Life and Fate: Part 3

SnakGroup Reads - Literature

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Life and Fate: Part 3

Dette emne er markeret som "i hvile"—det seneste indlæg er mere end 90 dage gammel. Du kan vække emnet til live ved at poste et indlæg.

1klarusu
okt 3, 2009, 4:38 pm

Thread for discussion of Part 3 of the group read.

2technodiabla
nov 14, 2009, 1:35 pm

Started PART 3 last night. I hope to finish by the end of next week. I love this book-- very thought provoking and educational for me.

3rainpebble
nov 23, 2009, 10:09 am

I agree rebeccanyc with your post on the 2nd thread. Most of the WWII books I have read have been based on the western front as opposed to the eastern front. I did very much appreciate reading Life and Fate from that perspective. This is only the 3rd truly good book I have read based on the Russian front and Grossman did a masterful job. I applaud his using the war as the major character. It was an unusual and brave move and it worked.
And his ending simply dwindled away into sadness for the country, the war, the people. I found it so sad that life seemed and felt so empty for the people after the bombing and shooting and the war effort stopped. I think they expected that things would get better for them after the war and they had to continue to struggle.
I'm glad I read the book. My only disappointment is that there were so many characters that I was unable to draw any one or two into my heart and head for the duration of the book. I thought Victor would fill that space for me for a time, but it didn't turn out that way. The ending was beautiful, poignant, and sad all at the same time.

kjellika;
If you liked and appreciated Life and Fate, it might be well worth your time and effort to read Doctor Zhivago. It is rather political and is also a love story based on the time of the Russian Revolution. So the storyline is not the same at all. But of the two, I believe I like Doctor Zhivago the better. Hard to compare though as one is set during the Revolution and one during WWII. So it is really apples and oranges.

One other thing I noted in Life and Fate, there was mention of Strelnikov and that fictional character was executed before the end of the Revolution, I believe.

But there was also a real Strelnikov and here is what Wikipedia has to say about him.

"Vladimir Strelnikov (born 1939) was born in Odessa, in Soviet Ukraine, and made his studies at the local art academy.

He is a member of the Odessa Group of exiled and dissident artists. In 1960 he debuted in Odessa at the autumn exhibition of the Fine Art Federation and took part in several officially approved exhibitions in the USSR and abroad until 1971. His art career resulted in loss of official approval, and from 1972 he was forced to relegate exhibition to private households in Kiev, Odessa, Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

In 1978 he emigrated from the USSR to Vienna, Austria. The following year he settled down in Munich, Germany, where he has worked and lived since."

I hope all of you enjoyed and appreciated Life and Fate as much as I did. It made me want to read more of Russia and more Russian literature.
belva

4kjellika
nov 29, 2009, 11:55 am

I finished Life and Fate today. A great novel about war and the people involved. You'll have to imagine what happened to some of the persons later, i.e. Krymov, Sthrum and his family and others. Quite an 'open' ending, but I do understand that the main "characters" are the war and the battle of Stalingrad. To me the human characters are much more interesting.

nannybebette:
Thanks for your info on Dr. Zhivago. I assume I'll read it later. Just now I'm going to read some of my unread Norwegian books on my TBR pile, and some Steinbeck (in Norwegian), I think.

(I've read War and Peace (Napoleonic War) and Life and Fate (WWII). Chronologically Doctor Zhivago (Revolution (1917?)), should be between them, and to learn more about Russian history I think it's a good idea to read this famous novel as well).

5Cecilturtle
dec 21, 2009, 3:25 pm

Well... I'm done (finally!)... I feel like I need a diploma because it's been a while since I've had to struggle like this to finish a book. The fact that the war was a "character" was probably one of the main elements that put me off this third part. I felt like I was reading detailed tactical operations for hundreds of pages (okay, one hundred) - I can't think of anything better to put me to sleep. Once the book turned again to the main characters, I had definitely lost interest; although Krymov's interrogation scenes were intense and Viktor's political entanglements and debates of conscience well worth reading, I never really immersed in the book - it felt like the last mile of a marathon.
On to a shorter book before I attack Vanity Fair!