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A review by steeluloid
Lenin in Zürich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4.0
Lenin decided that he would order the flowers himself...
At times, I was unsure whether I was reading a history of Lenin in exile or an alternative telling of Mrs Dalloway. Rambling to the point of wittering, this disjointed narrative and internal monologue is by turns enthralling and frustrating.
As a history book, it's a bit like trying to type in mittens. There are hardly any dates or solid facts. As a moment in time, with a rich sense of place and personality, it's indispensable. For me, it was a lucky find. I was actually looking for a book about Lenin's time in Switzerland as part of my research on the Dada movement. This book just happened to be on the shelves in the second hand store.
Not sure if this was just down to the translation, but it was often difficult to tell who was being written about. Lots of use of "he" in sentences that referred to more than one person. It was often only a couple of paragraphs in that I realised the author was talking about somebody who had been mentioned in passing a few moments ago. It's this failing more than anything that made this a difficult book to enjoy.
Of course, Lenin would never have ordered the flowers himself. He would have got somebody else to ask a third party to order them for him, and denied any knowledge if they weren't gratefully received.
At times, I was unsure whether I was reading a history of Lenin in exile or an alternative telling of Mrs Dalloway. Rambling to the point of wittering, this disjointed narrative and internal monologue is by turns enthralling and frustrating.
As a history book, it's a bit like trying to type in mittens. There are hardly any dates or solid facts. As a moment in time, with a rich sense of place and personality, it's indispensable. For me, it was a lucky find. I was actually looking for a book about Lenin's time in Switzerland as part of my research on the Dada movement. This book just happened to be on the shelves in the second hand store.
Not sure if this was just down to the translation, but it was often difficult to tell who was being written about. Lots of use of "he" in sentences that referred to more than one person. It was often only a couple of paragraphs in that I realised the author was talking about somebody who had been mentioned in passing a few moments ago. It's this failing more than anything that made this a difficult book to enjoy.
Of course, Lenin would never have ordered the flowers himself. He would have got somebody else to ask a third party to order them for him, and denied any knowledge if they weren't gratefully received.