Customer Reviews

Leningrad Nights

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I like Graham Joyce. He writes dreamy, somewhat surreal and fantastic fiction that usually not overly cloying. His books are usually somewhat short, which them imminently digestible pieces of another time/place/state of mind; sharp and resonant pieces of work that never suffer from padding. Of course not all of his works are like this - the more serious "Smoking Poppy" which does not indulge in so many enjoyable flights of fancy like a "Tooth Fairy" or "Limits of Enchantment" is the exception more than the rule however.

This short novella (under 100 pages) "Leningrad Nights" falls into the Graham Joyce mold squarely. Sometimes set in a foreign land from his own (he resides in England), in another time, it could be just more historical fiction, but he sets his own unique slight fantastical and whimsical spin upon it.

"Leningrad Nights" is the tale of a young boy facing a battle for survival during the 900 day long German Siege of Leningrad from 1941-44. It tells his story of survival against a very well-illustrated portrait of a bitterly cold and war-torn city... indeed, the portrait of the city in the throes of war and siege are among the strongest descriptions of the book. But while war forces people to make harsh decisions, this novella may be regarded as not just a struggle for survival of body but for soul as well as the boy becomes the adoptive father of a prostitute's father.

This is a short novella, so much is not as well developed as I would like, I could see this making an engrossing longer book, but it succeeds for what it is - an insightful, descriptive, and slightly turned account of events that we are lucky we only have to experience through Graham Joyce's lyrical prose.