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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
An interesting insight into private experiences of the madness of Stalin's USSR, the 1960s and the 1990s in Moscow. Regardless of what one thinks about the current leadership in Russia, you've got to give it to the people for surviving the extremes of the political spectrum in the last 100 years.
A lot to take in in this book.
I struggled at times with the sudden change from historic past to recent past, given this is clearly a family biography of how they survived (or didn't) the Russian revolution and communist regime.
If this was fiction, I don't know if I would have kept going through Mervyn and Mila's separation, as its the kind of situation that's stranger than fiction could get away with.
Some terrifying insights into early Soviet Communism, the purges, the starvation, and just why communualism did not work. Despite being framed as a way of creating equality, it actually just made the divide between well-off and poor even worse. Former Serfs were now even more constrained in their movements, and starving to death. Sure, the bourgoise were gone, but in their place were the senior party officials who were clearly favoured and had many advantages.
" The convulsions of collectivisation two years previously could be explained away as a war against the Revolution's class enemies, the kulaks. But now those enemies had been liquidated and the collective farms of the future established. Yet even those blinded by ideology could scarcely fail to see that the Workers' and Peasants' State was, painfully obviously, failing to feed its own people. Moreover, for all the glorious achievements of industrialisation, it was equally clear that the whole dream of Socialism was being held together increasingly by coercion.... In December 1932 internal passports were introduced in an effort to stem the exodus of the starving into the cities."
An absolutely compelling and excellent read.
I struggled at times with the sudden change from historic past to recent past, given this is clearly a family biography of how they survived (or didn't) the Russian revolution and communist regime.
If this was fiction, I don't know if I would have kept going through Mervyn and Mila's separation, as its the kind of situation that's stranger than fiction could get away with.
Some terrifying insights into early Soviet Communism, the purges, the starvation, and just why communualism did not work. Despite being framed as a way of creating equality, it actually just made the divide between well-off and poor even worse. Former Serfs were now even more constrained in their movements, and starving to death. Sure, the bourgoise were gone, but in their place were the senior party officials who were clearly favoured and had many advantages.
" The convulsions of collectivisation two years previously could be explained away as a war against the Revolution's class enemies, the kulaks. But now those enemies had been liquidated and the collective farms of the future established. Yet even those blinded by ideology could scarcely fail to see that the Workers' and Peasants' State was, painfully obviously, failing to feed its own people. Moreover, for all the glorious achievements of industrialisation, it was equally clear that the whole dream of Socialism was being held together increasingly by coercion.... In December 1932 internal passports were introduced in an effort to stem the exodus of the starving into the cities."
An absolutely compelling and excellent read.
Really interesting memoir, I felt like it was a good introduction to soviet Russia. Not too much info and not too heavy, but enough to make you want to know more. The story is amazing and writing also very good. I liked his approach to the story, where he is not judgmental but presents the story for what it is.
The author, a post 1989 journalist, decided to dig into his family's history in Russia, finding that his grandfather was a victim of the 1937 Stalinist purge, grandma spent time in a gulag, and that his bickering parents had, in the 1960s, endured a Cold War version of Romeo and Juliet. This is the "one death is a tragedy" amongst the millions, allowing us to see the effect of the purges on the everyday lives of Russians for three generations. The author also came to realize that there were solid reasons his mother is a paranoid control freak, and why you shouldn't take food off grandma's plate.
Stalin's children gives a good primer on the evolution of modern day Russia (of course not covering all possible aspects), beginning in the Stalin era, as portrayed by three generations of one family . It may not be the most beautifully written novel, though it is intriguingly enough to keep you reading. All in all, it is the story itself that makes the book worth reading. The fact that it is based on the real destinies of real people increases the impact on the reader. Especially for younger people I believe it can contribute to a wider understanding of the oppression that people lived under in former Soviet and similar states, some still existing.
Reading this memoir, I was struck by the fact that, as a Soviet emigre, I would somehow connect with Owen's experiences. I just finished the book and realized that our experiences are not alike at all.
I was four when we left (1979) via Austria, via Italy and finally to New York. I remember nothing. I was told nothing. If I had been a little older I would have been an indoctrinated "Pionerka," a child-Commie. But that never happened. Sure, my grandfather and my parents told me the stories of waiting in lines and fear of Soviet snitchery. But mostly, my family wanted to forget Stalin, Lenin, all of them. They remember only certain things fondly, such as family, school chums, fun times from their youth. My chance to see Kiev (where we were from) came in 2005.
I hated every moment spent in that depressing place. I have been all over the world and had never been more afraid to be detained at Customs than when I entered (and thankfully left) Kiev. I was thinking that it must have been my in-born Soviet fear of imprisonment (similar to my instinct for waiting in lines). After performing the required Russian/Ukrainian duties of visiting every dead relative in the cemetaries, eating at the Pelmenyi, and hailing a personal taxi (this is a real thing that non-taxi licensed individuals do to earn money), I called my mom once on U.S. soil and thanked her for taking me out of that dark, dank country.
My experiences aside, the author had this need to identify with all things Russian--lived there, became absolutely fluent (reading/writing), married a Russian girl. Those are all things with which I cannot identify. Maybe it would have been different if he had been born there. I don't know.
Well, this book is definitely interesting and readable. I recommend.
I was four when we left (1979) via Austria, via Italy and finally to New York. I remember nothing. I was told nothing. If I had been a little older I would have been an indoctrinated "Pionerka," a child-Commie. But that never happened. Sure, my grandfather and my parents told me the stories of waiting in lines and fear of Soviet snitchery. But mostly, my family wanted to forget Stalin, Lenin, all of them. They remember only certain things fondly, such as family, school chums, fun times from their youth. My chance to see Kiev (where we were from) came in 2005.
I hated every moment spent in that depressing place. I have been all over the world and had never been more afraid to be detained at Customs than when I entered (and thankfully left) Kiev. I was thinking that it must have been my in-born Soviet fear of imprisonment (similar to my instinct for waiting in lines). After performing the required Russian/Ukrainian duties of visiting every dead relative in the cemetaries, eating at the Pelmenyi, and hailing a personal taxi (this is a real thing that non-taxi licensed individuals do to earn money), I called my mom once on U.S. soil and thanked her for taking me out of that dark, dank country.
My experiences aside, the author had this need to identify with all things Russian--lived there, became absolutely fluent (reading/writing), married a Russian girl. Those are all things with which I cannot identify. Maybe it would have been different if he had been born there. I don't know.
Well, this book is definitely interesting and readable. I recommend.
Så intressant om Stalins rike fram till Sovjets fall ur ’den lilla’ människans perspektiv. Välskriven!
http://boklaadan.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/stalins-barn/