Customer Reviews

Island of Crimea

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book by Aksyonov is definately nowhere near "crap" like some reader wrote . Ironically , the same reader refferes to A.Rybakov ( !!! ) as a "good Russian modern author". Well , I guess the same reader preffers Pat Boone over Elvis too . Pity, pity, pity on that reader . The Island ( like most of Aksyonov's works ) has a great deal of pain and tortured social and civic selves of the people who are trapped between their love for Russia and grim Communist reality of the USSR . And again , like many other Aksyonov works , the Island might be a bit too difficult to fully understand and relate to for most of the Westerners . It is hard for the one who never experienced the gloom and doom of living in the country of the "proletariat's dictatorship" to fully believe that it was REALLY that bad . In this book the Island is a model of what modern Russia could have been if not for the violent Communist coup of 1917 that brought all the pain and misery in the world to Russia . The Island of Crimea is a great book ,well-written , with enough joy and enough pain to be read and liked by many .

1. Fun to read 2. Amazingly prescient -- anticipates CNN, constant media coverage, etc. before these were ever invented in the West -- how someone in state-censored Russia could have anticipated and described it is a wonder. 3. An excellent satire, not just of Russian and communist mores and values, but also of Western mores and values as well. 4. It was haunting to read this book just as the turnover of Hong Kong to China was occurring -- many of the characters' comments in this book anticipated the same things being said 10-20 years later in Time and Newsweek.

The only thing that's the absolute crap is the "review" above. The book is splendid, funny and deeply moving account about Russian character and communist bureaucracy. If you like Josef Skvorecky, I urge you to read this.

Excellent literature. Rich style and intriguing plot. It is impossible to close the book once began reading. And once its finished, the reader will not remain the same person anymore. The deep emotionality of characters and sometimes seemingly irrational behaviours leave one pondering on the mysteries of human nature and national characters.

Aksyonov's "Island of Crimea" has an interesting premise. What if Crimea were an island, instead of a peninsula. Further more, what if Crimea was the only area of Greater Russia to hold out against the Reds, and become a multiethnic "free" zone? Set in an alternate 1970s, The Island is a international hotbed of capitalism(like Hong Kong of old), but many want to rejoin Russia, under an idea of Common Fate. The people form a party called SOS. Also, there is a group of youngsters who want to have their onw identity, a Russian-Tatar mix called Yaki. In the background, various Russians plot, some for reunification, some against. Aksyonov almost had me spellbound, but the hero was too decandent, and some things made no sense what so ever.

Harking back to the days when the USSR ruled the Crimean peninsular, this Aksyonov book examines what would have happened if the Crimean War and subsequent Soviet incursions would have failed to render the island Soviet. Simferopol' is a hotbed of democracy in this story, whose main character, a wealthy and James Bond-ish newspaper editor, shags plenty of women and generally dawdles about an almost non-existent plot. The ending defies description and the book is, to put it mildly, absolute crap.

Read Yuri Dombrovsky or Anatoli Rybakov if you want good modern Russian authors.