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See allThe 2nd Volume of Peter Pinney's WW2 trilogy follows Johnno to Bougainville Island.
Pinney has shown what a fine writer he is with this 2nd novel. Johnno's observations are sharper, he has honed his skills from the days of his secret diary in the New Guinea campaign. While others come back from the line and play up, getting drunk, raiding and trading for contraband, Johnno is “..... always bloody writing“ a young comrade states, annoyed that he will not go on a raid to steal an officers liquor with his mates. Johnno though is also sensible enough not to seem too big for his boots by occasionally joining in the fun. He is changing. The racist language of the New Guinea campaign is still heavy in his speech but his observations of the peoples of Bougainville Island are now of a more curious nature.
He even contemplates the human nature of the Japanese enemy. At one point a fellow digger, Silver, confides in Johnno his love of art and his own talent. Silver states of the Japanese that they are “....extraordinary artists” with the “...discovery of real beauty a goal in itself”. Johnno writes that it was “...strangely disturbing, the compassion in his voice; as if he was inviting us to consider something which, we instinctively knew, was best ignored”
Though there are lots of patrols the enemy is rarely met and this leaves the troops frustrated. Discipline is poor. Rumours run rife; Western Australia is going to be invaded! They are fighting in a “second rate show” one of their officers confides at one point. Philosophical discussions on killing become part of the banter. For some it is the best time of their lives but for others? It hits the men hard when a newspaper from home is received and the public know that Bougainville Island campaign is but a sideshow.
The Barbarians was always going to be a hard act to follow but Pinney has done more than enough to make this a must read for anyone wishing to read his prose. Again rich in Strine and observation of the Australian soldier at war but this time on Bougainville Island, an even less known theatre of war than was the previous novels settings in Papua New Guinea. This is Johnno's (Pinney's) observations of his own “limited experience” but as he states in the preface “An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain,....” “This book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose” It's purpose has been served with this reader. Superb!
Life and Fate. The perfect title for an astonishingly good book.
I am going to call Life and Fate a masterpiece. Yes it is as good as the reviews I have just read say it is. On a personal level it is a long time since I have had an emotional involvement with the characters of a novel. Les Misérables maybe? Though a large cast the life and fate of the protagonists at the time of the battle for Stalingrad made powerful and compelling reading.
My copy is the Vintage edition 2006. It has an introduction by Linda Carter who writes she read the book in 3 weeks and took 3 weeks to “recover from the experience.” She had also “urged all my friends to read it.” She is of the opinion that the novel should be as famous as Doctor Zhivago and The Gulag Archipelago. I have never read these books but based on what I think of Life and Fate these must be truly remarkable books with such high praise. She also includes a historical background that is followed by a one page explanation of the translation by Robert Chandler. We also have a page that lists a few books on Stalin's Russia and Grossman himself. There is also a List of Chief Characters at the back of the book to aid the reader who may not be used to the complicated Russian names. I found this a great resource and referred to it constantly. As time went on the names became familiar.
The story itself revolves around the Shaposhnikova family and those that come into contact with them in one way or another. Dare I say it without seeming trite but almost a six degrees of separation story? This lead to the reader following the lives of everyone within that circle from those that fought and died to those that had issues with the state politics of the time. With that we became involved in an emotional rollercoaster be that the death of a son through to the agony of being untrue to one's self belief. All this told with emotionally charged prose by Grossman that left me as the reader spellbound. Some chapters were so astonishingly emotionally charged I was putting the book down to take stock. The mother whose son had been killed was sad beyond belief but the final thoughts of those going to their deaths in the gas chamber in chapter 48 part two will live with me forever.
A truly stunning book.
Being the cheapskate that I am, I picked this up for nix! Well, almost. I swapped it for something in the many neighbourhood libraries I wander past in my daily walks that I do in my never-ending attempt to live for ever and become a god.
(Is Meili the god of walking? Walking is after all a form of travel. Is walking my Ambrosia?)
So this sat on my TBR shelf for what seemed an eternity (Aion is the god of eternity and also an album by the wonderful for all eternity band Dead Can Dance)
Until a young lass told me about a TV series called by the same name that she had watched an episode or two of.
(The modern god for all things media is in fact Media in American Gods, but in Australia the modern media god is in fact a US citizen called Rupert Murdoch who seems to be an immortal of some kind or other)
The young lass I made loan to was very keen on what she had been reading as she gave me periodical updates but made a complete stop at Chapter Eleven as she was off to get married.
(Parvati came to mind)
Brightly, I said I would read it and then hand it back to her after I had finished and she had come back from her honeymoon.
(May Anjea have been, or be kind to the delightful young lass)
Well, here I am writing a review of this rather good book.
(Is there a god of book reviewers? Troth maybe?)
And I enjoyed this.
(By Hedone I enjoyed it a hel of a lot and was that syncretic?)
There are now 826,000 plus ratings and 41,000 plus reviews on this here Goodreads so there is not much I can say about it.
(Seshat would be proud of those numbers.)
So I add nothing other than just don't take it all too seriously, as it is fantasy after all.
(Roger Zelazny is the American god of fantasy, Neil Gaimen has to agree)
Recommended to those of us that worship Anulap
A very good read about the Restoration of Charles II to the throne of the 3 Kingdoms. After the austere and puritanical times of Cromwell the Restoration was a time of decadence in comparison. This book gives a good account of the changes with specific emphasis on the early part of Charles reign. Recommended.