Life's Music [Paperback]

Andrei Makine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2003

In a snowbound railway station deep in the Soviet Union, a stranded passenger comes across an old man playing the piano in the dark, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Once on the train to Moscow he begins to tell his story: a tale of loss, love and survival that movingly illustrates the strength of human resilience. 'A novella to be read in a lunch hour and remembered for ever' Jilly Cooper, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Makine here is as good as Stendhal - or Tolstoy ... [he is] storyteller, teacher, and enchanter most of all. I would rather read him than anyone else now writing, and then reread him. I think this is his best book so far.' -- Allan Massie, Literary Review 'Beautifully paced and filled with a lyricism that weaves reality and fantasy into a far bigger picture ... engrossing' -- Scotsman 'Geoffrey Strachan's strong and graceful translation of a novel written in French manages to let its Russian soul shine through. "A Life's Music" exchanges the lushness of Makine's earlier work ... for the fiercer pleasures of concise storytelling. This is Makine's art' -- Ann Harleman, New York Times 'With matchless delicacy and economy ... Makine presents a movingly detailed history of survival, adaption and bitter disillusionment ... perfectly conceived and controlled. Its graceful narrative skilfully blends summarized action with powerfully evocative images charged with strong understated emotion ... masterly' -- Kirkus Reviews '[An] elegant, heart-rending little gem of a work ... entirely fresh and necessary. Highly recommended.' -- Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (New York) 'A Life's Music again proves Makine to be a very fine craftman.' -- Times Play 'Makine makes fresh images that are also profound and poignant, and this gives his portrait of a life derailed by history an irresistible authority.' -- Sam Thompson, Times Literary Supplement 'A tale of war, heartbreak and survival. Both powerful and graceful, it has...depth and scope.' -- Scotland On Sunday 20021020 'True to Makine's exquisite and haunting work, with its characteristic atmosphere born of pain and philosophy, this magnificent elegy of loss evokes the sheer size, mystery and chaos that is Russia.' -- Irish Times 20030607 'The writing remains both poignant and subtle with the nuances of living a secret life given both colour and gravitas. A Life's Music makes for a fascinating - if all too brief - read.' -- Big Issue 20030607 'This is truly a book to treasure.' -- Good Book Guide 20030607 'No contemporary writer has expressed his simultaneous love of Russia and hatred of Communism as eloquently as Andrei Makine, and this exquisite, poignant novella is one of his most satisfying works' -- Sunday Telegraph 20030607 'An unforgettable testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.' -- Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday 20030607 'Avoiding a heavy-handed treatment of Russian history, in little more than 100 pages Makine succeeds not only in condensing the life and loves of one man, but in capturing the fear that pervaded everyday life in Stalin's Soviet Union. It is the perfect riposte to anyone who believes that great Russian literature must be unwieldy and crammed with a cast of thousands' -- Daily Mail 20030607

About the Author

Born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia in 1957, Andrei Makine has lived in France since seeking asylum there in 1987. DAUGHTER OF A SOVIET HERO, his first novel, was originally published in French in 1990 and was followed by CONFESSIONS OF A LAPSED STANDARD BEARER and ONCE UPON THE RIVER LOVE. Then in 1995 his fourth novel, LE TESTAMENT FRANCAIS, became the unprecedented winner of both the Prix Goncourt and Prix Medicis and has gone on to sell over a million copies in France alone, and to be published in translation in twenty-nine countries. Its translation into English by Geoffrey Strachan, published by Sceptre in 1997, also won the Scott Moncrieff Prize. Since then Andrei Makine has published THE CRIME OF OLGA ARBYELINA, REQUIEM FOR THE EAST and A LIFE'S MUSIC, published in France in 2001 where it won the Grand Prix RTL-Lire.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Sceptre (June 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340820098
• ISBN-13: 978-0340820094
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,630,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Profund Work from Makine, April 29, 2009

By 

Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life's Music (Paperback)

Andrei Makine's Music of a Life is a slim book. It a simple story, told in a straightfoward, spare fashion. Yet within the framework of this simple story lies a profund piece of work that has an impact on the reader that, like the most beautiful music, lingers long after the last note fades into the night.

Makine, for those not familiar with his work, was born in the Soviet Union in 1958. He emigrated to France as a young man. He writes in French. (Music of a Life was nicely translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan). At the risk of setting out what may sound like a hackneyed cliche, Makine's work for me combines the grace and elgance of the best French writers and the deep soul and conviction of the best Russian writers.

Music of a Life is set out as the re-telling of a conversation had between two strangers on a train moving slowly west from Siberia sometime around 1958, the year many thousands finally won their release from the labor camps that dotted the Soviet Far East. Two men sit together. One older man, wearing clothes that mark him as someone just released from the Gulag strikes up a comnversation with his fellow passenger. The story is set out in the voice of the other passenger. As the train moves on the older passenger and the narrator exchange slowly. At some point the older passenger, Alexe Berg, slowly sets out his life story.

In 1940, the young Alexe, a classically trained pianist of great talent and promise, was preparing for his debut recital. On approaching his family flat after the dress rehearsal he sees a pre-arranged symbol indiccating that his parents, supposedly dangerous members of the intelligentsia, had been swept up by the NKVD (pre-cursor to the KGB). Alexe makes his escape and finds himself hiding out in the Ukraine in 1941. The devastation of the Nazi invasion of the USSR in June of that year engulfs the Urkaine. Alexe comes upon the body of a dead Soviet solider, a peasant, and assumes the dead soldier's identify. Although this provides him some protection from those who might still seek his arrest, Alex realizes quickly that he must maintain this identity at all costs.

Alexe makes it through the war in one piece and, in fact, finds favor with a Soviet general, who keeps him at his side as an aide de camp during the rest of the war. Alexe's survival remains dependent upon his being thought of as a simple peasant. After the war, Alexe finds work with the general's family. The general's daughter takes a liking to the young 'peasant' soldier. Alexe becomes enamored of the daughter. The daughter, whose piano-playing skills are somehwat limited, if earnest, decides to teach the young peasant Alexe a few simple tunes on the piano. These lessons lead, inexorably, to the book's climactic moments.

The book leaves the reader (or at least it left me) contemplating the choices and compromises we sometimes make with life. It left me contemplating the question as to how much of myself would I compromise, how much of myself would I keep hidden in order to maintain some small amount of freedom in an unfree world.

As I noted at the beginning, this is a simple story, simply told. Yet, as with music, sometimes even simple combinations of notes creates a beautiful mosaic of sound. Makine has done this with the graceful combination of notes that makes up his Music of a Life.