Prague Spring: A Novel

Simon Mawer’s latest book Prague Spring is sent in the short flourishing of freedom in Czechoslovakia when Alexander Dubcek sought to create “socialism with a human face” by lifting censorship and expanding cultural freedoms. This was soon crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion to end, as they put it, the counterrevolution. James and Ellie are two Oxford students hitchhiking Europe during their holiday. James is infatuated with Ellie and Ellie is amused by James. She’s studying literature; he’s studying science. She has the lighthearted confidence of class privilege; he has the studious matter-of-factness of the working class. They decide not to decide as they travel, flipping a coin to make decisions. At one crossroad, they flip show more a coin and go to Prague.

Sam Wareham is a British diplomat working in Prague. He is sending off his not quite fianceé Steffie when we meet him, but then he meets Lenka Konečková and realizes that not-quite is really quite a good thing. Lenka is bold, sensual, and self-possessed. She challenges him and he falls for her, even knowing that affairs with the locals is a dangerous thing behind the Iron Curtain.

Of course, these two pairs come together and through Sam we see the historical and political context of the Prague Spring. Through Ellie and Sam, we see the cultural context, the movement of youth not yet disappointed and discouraged by repression. Lenka bridges the difference, situating that youthful optimism and activism not just in the cultural flowering, but also in the history, particularly in the history of her own family who suffered both Nazi and Communist repression.

It has been twenty years or so since I first read “Mendel’s Dwarf,” a book that still resonates with me to this day. I evangelized that book for years. In fact, I think I evangelized that book within the last six months. It’s a lot to live up to.

Prague Spring is a good story. Mawer excels at painting the historical picture, not just the time and place, but the zeitgeist, the swirling interplay of culture, society, and power. He creates characters who are likably imperfect, complex enough to surprise the reader and sometimes even themselves. And yet, by telling this story from the perspective of outsiders, Mawer takes the high stakes of liberation and repression and offers us the lowered stakes of what will likely be a travel anecdote to liven up their middle age. There is so much more at stake for Lenka and for the other Czechs, I found myself not really caring about what happens with Ellie and James. I care about Sam and Lenka because Lenka’s stakes are higher.

I received an e-galley of from Prague Spring the publisher through Edelweiss.

Prague Spring at Other Press
Simon Mawer author site

★★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/12/14/9781590519660/ show less

In the end, I quite like the Prague story but I don't care for most of the characters, albeit in a somewhat interesting way I associate with Mawer.
But should I share my rant? Yeah, probably. From the notes:
Why is every damn book set in Prague about a bumbling white man and some mysterious czech woman that he treats like shit. Every one! Moreover, dudes, why do you think you are the heroes?
I read Mawer once 20 years ago, I liked the book, I thought maybe he'd do better here. But it's the same thing, like as soon as you meet a woman who's at all different than the archetypal Wife of your culture, it means you don't have to treat her with respect or honor her boundaries or even see her as fully human. She's not a Rusalka, bud, and show more frankly even if she were that doesn't make her yours to exploit. UGH. show less

There's a review at The Guardian which recounts how in 1975 Mawer was caught in an avalanche on the North Face of Ben Nevis and had to cling to an ice ledge for 22 hours. Whether this experience informed his ability to capture the suspense of existential moments I do not know, but while Prague Spring is not a cliffhanger, it becomes unputdownable as the pages move towards their inexorable conclusion.

It is history that makes the conclusion inexorable. Set in 1968 when Czechoslovakia enjoyed a brief taste of freedom under Dubček before the Soviet tanks rolled in, the novel traces the narratives of a naïve young couple of hitchhikers who stumble into trouble, and the story of an English diplomat walking a tightrope between love and duty. show more Ellie and James are an ill-matched pair from Oxford, playfully choosing a route through Europe by a roll of the die, while Sam Wareham, progressing his career at the embassy, is disarmed by falling in love with Lenka — who not only has the kind of past that tests the UK-Soviet relationship, but is also sufficiently optimistic about the prospects of 'socialism with a human face' that she does some rather imprudent things.

Well, only imprudent because we all know what happened. Mawer's characters do not have the wisdom of hindsight, and his omniscient narrator sometimes reminds us of that. The presence of Soviet tanks massing on the border gives the novel a contemporary relevance not merely because of current events in Europe but also because of the protests in Iran where authorities are cracking down on dissidents with an iron fist.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/01/13/prague-spring-2018-by-simon-mawer/ show less

A solid novel about the events of 1968 in Prague, but not as suspenseful as I had hoped. I think part of the problem is that two of the protagonists are whiny college kids from Oxford bumming across Europe. One (the guy) is risk averse, while the other (the girl) revels in risk-taking. Niether one is particularly entrancing.

The British embassy employee, on the other hand, has a much more interesting life: a girlfriend just posted back to the UK, an attractive Czech student and activist who lands in his bed, a Friend from an unnamed British government organization who knows how to get things done, and the cougarish wife of the ambassador. As events slowly build to the Warsaw Pact invasion, the diplomat gathers political intelligence by show more hanging out with activists and discussing defection with a Russian musician.

The convoy to get British nationals out of Czechoslovakia is genuinely thrilling, although those annoying British students are along for the ride. show less

Historical novel around the 1968 reformist movement that ended in the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the USSR in August 1968. The characters were interesting and the story well-told. I can't comment reliably on the fact vs. fiction, but the major players were woven throughout a believable story about the times. I was originally told this was espionage...it is not.

Having been to Prague I enjoyed reading about the city during 1968 just prior to and at the Soviet invasion. We see Prague through the eyes of 2 young English hitchhikers, through a embassy official and a local students and her friends who all come together in the novel. Lightly a spy thriller.

Written by Simon Mawer how could it be anything but the best of reads. All the characters are finely drawn and there are quite a few. The book appears to be accurate with the facts. He has left an opening for a sequel. All I would hope that he writes more books as i have read all of his novels. He writes simple and beautifully, his descriptions are superb without unnecessary adjectives - I always feel a better person for reading his novels as I have always increased my knowledge - in this case of the Prague Uprising.