Excelente ( )

I guess the easiest way to review Life and Fate is to start of with a few breif points of reference. Structurally, the novel is all but indistinguishable from War and Peace. Austerlitz has been replaced by Stalingrad and Tolstoy's ruminations on the philosphy of history with Grossman's thoughts on, for example, anti-semitism and 'Socialism In One Country'.

But whereas War and Peace suffers considerably from Tolstoy's high-brow ramblings, Grossman's politico-philisophical perambulations serve well to knit the text together into a more meaningful and insightful novel. And the novel is meaningful and insightful. After so much has been published on the likes of the Holocaust and the Gulags, the sheer misery of living under Hitler or Stalin, I was skeptical that I would take anything away from reading through another novel on the same theme. Yet I was wrong. The depth of Grossman's understanding of the relationship between the individual and the totalitarian state is both authoritative and engrossing. The way in which Grossman deals with state collaboration and persecution is non-judgemental in a sense reminiscent of Chekhov's, capturing the experience; putting the individual first rather than some pre-concieved moralistic ideal. The character arcs of the protagonists intersect as they fall in and out of favour with the Soviet regime in a way not dissimilar from Chekhov's Ward No. 6. Talking of Cekhov, Grossman chooses to end the novel instead with a moving and beautiful allegory, and leaves the fate of the vast majority of the central characters unresolved.

As is mentioned in many of the other reviewson this web site, Life and Fate is highly autobiographical. From the point of view of detail, the novel benefits greatly from Grossman's experiences as a frontline reporter with Red Star from 1941 - 1945. Although the actual combat scenes are rather rare, Grossman's account of the front around Stalingrad is vivid. More important perhaps, are Grossman's more personal experiences. Both the death of his mother in the Ukraine and his tense and somewhat ambivelant relationship with the Soviet security services are fictionalised in the form of the main protagonist - Victor Struam's struggle with his Jewishness and his eventual submisiveness towards the state.

Indeed, the author deals with the theme of the individual and the police state in a compassionate, mature, understanding and humane way that, to be candid, is vastly superior to the efforts of some of Grossman's comtemporaries (i.e. Solzhenitsyn).

It's rare for one to come across an account of such an epoch by a writer who has both personal experience of the events involved and the requisite literary ability to pen these events convincingly and with the gravitas that such events demand. But in Life and Fate evidence of both the former and the latter are present in abundance. ( )

Zie: http://sn.im/rec-grossm (dutch) ( )

Suprême, incomparable. ( )

Life and Fate is a literary classic. Picture War and Peace set in the 20th century. Replace Napolean with Hitler and substitute the Shaposhnikov family for the Rostofs. I've read scores of works with a World War II backdrop, but never from this perspective.

Never have I seen the war from the viewpoint of the average Russian, at Stalingrad, in the Ukraine, in Moscow and in the death camps. Most jarring is the repressive shadow of Communism and the fear constantly felt by even the most patriotic and loyal party member. Most heart breaking is the astonishing story of Sofya Levinton, her journey to the gas chamber and her "adoption" of the frail, young orphan.

It has been said that a death is a shame, a thousand deaths is a tragedy, but twenty million deaths is a statistic (or something to that effect) and it is true. Until we see an event from the perspective of an individual, we cannot grasp the horror and the emotions involved in an historical event with the scale of a Stalingrad or Treblinka. We cannot grasp the fear and trepidation created by a party apparatus such as the 20th century Communist Party.

This classic work brings all those emotions and human reactions to bear through the eyes of a typical Russian extended family. Though it is a translation, it flows smoothly and seamlessly. While the plethora of Russian names and nicknames is sometimes confusing, an index of characters in the back of the book assists immeasurably. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. ( )