A review by inesdef
L'Échelle de Jacob by Ludmila Oulitskaïa, Lyudmila Ulitskaya

5.0

A great work of Russian literature. In exactly 800 pages, Oulitskaïa takes the reader to pre/post and Soviet Russia, the US and Georgia, between 1910 and 2010. Personal trajectories of one Russian family are used to interrogate the world and the essence of life and art on an universal level. Not only we follow the lives of the main characters with interest, but Oulitskaïa's writing style is beautiful and clever, she takes us to high levels of literature, adding much appreciated references to the biggest Russian writers, musicians, artists and scientists of the 19th and 20th century. I loved this book for its travels through time, its family saga, its brilliance, its length and the passion and dedication the author put in the novel.