Customer Reviews

The Darkest Evening

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Thirteen year-old Jake Maki, his mother, father, his sister Maija, and his older brother, Peter, live in Finntown, Minnesota, during the Great Depression. In the town that is mostly populated by Finns, life is hard and rough. For Jake's father, the Great Depression is making his life as a miner history. To change it all, Jake's father makes a decision that will not only change Jake's life but his entire family's lives. His father decides to move his family to the western part of the Soviet Union, a Communist union of provinces, in which all of the property is owned by a whole. Along with better economic promises, the area that Jake and his family are going to move to mostly consists of Finns, hoping to create a Finnish state in the U.S.S.R. When they immediately arrive, though, Jake notices the drastic changes in the new land. The Soviet Union was dirty, polluted, and had few luxiories compared to the United States. Already, Jake had began to think that this was a bad idea, and his mother and Peter, but not his father, who still thinks the new settlement project is going to pay off. On their way to their destination, the capital of the province, Jake and his family settle in a logging village, and they had to become accustomed to the scenery, weather, and the wildlife: bedbugs. However, their stay is short-lived, as the family moves to the capital, where Jake's father instantly receives a job at the local ski factory. Peter learns Russian, and Jake and Maija go to a Finnish school to preserve the Finnish heritage. However, unrest occurs when Jake's first friend he makes in the city leaves, and the Secret Police in the capital begins to arrest innocent people-Finns. Though all of this is happening, Jake's father doesn't seem to worry, since he is an ''innocent person of the Communist Party''. This changes until Jake's brother, Peter, is taken away by the Secret Police. Soon after, his so called ''optomistic'' father is taken away as well. A reason for this begins to form in Jake's head. In the United States, he and is family left just after his uncle warned his father of the feared ''Red Broom'', and to escape before it swept him away. Now he understood the whole thing. The ''Red Broom'' was the Communist Party all along, and was trying to eliminate everyone who bravely spoke against it or questioned it, and Finns were the prime target. So, Jake and the remainder of his family- his mother and Maija, set off on a skiing trek towards Finland. Who they thought was one of their largest enemies, Viktor Karlov, the manager of the logging plant while they were in the logging village, helps them on their trip by giving them provisions and heavy clothing, along with other neccesities. For several hundred miles Jake's remaining family hikes through snow and ice. When they are within a walking pace of Finland, they are shot at by Russian border guards, but they still reach Finland, where the story ends without any news of Peter and Jake's father. However, The Darkest Evening, by William Durbin, is an excellent novel to read because it has excellent adventure, exceptional suspense, and it has an accurate input in the book about the history and events of what it would be like in the Communist U.S.S.R.

The Darkest Evening is a great selection to read and check into because it is literally an awesome adventure novel. From the mountains of the midnight sun to the a polluted capital in Russia, there is adventure packed into every page. In the book gets to travel in Russia for the first time, and in the latter section of the book, Jake is able to ski throughout the countryside, being pursued by the Secret Police. With so much action, this will make any reader become entangled into a plot of so many twists.

The Darkest Evening, by William Durbin, is an exceptional novel to read also because ot its suspense. While the Maki family spends its first week in the capital city, Jake and his friend visit the Gray Building, a dreary, desolate building that is a prison facility where the convicted are tortured and they never come out. If you're convicted, you're lucky if you're sent to a prison camp. This alone is enough suspense already, but when the reader checks this novel out, they will discover a whole book of suspense, ready to blow the reader out of his or her seat.

The Darkest Evening is a perfect book because it describes the way of life in the Soviet Union. From the dirty, filthy streets of Jake's temporary city to the logging village in the north, William Durbin did an excellent job of creating all of this and fitting it into the novel. The description will also give the reader a vivid image of what is happening throughout the pages.

Either way, I rate The Darkest Evening five out of five stars because it had everything that a good book should have. It is about a boy and his family who move to the Soviet Union for equal pay and a better life, only to find a land of sorrow and death. It contained excellent suspense, adventure, and was a true historical-fiction novel that showed life in the early U.S.S.R. to the fullest extent.

A. Chapppell

The Darkest Evening by William Durbin is about a Finnish family living in the United States during the 1930's. Jake, a thirteen year old boy, lives with the rest of his family in a small mining community in northern Minnesota. Jake's father, Arvid, decides that the United States has failed his expectations and declares that they move to Karelia in the Soviet Union. After arriving at the socialist village Jake and the rest of his family realize that the "worker's paradise" that they moved to was far from a paradise. Without adequate furniture and with inadequate, bug-infested straw mattresses, without electricity and running water, and even without decent or sufficient food Arvid moves the family to the Karelian regional capital, Petrozavodsk, a more promising town with different government-assigned jobs in a ski manufacturing factory, however, conditions continue to deteriorate and Jake and his family flee miles away to Finland.
Although The Darkest Evening is a fictional novel that emphasizes the emotions and thrills of a majestic and at times breathtaking adventure, Durbin also cleverly and accurately embeds his knowledge of the historic time period within the story. In 1933 when Roosevelt formally recognized the Soviet Union, the noisy protests of anti-communist conservatives were drowned out and many Americans persisted on finding a stronger economy (The American Pageant 801). During the 1920's many immigrants came to America and dwelled in cities sweeping through Virginia and Minnesota. The United States was still in a drastic economic position as the detriments of the Great Depression were still present. During this time, many Soviet socialists traveled to these economically depressed cities and encouraged Finnish-Americans or other immigrants to return to the Soviet Union. The growing persuasion from the "Marx and Engels fellows" was touched upon in The American Pagaent, which discussed the idea of Marxism and the spread of socialism throughout America. Durbin also accurately depicts how many of the recruiters had used the façade of a strong and thriving socialist economy, while the truth was much less appealing. The author also highlights on the idea of immigrants being torn between nationalism. Jake's parents believe that the "Soviet Union is not a closed system like in the U.S." while Jake "believed in the liberty and freedom of American democracy" (The Darkest Evening 14). Durbin uses brief excerpts of history to reinforce the more imaginative parts of the novel.
Although readers may not grasp a full understanding of history or even that short time period, as a supplemental reading, The Darkest Evening portrays the emotions and tensions of immigrants that have come to America in search for the "American Dream." This book provides a sense of sentimentalism and lets readers relate to similar problems today. Readers will understand how the division of powers between the East and West was linked far before World War II and the Cold War. Furthermore, after reading The Darkest Evening I understand that the affects of the Great Depression were long lasting.
Overall, The Darkest Evening would earn a rating of a 3 out of 5. It was an emotional roller-coaster that is thrilling for readers. Although it was not exactly for sophisticated readers, this children's book is perfect for students trying to understand more about the time period.

Not the most nuanced writing--there are novelists who'd have developed the characters more fully--but very much worth reading for its account of a little-known chapter in American-Soviet history. The last part of the book is quite gripping.