book data
91 ratings, 3.59 average rating, 37 reviews
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published
June 19th 2007
by The Dial Press
binding
Hardcover, 239 pages
setting
Moscow
isbn
038533995X
(isbn13: 9780385339957)
description
Moscow, 1939. In the recesses of the infamous Lubyanka prison, a young archivist is sent to authenticate an unsigned story confiscated from one of the...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 185)
Read in March, 2008
Ah, too soon was this book over! I finished this one in a very short amount of time (it's just over 200 pages), and was so totally engrossed that I forgot I was sitting on a beautiful, tropical beach in San Juan for a while. Although very disturbing in regards to the picture it paints of a Stalinist USSR, it was an incredible book and I would recommend it highly.
Isaac Babel, an author whose works probably need little or no introduction, has been arrested and now sits in the Lubyanka prison ...more
Isaac Babel, an author whose works probably need little or no introduction, has been arrested and now sits in the Lubyanka prison ...more
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Read in March, 2008
This book starts right before Germany and Russia became allies, on the brink of WWII, and follows a few months in the life of an archivist who is tasked with systematically destroying original manuscripts of novels, poems, essays, and short stories of writers who have been condemned by Stalin's regime. He decides to save an unpublished short story by one of his favorite authors, a decision that could mean his death if it is discovered. This act of quiet rebellion opens the door for him to rebel ...more
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Read in February, 2008
The book is set in the midst of Stalin’s massive intelligentsia purges. The protagonist, Pavel works in the archives of Lubyanka prison, where he catalogues and then burns the works of Russia’s unsanctioned writers. Every time he consigns an unread, handwritten manuscript to the incinerator, Pavel, a former professor of Russian lit, feels a part of himself disappear. Only a dazed inertia gets him through his day: he lost his professorial post a little over a year ago after he ratted out ...more
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Read in January, 2007
The story weaves a tale of a former literature teacher turned archivist in 1930's Moscow. His task is to destroy the literary work of political prisoners.
This book has been showing up on lots of Best of 2007 lists. As I read it, I was confused as to why. First, let me say it was well-written from a technical sense. Good sound plot. Interesting lead character. A build in the story. But overall I was let down. I think there were a few things that just didn't sit well with me.
Fi...more
This book has been showing up on lots of Best of 2007 lists. As I read it, I was confused as to why. First, let me say it was well-written from a technical sense. Good sound plot. Interesting lead character. A build in the story. But overall I was let down. I think there were a few things that just didn't sit well with me.
Fi...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone!
Pavel Dubrov is a former teacher now working for the Soviet bureaucracy during the Stalin years. He is responsible for archiving and, tragically, burning works of literature. We meet him as he is querying Isaac Babel about a short story that was informally ascribed to him.
Pavel's life quickly unravels through the course of the book. His wife boarded a train eight months ago; the train derailed, and her body has not yet been released to him. His best friend is being very outspoken in public ...more
Pavel's life quickly unravels through the course of the book. His wife boarded a train eight months ago; the train derailed, and her body has not yet been released to him. His best friend is being very outspoken in public ...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
russells, crowes
This book caught my attention at the library, because it had the word archivist in the title. When I read inside the flap that it took place in Stalinist-regime Russia, it was a done deal.
I brought it home and devoured it, forcing myself to put it aside every now and then so I could savor it. I'm really bad at savoring, though, so I finished it in a day. This is one of those books that captures your attention quickly and stays with you when you put it down to eat dinner, see "3: 10 to Y...more
I brought it home and devoured it, forcing myself to put it aside every now and then so I could savor it. I'm really bad at savoring, though, so I finished it in a day. This is one of those books that captures your attention quickly and stays with you when you put it down to eat dinner, see "3: 10 to Y...more
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this was beautiful and passionate in that ultra-quiet way of some extraordinary novels. I wouldn't have been surprised if the book burst into flames in my hands. Not a single mis-step, not a single line that didn't read true, and the ending- !! I can hardly speak. I tucked the book under my pillow last night when I finished reading it, so I could feel close to it just a bit longer. Reading is really the most intimate contact between strangers, isn't it?
The story is set in Stain-era Russia, a...more
The story is set in Stain-era Russia, a...more
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Read in September, 2008
i found this book on a trip to City Lights bookstore in SF. the rebellious tone of the plot intrigued me, so i snapped up a copy (despite having less than zero time to read). i wasn't disappointed. although written by a contemporary author (who i later realized i'd met on a writers' conference panel), the sensitivity and language echoed some of the most beautiful foreign literature i've read.
in some ways this is the modern man's Farenheit 451. We forget that literature hasn't always been a...more
in some ways this is the modern man's Farenheit 451. We forget that literature hasn't always been a...more
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Read in December, 2007
Thought I would enjoy my break from the school of information by reading a book with the word "archivist" in the title. I just can't get enough I guess!
Actually, the book has less to do with archives and more to do with the sad state of affairs in 1939 Russia, which was a true-life version of "1984." Pavel Dubrov, former lit teacher, now works at Lubyanka prison, destroying books and manuscripts written by authors he respects and admires.
The book is bleak, but is very int...more
Actually, the book has less to do with archives and more to do with the sad state of affairs in 1939 Russia, which was a true-life version of "1984." Pavel Dubrov, former lit teacher, now works at Lubyanka prison, destroying books and manuscripts written by authors he respects and admires.
The book is bleak, but is very int...more
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Read in September, 2007
This was on the new book shelf at the public library and I picked it up solely because of the title. It ended up being about a former educator during the long Communist years in Russia who was recruited to work in an archive that systematically was incinerating books and unpublished writing during the years where people disappeared for going against the system. Fairly interesting, and sad. And I noticed that they manage to have tea even when they don't have more than a few leaves (maybe only a t...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommended to Robin by:
a fellow booksellerrecommends it for: Anyone who likes good writing
THE ARCHIVIST'S STORY is a beautiful concise, powerful book set in Stalin's Russia. Holland doesn't mess around with telling the story of the bureaucratic drone who never the less tries to save the poetry of Isaac Babel, by hiding the documents he's supposed to be destroying in the basement of his building. It's a bleak story which has lots of thoughtful points to make about repression, the regulation of culture, and the supression of individuality. Well worth reading.
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Read in September, 2008
A short read--but a gripping one. I read the whole book in one evening. Holland conveyed the paranoia and the degradation of life under Stalin's purges, and his characters, especially the protagonist, Pavel, was skillfully rendered and very sympathetic.
A passing knowledge of Russian history in that era and especially of the writers of the period greatly enhanced the experience.
A passing knowledge of Russian history in that era and especially of the writers of the period greatly enhanced the experience.
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Brianna by:
Best Of list
My first attempt at choosing reading material based on a Best Of list, and I wasn't disappointed.
I thought the author's style had a nice flow and I definitely became empathetic with the characters and their plight of survival in Stalinist Russia.
It was reminiscent of 1984, which is hauntingly terrifying because of the historical truth of the Lubyanka prison.
I thought the author's style had a nice flow and I definitely became empathetic with the characters and their plight of survival in Stalinist Russia.
It was reminiscent of 1984, which is hauntingly terrifying because of the historical truth of the Lubyanka prison.
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of literary fiction
This is a very well written, albeit sad debut novel. Moscow, 1939. A former teacher, who is now an archivist in the Lubyanka prison, meets Isaac Babel (imprisoned) and is also in charge of his manuscripts, which it seems will inevitably be destroyed. The overriding theme of this novel seems to be that of loss, the loss of loved ones, culture, dignity, and memory.
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Ah, this was more like it. A man working as an archivist under Stalin's regime in the late 1930s encounters the great Isaac Babel, imprisoned, and his final story. Holland does a good job with the rising sense of terror as Stalin's regime grows more oppressive, and the archivist's own past as a literature teacher makes his choices all too believable. A-.
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Read in June, 2008
I was very disappointed with this book. There were such good reviews about it on Amazon and other websites. I did not feel the author took enough time to explain the major conflicts in the story and why they were conflicts. And then the book just ends..... I hate it when that happens. The book does not wrap up at the end. Yuck!
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Cold war afficionados
A short, sweet story about what it must have been like for academics heading into the depths of Stalinist Russia. The beginnings of World War 2 and the nightmare of Stalin's purges are a backdrop to one man's personal struggles between what he knows to be right and self-preservation.
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Read in August, 2007
Meh. It was written in present tense, which I found distracting. It's not fair to say that nothing happened and yet that's how it felt. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I'd thought that the snippets of stories were as beautiful/genius as the protagonist did.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Nobody much
The formula shows through pretty fast. Earnest
and serious but more dutiful than inspired. Could
perhaps be brought to life by the hero/actor in the somewhat parallel "Lives of Others," but that's already been done.
and serious but more dutiful than inspired. Could
perhaps be brought to life by the hero/actor in the somewhat parallel "Lives of Others," but that's already been done.
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