Fear

This is the continuation of the story of the first generation to grow up under the Soviet regime. One of the things I appreciated about Fear was that Rybakov took the time to recap The Children of Arbat before launching into the story of Fear. It was nice to have a refresher on all the different characters and where we last left them: Lead character Sasha Pankratov has been exiled to Siberia for making a flippant joke in 1934 in the school newspaper. Lesser characters like Yuri went to work for the secret police and had blackmailed Vika into becoming an informant. Maxim Kostin was in the army and in love with a teacher, Nina. Lena Budyagina, daughter of a Soviet diplomat and Yuri's on again, off again lover, had an illegal abortion and show more almost died. Nina and Varya are on opposite sides of the Soviet loyalty.
Fear takes place between 1935 - 1937. Again, Stalin is a prominent character in the book. Rybakov does a good job humanizing the dictator (Stalin liked flowers), and express his growing paranoia and erratic behavior: on good days Stalin would remind subordinates of orders he never gave in the first place. On bad days, he would find trivial ways to execute long-loyal subordinates. It was troublesome when to talk of Stalin's wife's suicide was considered counterrevolutionary slander. Stalin was out for revenge against even people who did not betray him. Good citizens scrambled to distance themselves from lifelong friends; individuals "confessed" to be criminals. The political landscape is as such that a tenth grader could be expelled for saying the wrong name on an oral report.
Embedded in the story is the spiderweb-thin thread of hope is Sasha and Varya's love. Is it strong enough to endure insecurity, assumptions, self-doubt, and Stalin? show less