And Quiet Flows the Don

This tome was written in 1928 in the Soviet Union, and, together with its sequel ‘The Don Flows Home to the Sea’ (1939), earned Mikhail Sholokhov the Nobel Prize. Sholokhov grew up in the Don region of Southern Russia, and in this book illustrated the culture of the Cossacks there before WWI, during it, and afterwards, during the revolution and civil war. It’s historical fiction on a grand scale, and well worth reading.

Beware, however, that Sholokhov is explicit in describing the horrors of war, and despite my initial suspicion that he may have been doing so to explain why Revolution was justified under pressure from Soviet editors, he shows violence and injustice perpetrated by all sides – the Germans, White Russians, show more Bolsheviks, and Cossack separatists. In the fight for control of Russia, each side’s view is expressed, and no faction emerges ‘pure’. The book reminded me of Michael Bulgakov’s ‘White Guard’, just set in the Don region of Southern Russia, instead of Kiev.

In this case, what’s at stake is the Cossack way of life. As they waver in their support for any particular side, it’s clear that mostly what they want is for the 3-4 year war to end so that they can return home, and for things to remain as they were. As the Whites may continue the war, or ask them to do things like protect St. Petersburg when their hearts weren’t in it, and as the Reds may take their land in the end and distribute it to the workers or peasants, it’s also clear that independence was what they really needed, and deserved. The book ends with brutal executions of Red officers and soldiers, with a foreboding warning that this would not be the end of it, and indeed, aside from what Sholokhov may say in the sequel which I haven’t gotten to yet, history teaches us of Stalin’s ‘decossackization’ and genocide.

I think the book is best in the first two sections, ‘Peace, and ‘War’; the ones that follow (‘Revolution’ and ‘Civil War’) are good, but as the fighting was a bit pell-mell with shifting sides and allegiances, while he describes historical reality, he defocuses a bit from the initial main characters. He is great at describing the inevitable attraction of men and women, and while he couldn’t be explicit in the sex and shameless adultery that followed, he was explicit in the horrible violence women endured. A brutal and hair-raising example of this was the gang rape of a young kitchen-maid by soldiers that ends ‘Peace’.

In showing Aksinia cheating on Stepan, then later cheating on Gregor, compelled to follow her human nature despite the destructive consequences and beatings she’ll endure, Sholokhov seems to be drawing a parallel to human nature to (as if by gravity!) fight for power and to wage war. He never lectures, letting actions speak for themselves, but seems to say, or perhaps illustrate, that we simply can’t help ourselves. show less

There are so many versions of this book on Goodreads because this book has been reprinted so many times. It's one of those classics, like War and Peace, that endures. It is a multi-volume epic, and aside from its intimidating size, how is an American reader supposed to choose an edition? Many of the editions I've come across claim to be abridged, and the unabridged novel series goes under varying titles. It's all rather confusing. Giving up after a while of browsing, I finally read the Signet Classics edition, at just over 500 pages. I'm not worried about how "abridged" it is, because the content of those 500 pages was brimming, bursting at the seams with human endeavor, war set-pieces, nature meditations, tragic and poetic elegance, show more intense action and a narrative which flowed like a river.

The author was in love with the Don river, one would assume from its presence in all of his titles, but people take center stage in his epic. In fact, the author was concerned with portraying the mountains, fields, farms, and battlegrounds with equal facility - but these reflections are nothing without their inhabitants. The Cossacks who people this landscape are as well-rounded, flawed and "human" as many of the characters from Tolstoy. If I had to pinpoint another author who could compare to Sholokhov, it would have to be Tolstoy. Except there are some fundamental differences. Sholokhov had to stop his education in high school, and worked many years on his 4-volume novel of the Don, which he eventually serialized in a major publication after much hemming and hawing on the part of publishers. After the novel's merit was recognized universally, it became a bestseller, was condemned by the Soviet authorities, who wanted to cut it down to safer proportions, until it finally won the author a Nobel Prize.

Like Tolstoy's novels, you will find too many characters to count here. It takes place during the Bolshevik Revolution, mainly out in the fray, against the breathtaking backdrop of the goose-sprinkled countrysides, the cow-studded farms, the poor and downtrodden villages, and always, like a subdued meta-protagonist, the Don river flows through it all, connecting the people to the land and the history to the land. There are many memorable deaths, cinematic triumphs, and intimate familial spats. It possesses a balanced pace and a jam-packed cast of everyday men and women, lost in the harrying tempest of war, and swept up in the history unfolding before their eyes.

The only issue may be that the complexity of the political climate and many historical details may be lost on some contemporary readers. I won't pretend I remember every last tripartite Russian name and the intricate conflicts of their idiosyncratic domestic and professional bonds. But digging a little deeper will likely reward you, if you're astute. This is not War and Peace Lite. This is another beast of equal scope and length, equally challenging, fun, and a fundamentally important work of world literature. show less

What to say, epic sprawling saga of peace, war, revolution and civil war as it affects the Don Cossacks. Initially focuses on Gregor Melekhov and his family, in particular his relationship with Aksinia, the wife of a neighbour. But once war erupts the story fragments accordingly, characters are swept along and strands left untied. The most romantic is the account of machine-gunner Bunchek and his partner Anna. It is surprisingly even-handed in showing atrocities from all sides, heroes and villains are not spelt out. Through it all the Don flows, there is a constant yearning for place, and a recognition that even though nature continues, humanity is being tipped on its head.

Not realizing that this novel was on the Russian epic scale when I ordered it; I ended up with Book 3 printed in Moscow and its 680 pages that is part of a four volume set. What I read may not be of masterpiece order but there is plenty to recommend it. This part of the saga takes place between 1917 and 1919 when most of the Don Cossacks went into revolt against their new would be lords, the Communists. So civil war is central and so is Cossack nationalism and its life stile down to its horses, vodka, and women. Sholoknov's attention to detail is rich, evocative, and convincing while following the warring sides and all their ferociousness. Because of my ignorance of the time and place presented, there was a freshness and vitality to show more what I read.

Quotes: (pages 96-97) “The suslicks call was languorous and hoarse. Marmets dozed on the yellow crumbling slopes. The steppe was hot but dead, and all around was bodilessly still. Even the blue burial mound on the horizon hovered on the brink of visibility, as in a dream.
Beloved steppe! The bitter breeze ruffles the mane of mares and stallions. The horses dry muzzles are salty with the wind and, scenting its salty bitter breath, they chew their silky lips and neigh as they taste the tang of wind and sun. Beloved steppe under the low-hanging Don heaven! Winding ravines, dry valleys, ruddy banks, expanse of feather-grass woven with the darker traces of horses hooves, mounds rising in a wise silence, guarding the Cossack glory....”

(page 359) “Then Darya, disheveled, her face swollen with weeping, ran down the steps and threw herself on to the sledge.
'Pytor, my dear Pytor! Stand up! Stand up!
Everything went black before Grigory's eyes. 'Go away.Darya!' he shouted savagely, uncontrollably, and pushed her violently. She fell into a snowdrift. Grigory swiftly raised Pytor by the armpits, the driver held his bare feet. But Darya crawled on all fours after them up the steps, clutching her husband's stiff, frozen hands and kissing them. Feeling that in another moment he would completely lose control of himself, Grigory thrust her off with his foot. Dunya forcibly tore away Darya's hands and pressed her swooning head against her breast.”

(page 437) “Without removing his outdoor clothes Grogory sat down at the table. 'Have you got any vodka?' he asked.
'Don't you think you might say good evening first?' the woman replied, not glancing at Grigory and not stopping her knitting.
'Good evening, if you feel like that. Have you got any vodka?'
She raised her eyebrows, and smiled at him with her round hazel eyes, and listened to the sound of steps in the porch.
'I've got some vodka, But there are a lot of you, aren't there?'
'Yes, The whole division/'”

(pages 562 and 563) “ At Borovsky village one of the prisoners, beaten cruelly and expertly by the old men, could bear no more. He cried out in a dreary, childish voice, tore open the collar of his shirt, and showed the Cossacks a little tarnished cross hanging from a string around his neck.
'Comrades, I only joined the Party recently....Have pity! You've got children too.'
'What comrades are we of yours? Hold your tongue! Remembered your children, you wicked swine! A snub-nosed old man panted at him. 'So you've come to your senses now, have you? Pulled your cross out? But when you shot our Cossacks, when you put them up against a wall, you didn't think of God then.' Without waiting for a reply he swung his stake and stuck at the man's head.” show less

A 20th century Cossack 'War and Peace'
By sally tarbox on 7 November 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
Set in the Russian lands bordering the Ukraine, this mammoth (615 p) read opens up just prior to WW1. The first section, 'Peace', follows the Cossack Melekhov family. Theirs is a hard agricultural life and a traditional one, where marriages are arranged and where the Church is at the centre of life. Yet even so, younger son Gregor is involved in a secret relationship with his neighbour's wife... Sholokhov's writing is compelling, his descriptions of the countryside bordering the Don poetic.
And then we enter the second section as "War" is declared, and the Melekhov men join up. But as "Revolution" and "Civil War" take over, I found it all a bit show more much. We move away from the Melekhovs and find ourselves following umpteen different characters, as the Cossacks go in different political directions, some persuaded by the Red Bolshevik message, others fearful that this will mean their precious lands are confiscated. There are certainly powerful scenes, but also a lot of political talk which seemed to go on for page after page.
Having recently finished reading Shalamov's 'Kolyma Tales' (about Stalin's Siberian gulags), the naive beliefs of an idyllic future under proletarian leadership struck me as particularly sad:
"When every government is a workers' government they won't fight any more...What shall we have to fight about then? Away with frontiers, away with anger! One beautiful life all over the world...I'd pour out my blood drop by drop to live to see that day."
Certainly a masterly work - but I was glad to reach the last page! show less

"He had no cap, nor had he the upper part of his cranium, for it had been cut clean away by a shard of shrapnel. In the empty brain-pan, framed by damp strains of hair, glimmered rose-coloured rain-water."

This is a book written in an 'epic' style based around the famous warrior Cossacks of the Don valley. It is split into four parts Peace, War (WWI),Revolution and Civil War (when the Bolsheviks fought the so called White Russians, various disparate groups who feared Soviet rule for various reasons). The Cossacks worked small parcels of land supporting their families but were also seen as the enforcers of the Tsarist regime.

The book starts in the village of Tatarsk and the Melekhov family. The father brought back a Turkish wife when he show more returned from war against the Ottoman Empire and subsequent children are darker skinned than their neighbours which causes frictions between them. Then the youngest son decides to abandon his own wife and run away with the wife of a neighbour causing yet more family strife only to be called into active service in the Army when war is declared later rising to become an officer.

Throughout the book we are introduced to a myriad of characters with their own sub-plots. For me this is where the books falls down slightly and stops it becoming a truly great book. Despite Gregor Melekhov appearing at fairly frequent intervals there are for me too many characters that it is difficult to really connect with any of them properly. As such there are also too many loose ends come the end IMHO. The fact that this is only the first book does not really help if truth be told.

Perhaps what is most remarkable about this book is the fact that it was originally written in 1928 so quite shortly after the true life events occurred and only a few years after Stalin had risen to the highest office within the country. For it has to be said that no sides can be said to have come out of this with their image untarnished due to the brutal struggle for superiority. In fact Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965 largely on the strengths of this book.

This edition of this book is over 500 pages long so does not rush through the events at a break-neck pace rather it is more of a slow plod but that said I found it a good read which gives an interesting insight into the Russian psyche of the time show less

This novel won the Nobel Prize in Literature for it's author, Mikhail Sholokhov. It's an unbelievably vivid tale about Cossack soldiers in WW I and their woefully forsaken homecoming to the Bolshevik Revolution, told with all the storytelling power and passion that only a few truly GREAT writers have ever possessed. You will be amazed at the crystal clarity of Sholokhov depiction of a long-forgotten world in this timeless novel. Reading it is truly unforgettable experience.