Customer Reviews

Archangel: A Novel (Random House Large Print)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

A setting that chills the bone; a premise that chills the heart. These are the pillars of Archangel, a tension driven third novel by former BBC correspondent and London Times columnist Robert Harris.

As in Fatherland (1992), with its disturbing thesis that Nazi Germany had been victorious in World War II and Hitler still lived, Mr. Harris skillfully blends fact and fiction to craft an equally frightening tale of contemporary Russia.

"There can be no doubt that it is Stalin rather than Hitler who is the most alarming figure of the twentieth century.....Stalin, unlike Hitler has not been exorcised....Stalin stands in a historical tradition of rule by terror, which existed before him, which he refined, and which could exist again. His, not Hitler's, is the specter that should worry us."

These words are spoken by "Fluke" Kelso, an antithetic hero, to be sure. Thrice divorced, an unsuccessful writer, he is a historian, a Sovietologist who greets alcohol with enthusiasm and his colleagues with ennui.

In unforgivingly frigid Moscow, where "air tasted of Asia - of dust and soot and Eastern spices, cheap gasoline, black tobacco, sweat," Kelso is a part of a symposium invited to view recently opened archival materials.

He is visited in his hotel room by Papu Rapava, an older man, a drunk, "a survivor of the Arctic Circle camps," who claims to have been an eye-witness to Stalin's death. Rapava says he was once bodyguard and chauffeur for Laventy Beria, the chief of the secret police. Rapava claims to have accompanied Beria to Stalin's room the night the GenSec suffered a stroke, and to have assisted Beria in stealing Stalin's private papers, a black oilskin notebook, which was later buried.

As Kelso decides to spend his final day in Moscow either refuting or corroborating Rapava's story, the writer comes face to face with Mamantov, a Stalinist who feels "the force of Comrade Stalin, even from the grave," and lives amidst the ex-dictator's memorabilia - miniatures, boxes, stamps, medals.

Surveying the collection, Kelso shudders, remembering that today one in six Russians believe Stalin to be their greatest leader. "Stalin was seven times more popular than Boris Yeltsin, while poor old Gorbachev hadn't even scored enough votes to register."

As Kelso becomes convinced that Stalin's secret papers do exist and obsessed with finding them, he is dogged by R. J. O'Brian, an overly zealous reporter whose beat is the world.

But, once the notebook is found instead of holding answers, it poses more questions. The last piece of the puzzle may lie in Archangel, a desolate White Sea port where "Everything had decayed. The facades of the buildings were pitted and peeling. Parts of the road had subsided."

Together Kelso and O'Brian drive 800 miles across an eerily deserted frozen landscape to reach Archangel before a storm rolling in from Siberia buries them or pursuing government agents capture them.

What the two find, Stalin's long hidden secret, is more appalling than either of them could have imagined.

With ever escalating suspense Mr. Harris catapults his mesmerizing narrative to a shocking denouement

Film rights for this unsettling tale have been sold to Mel Gibson, and it will surely capture a slot on bestseller lists.. Archangel is too close to possible for comfort, and too spellbinding to put down.

In no other way is the terror, fanaticism and cunning of Stalin brought forward more forcefully. Nowhere else can anyone experience the sheer terror that Stalin comanded over his people, and the skill with which Harris displays this feeling is immense. At every turn there is a new revelation, at each chapter a further twist in the plot, until the end is revealed in stunning power, excitement and suspense. This is a fantastic book, and made even more frightening with the knowledge that Stalin could have done this.

Robert Harris puts academic has-been Fluke Kelso at the center of a tall tale with a solid foundation in the 'wild west' days of post-Soviet Russia. Hookers, mafia, a publicity-mad newshound, former Soviet tough guys, and modern Russian cops all play roles in this page-turner that delves back to the cult of Stalin - and brings that cult into today. The scariest thing about this book is that it's based partially in the reality that Stalin remains a shockingly popular figure in Russia today, which also lends the book an uncomfortable veneer of plausibility.

I've read three of Harris's works now - Pompeii, Imperium, and Archangel. Contrary to some other reviewers, I enjoyed this book more than Pompeii and found it to be more of page-turner than Imperium (I thought Imperium was a bit more of a serious book - closer to literature than mass market paperback like Archangel).

I suppose the ending, criticized by others as implausible, does require one to perform a sizeable suspended disbelief, but if you pull that off, the ending hangs together. It's just a creepy lot of fun to see how Professor Kelso is going to get out of this mess and the crazy company he's keeping.

Highly recommended.

Rarely can a book have started off so well and yet ended so ridiculously. The first third of the book shows Harris at his best, conjuring up an atmosphere of suspense while skilfully interweaving the results of his prodigious homework. Who could not be enthralled by the idea of Stalin's secret notebook coming to light after 50 years? Up until the moment when our two heroes set off for the northern city of Archangel all is going fine. But then -- and I can't say much more for fear of giving away the most critical element of the plot -- the storyline suddenly veers off into the simply unbelieveable. It is hard to believe that the author who produced Fatherland could have lost the plot so entirely. The last two chapters are insultingly bad

Robert Harris is one of the finest "page-turner" authors you will ever read. He has a real knack for increasing both brain cell activity as well as the pulse rate, and Archangel is another book in the slowly increasing Harris titles that will absolutely keep you up late turning the last 100 pages.

It is difficult to speak about the plot without giving away too much. Basically, a historian, well passed his glory years, stumbles upon the possibility of a very valuable and reputation-saving diary left by the Man of Steel himself, Joseph Stalin. As the historian, Fluke Kelso (what a great name for a has-been), begins to investigate, it becomes very clear that certain parities would much prefer if he let the matter rest. I can't tell you more; but the author really makes the most of this premise. Many figures from Russian history are brought to startling life.

Harris powers of description are really superb, and his images of Russia, especially rural, northern Russia, were so bleak and otherworldly I felt shivers. What I really love about Harris is not only are his story ideas enthralling and richly promising, his abilities as a writer back up the promise. How many books have you started because the story idea sounded great, only to find the author wasn't a good writer? Well, have no fear with Harris. His plotting and pace really make you feel like you are racing to the end, his characters are people you care about and oddly lasting in memory, and his historical research is really top notch.

I guarantee you will be thinking about the words of Zanaida Pupava, the legal student paying her way through law school by turning tricks in a "new Russia," long after you finish the book. -Mykal Banta

Good airplane or beach reading, this thriller hangs on the premise that Stalin had a personal diary that no one ever read, and which has remained hidden since his death. A U.S. historian/journalist in semi-disrepute is invited to a conference about Stalin in Moscow where he is approached by an old man with just such a wild tale. Everything proceeds to careen through 4 wild days from the "new Russia" of pricey Moscow bars and hookers to the bleak forests of Archangel in the far north. It's a good ride, imparting lots of useful factoids about Stalin and his current appeal while delivering a solid Robert Ludlumish conspiracy thriller.

After reading all 40 of the reviews, I am amazed that so many readers found the ending unbelievable. I lived in the Soviet Union before and after its demise. The comment I heard so often from the common person was a desire for a strong leader, "like Stalin." The ending of the book was frighteningly believable down to the political posturing and manipulation of the media. I'm pondering how so many readers could find the ending so unbelievable. Perhaps you must live in a culture to really entertain the possiblities. Given all of this, I am still disappointed with the last few paragraphs. I'm not sure how it ended. I wonder if that was the author's intent or whether it was a typical television, movie question-mark ending that leaves rooms for sequels. Nevertheless, the book captured the Russia I experienced so profoundly that I had to set it aside several times because of the deep emotional impact his very clear descriptions evoked.

Robert Harris in his novel Archangel presents me with something of a dilemma. I enjoyed thoroughly some aspects of the book and others I found to be almost unreadable. I do not have an issue with plots that are far-fetched or fantastic in nature, but to convince me they do need an element of conviction. At times, particularly in the latter half of Archangel, I felt the author wanted nothing more than to get the book over with.

Joseph Stalin is the central figure in the plot, his thoughts, beliefs and actions shape the events of the novel. Indeed, Harris writes well of the power of a belief system that led to the terrors of Stalinist Russia. He conveys the almost depressing fear of that period in history and transposes it to a modern day Soviet Union. Thus Harris is able to set the scene of the book in an effective way and the tension builds in a convincing manner. However, in doing so Archangel is set in an almost Orwellian Russia, where the bad guys are so bad that they come over a little cliched and the Russian people become caricatures, almost totally grey and devoid of humanity.

There was real scope in this book to develop an excellent story line to a thrilling conclusion. For me this did not happen in that the conclusion was so predictable that perhaps the description `thriller' was not an appropriate one. In rushing the second half of the novel and putting so little effort into the conclusion Robert Harris missed a opportunity to make a mediocre novel into an excellent one.

This is a great historical 'what if' type of book. Not only is Harris a great author who's writing flows very quickly and fluently, but he also has a very talented mind for these kinds of books.

The first half of the book may seem somewhat slow and uneventful and I remember being somewhat frustrated on my first day of reading. However, about half way through things start to take a very interesting twist, which is followed by a twist, etc. Things keep taking unexpected and exciting turns throughout right through to the last page and that is something that defines (in my eyes) a thriller.

One critisizm that I will throw out there is that there doesnt seem to be much of a climax with the book. Whenever you think you're there you expect for things to slow down but they never do. After reading all of Harris' book in the course of two weeks it got rather annoying, but it definately does not take away a star.

So many of the reviews I've read below poke at the realism of the story based upon what really goes on in Russia right this minute. Let's not forget that Harris's previous books all are based on what-if scenarios that stem from actual historical events. Russia truly has fallen into disarray since the fall of communism, and this book simply takes that to the extreme of a "what-if it was just a bit worse?".

I've heard plenty of horror stories about visitors to Russia, particularly in Moscow. People minding their own business being forced to bribe cops to walk down the street, violence over a few rubles, rampant prostitution (girls lining up in parking lots at night, and customers selecting them from the luxury of their cars with their headlights on so they can see them better...most of the girls coming to Moscow from Ukraine or the Baltic states because no jobs exist anywhere else outside the cities or in the CIS). The descriptions of the decrepit apartment buildings, the seedy dance clubs, the barren wastelands on the way to Arkangelsk...all of it really brought me there, and I immersed myself into thinking that I was really there.

This alone set the stage for the book in my mind, however true or untrue these stories above are (I tend to think they are). Set that up against the background of cruelest dictator of all-time, Josef Stalin, and his legacy...suddenly you have a book that makes you feel as though YOU are the one that should be watching over your shoulder, because you've dug too deep. I'll admit it - the actions of Stalin's son when they finally came across him, seemed a tad ridiculous. But then, I don't think that anyone would turn out too normal if they were kept so isolated. And he would've had to have been VERY isolated to be kept a secret.

All in all, I thought the book was fantastic, and gave Fatherland a run for its money. And, in classic Fatherland style, the ending finished with a bang - quite literally. An excellent read.