Customer Reviews

The Archivist's Story

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I saw this book reviewed in _The New York Times_ Book Review and bought it immediately. As a former Russian language scholar and devoted Russophile, I knew I could not wait for the paperback. The hardback price is worth every penny. This is historical fiction at its finest.

Holland admirably recreates the repressive, paranoid atmosphere of 1930's Stalinist Moscow. He gives us insight -- speculative, of course, but no less perspicacious -- into how individuals caught in that surreal world may have struggled: to survive, to be faithful to friends and family, and to be faithful to themselves. The cameo appearances of famous historical figures (most notably Isaac Babel) adds to the realism. By sheer coincidence, I read Holland's book just as I was re-reading Solzhenitsyn's _Gulag Archipelago_. Holland's ability to create such a realistic atmosphere is chilling. He clearly did his homework.

Some readers could be disappointed if they expect the focus of the book to be on historical figures, but I believe this was not the author's intent. Plenty of first-person accounts and impeccable historians have documented the travails and the bravery of the many great thinkers and artists who suffered under the Stalinist regime. Instead, Holland is clearly focused on "the common man," his reactions, and his attempts to cope. The suffering of these silent millions is often no less noble but certainly less widely documented.

As for the writing itself, Holland's prose is subtle, clear, and understated, all of which matches the quiet tension of the setting. The plot moves along at a sustained, crisp clip but never feels rushed. I found the book a compelling page turner, and I literally stayed up too late reading several nights.

In my opinion, this is a fantastic novel. Mr. Holland has set the bar high, and I eagerly anticipate his next book.

Given its context of Stalinist Russia, I knew that it was unlikely that The Archivist's Story would be a happy or humorous novel, and I was right. Travis Holland has captured the deadening effect of collectivization on the Russia people and the inhumanity of a society where trust and friendship are rare and fear of authority a daily concern. And yet, it's a story of the power of one man to act courageously in the face of such fear and reprisal, treating decently and humanely even one who hates him.

Pavel Dubrov is a former teacher now assigned to the archives of the infamous Lubyanka Prison, the hellhole into which countless political dissidents, intellectuals, and writers are cast. Pavel works under the insufferable Lieutenant Kutyrev, a true believer in the Revolution. Every day he organizes files containing the manuscripts of writers imprisoned in the Lubyanka, and then, one by one, carries files to the incinerator. It's a particularly distressing task for a teacher, for one who loves books, and it comes to a head over his encounter with an unknown manuscript written by Issac Babel, the well-known writer of Red Calvary. Holland chronicles Pavel's lonely and anguished existence well, contrasting it with the continued humanity he exhibits.

Travis Holland has done well. His prose is accessible and persuasive in rendering 1939 Moscow and lives caught in that place and time. It's a profound first novel and one I recommend.

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this book, and immediately started reading it that day. Others have commented about the plot here. I will just say that the story totally drew me in. Like the best of books, it was as if I was right there living the moment with Pavel. I could feel it as the world around him closed in.

I was very sad when I came to the last page. The story stayed with me for a long time after, and very much look forward to Mr. Holland's next novel.

Highly recommended.

Rich, engaging, expertly crafted, and ultimately heartbreaking, "The Archivist's Story" is told with the clinical precision and underlying compassion for the human condition found in the works of Chekhov, Babel, and some of the other Russian masters Holland honors with this masterpiece of a novel. A writer of great skill and integrity, and a must read for anyone who cares about the true value of the written word.

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 as the novel opens. Pavel Dubrov, the archivist of the title, has been sent to speak to Babel to verify that one of the stories the NKVD has confiscated actually is one of his. In this way, Pavel (aka Pasha) tells Babel, it can be assigned to the proper file in the archives. Out of curiosity, Pavel begins reading it and discovers the beauty of Babel's work and decides to save it, rather than to let it molder in some file or worse, find its way into the constantly-stoked incinerators where thousands of manuscripts and other works found a final home. Pavel knows that doing so will place himself in danger, but things in his past and events in his present lead him to believe that he can perhaps not only redeem himself by saving some of Babel's work, but also (and this gets into the central theme of the novel, imho) perhaps do his bit to change the flow of the history in which he has been caught up on some miniscule level. As he watches those he loves most get caught up in the Stalinist paranoia machine (and these were still in the early days of Stalin's time), he knows he has to do something.
An amazing book, truly. I think anyone interested in the former Soviet Union would really enjoy this book, as well as anyone interested in the topic of censorship. It is very well written; I hope Holland puts out something new very shortly. Highly recommended.

Reading The Archivist's Story left me feeling very tender towards books--the treasures that they are. Holland's story of an archivist torn between his love of literature and his desire to survive (requiring that he destroy unapproved manuscripts) made me very thankful for all the books I have access to, and Holland's exquisite writing made me very glad I had found his book. I'll be recommending this book to my reading friends.

If you're intrigued by the history of totalitarianism, particularly as played out during the Stalinist period in the U.S.S.R., then you have probably read Robert Conquest's The Great Terror, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Natalia Ginsburg's Journey into the Whirlwind. Suffering on such a massive scale is difficult to imagine, much less describe for readers who have not lived through these horrific events. If anything, the graphic representation of violence in our daily lives-on T.V., the internet, video games, etc-have desensitized us to human suffering. While novels and memoirs written by those who experienced the Stalinist purges reveal the horrors they and their loved ones endured, more recent representations of life during communism seem to shy away from depicting overt violence. I'm thinking of the popular German movie The Lives of Others, which chose to focus on the periphery, in an incredibly effective representation of character transformation and political voyeurism.

Written in this tradition, Travis Holland's impressive debut novel, The Archivist's Story, attunes readers to the nuances of living under communist regimes: the constant fear; the ever-present threat of violence; the relentless surveillance; the pressure to succumb to the totalitarian machine. Instead of focusing on the key players (Stalin and his cronies) or on the violent horrors of the Gulags and prisons, Holland reveals the drama of the center stage by depicting the periphery. The story is told by Pavel Dubrov, a Lubyanka prison archivist whose job is to destroy "deviationist" literature. In a file, he discovers a story that he believes is written by Isaac Babel, who is himself imprisoned. Because he admires Babel and his work, the archivist performs an act that speaks to his courage: he saves one of Babel's documents. It's true that Pavel doesn't have much to lose at this point: his wife was killed in a train accident; his mother is dying of brain cancer. The archivist's life revolves around his sordid duties at the Lubyanka. Refusing to burn a document may not seem like much. But one must remember that, during the Stalinist period, even looking at someone the wrong way or not applauding loudly enough after a communist speech could mean a death sentence. Saving a document that not only went against the party line, but also countered the very spirit of dogma reigning over the U.S.S.R., constituted a heroic gesture. Through the elegance of his prose, the strength of his characterizations and the engaging pace of his narration, Holland allows readers to step into the nightmarish reality of Stalinist Russia and appreciate its impact upon ordinary lives.

Claudia Moscovici, Notablewriters.com

This book is still with me a month or two after reading it. At the core of this novel is deciding when to stand up against tyranny when you know the consequences for you can be deadly. Holland shows what can happen when you make your stand for the right and sometimes the wrong reasons. For anyone looking to read the book for information about Isaac Babel you should probably look elsewhere as he is only a minor character in this book. Not that it took anything away for me.

The book illustrates ways the Stalinist regime attempted to control society and promote their propaganda. The main character, Pavel Dubrov, fights internally with if/when/how he can/should do his part in resisting the Stalinist regime. Pavel is not a fighter. His way to stand up is by stealing a manuscript of an unfinished novel by Babel out of the political prison where he is the archivist and also houses Babel. His decision on whether he will steal the manuscript and the way he comes to that decision shapes this story.

The novel is engrossing throughout and as I said at the beginning I am still thinking about it months afterward.

One of the best books I have read in a long time. From the first page I was drawn in and knew this was going to be hard to stop reading till the end. And it was. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Isaac Babel is an author dear to my heart. The instant I was made aware of this book I literally rushed to the store, bought a copy , put aside my current reading and dove into the book. With all due respect to Mr. Holland, I was very disapointed. I'll spare you a plot summary. The problems - too little Babel and Russian Lit, and too much side stories. The reader is subject to Pavel's (the protaganist) problems more than Babel's. You'll find no scenes descfribing Babel's interogation. No discussion of what in particular disturbed the Soviet authorities. No talk of what might of saved or doomed an arrested author in the period. Finally, there is nothing that moves the plot towards any conflict. Pavel's crime is not that spectacular, and I for one didn't really fear his capture. The book lacks the excitement still surrounding Russian literature since the Soviet fall - what works have we lost, what works might still be found (Serge, Grossman, Bulgakov)? Finally, if you are looking for discussions deep in the corridors of the Lubyanka concerning the worth and danger of literature towards the state - you won't find it. Anyway, I maintain it is the duty of all Russo- and Babelphiles to read the book. Just keep your expectations realistic