A lot of the material in this earlier novel was edited by censors. Written after Stalin’s death, under Kruschev, Life & Fate’s much more critical of the USSR and the characters are much more satisfyingly complex. If you’re going to read one Vasily Grossman book then I suggest it be Life & Fate. Halfway through now and it’s apparent that this novel doesn’t achieve Tolstoyan heights.
Unfortunately the novels were published in reverse order in English translation, volume 2 ( Life & Fate) then volume 1 ( Stalingrad).ģ. Let’s see if he achieves it here, in what is essentially volume one of L&F. Vasily Grossman wants to match or excel Tolstoy’s War and Peace. However, the watermelons are said to have diuretic effects if too many are eaten at one sitting.Ģ. Along the Volga, apparently, there is an abundance of watermelon cultivation.
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