Golovlyov Family [Paperback]

Mikhail Ev Saltykov (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

…Strikingly powerful, convincing, and impressive.
— The New York Times

This is a tragic story, deeply moving, and by means of the figures that pass through it, relentlessly depicts the Russia that so inevitably prepared the Revolution. The book is a classic in its own country, and it is obvious why.
— The Spectator

The Golovlyov Family has been described as the gloomiest of Russian novels. Certainly the characters are all wretched or unpleasant, and the reader of the novels who professes that strange but common English attitude to literature: “Would I like to meet these people?” must leave the book alone. Shchedrin’s book is not gloomy; it is powerful. It communicates power. It places an enormous experience in our hands. How many realists simply indulge in an orgy of determinism and seek only evidence that indicates damnation….[Shchedrin] is not looking for quick moral returns. His method is exhaustive and not summary. The compensations of life are not moral; they are simply more life of a different kind.
— V.S. Pritchett, The Nation

The whole novel is practically a picture of a complete dehumanization of human beings, of an absolute victory of matter over spirit. And as such it is strikingly powerful, convincing, and impressive.
— The New York Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Ardis Publishers (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882332104
• ISBN-13: 978-0882332109
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,540,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Russian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark and deep, March 13, 2007

By 

blackandwhitedog "mockingbird" (philadephia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golovlyov Family (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

I just finished reading THE GOLOVLOV FAMILY and am still reeling from it. That anyone could read this novel and not feel utterly gripped by it is beyond me. On the back cover the publishers felt the need to compare this masterpiece to Faulkner and Marquez, but I think Balzac is much closer in spirit: Balzac channeled through a Russian soul. The plotline involving Annika, though crushing, is embued with a haunting rapturousness. Such a shock to read a book as long neglected as this one (in the US, at least) and find a character so compellingly alive.

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Russian literature, April 27, 2001

By 

xtreme139 (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golovlyov Family (Classics) (Paperback)

"The Golovlyov Family" by Shchedrin is an excellent book. I've read both American and English literature, but this is a whole new literature form that seems to have the best of both worlds; it has the vivid descriptions of English literature, yet the simplicity of American works, that is, there's no nonesense dialog of meaninglessness that's often found in English novels. My first thought at reading the book was how could a translation be SO good, and how good would the Russian version be?

There is much emotion in the book, and the feelings permeate or pulse out of the book, absorbing and drawing in the reader like a good book should. Although set in the 1800's at the time the first Russian revolution ( I'm by no means a historian by the way), the book is not heavily focused on politics as works of Orwell are. The political affairs are a very distant and small prop on this rich stage of a book.

When reading the book, however, I strongly recommend the note taking of names, because some characters are referred to by more than one name. It's not hard to follow if you jot a few reminders down when introduced to each character, this will save much confusion later.

On a final note, if you're reading this book, read it purely for it's own sake. This isn't an adventure book with a climax and an unbelievable series of events at the end, so if that's what you're expecting, you'll regret reading the book. However, if you're after some brilliantly rich literature, with excellent characters, settings, and unfoldings of events, then this is a book I highly recommend. It truly is a masterpiece.

12 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's No Accident, March 22, 2004

By 

JSollami (Stamford, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golovlyov Family (Classics) (Paperback)

It's no accident that this novel ranks 1.5 millionth on Amazon in sales. It offers the reader nothing but relentless cruelty, hatred, depression, loveless relationships, one-dimensional characters, and repetitious writing. And in the middle of this book is an anti-French rant that asserts the French are inherently hypocritical because that is part of their culture and makes them civil, whereas Russian culture is more honest because it is directly crude, boorish, and spontaneous in its hypocrisy and stupidities. The matriach of this family is a greedy obsessed woman who gives nothing to her husband or children except reprimands for what she suspects them of doing, which is undermining her and stealing from her. She also expresses little regret at their deaths which she in no small measure has caused. Her husband is a bitter sickly man who never gets out of bed, and we learn precious little more about him. Her children are mere products of this loveless relationship except one, who is a greedy, conniving, religious hypocrite who manipulates his beliefs and words to take possession of everyone else's properties, including his mother's. He earns the name "bloodsucker," which is uttered into his purposely deaf ears again and again. In short, there is nothing redeeming in this novel, nothing that recommends it. The whole mixture can also be boiled under a flame and be reduced from over 300 pages to a third of that without missing a thing. If Chekov had written about this family, he would have produced a short story that might have had a point, but as this stands, I would stay very very far away from this work, unless you are a masochist who enjoys getting depressed.