyed his descriptions and reflections.