124 of 125 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond the stereotypes, December 31, 1999
I first picked up Russka, not out of any interest in Russia, but because I'd enjoyed Rutherford's book Sarum and wanted to read more of his books. Russka ended up influencing my life more than any other book I've ever read. Before reading the book I knew nothing about Russia beyond the usual Cold War stereotypes. After reading the book I was so interested that I learned to speak Russian and hope to travel there someday.
In Russka, Rutherford brings history to life in a way his other books (Sarum and London) can't rival. Besides telling a good story with engaging characters, Russka shows how major historical events affected the lives of individuals and how human desires and frailties shaped history. Rutherford doesn't write about "the Bolshevik Revolution" or "Consumer good shortages during the Soviet era", he writes about the ups and downs of individual families living through these events. Russka is first and foremost a story that pulls the reader in. Gaining insight into the Russian mind-set is an unexpected perk.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, regardless of whether they're interested in Russia. However, if after you've finished the book you'd like to learn about post-Communist Russia, I recommend Mark Taplin's nonfictional account Open Lands: Travels Through Russia's Once Forbidden Places.
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Spassiva, August 28, 2003
Reading Rutherfurd brings instantly one other author to mind, the late James Michener. Like Michener (most of his books, at least), Rutherfurd chooses one specific place (London, for example) and, through a series of characters inhabiting that place, he tells the story of a nation, or of a city. In this case, the "place" is the biggest country in the world: Russia, and her neighbours.
Like "Sarum", which tells the hisstory of England, "Russka" is the hisstory of Russia told from the point of view of three families, each occupying a different position in russian society. From the II century, through the tsarist empire and finally the October Revolution, Rutherfurd, in more than 900 pages, was able to provide his readers with the right blend between a well-created fiction with the most important parts of russian history. And yet, I thought this book was shorter than it could be.
Rutherfurd's style sometimes leave the reader tired. Some of his sentences are a little too prosaic for the kind of fiction he's intended to write. He abuses the right to use the word "For" (as in "For Nicolai was the greatest poet in Ukraine") to begin a phrase. One other problem I found was concerning the division of the book. The part I expected the most was the Revolution. I was satisfied when I read it. It's well written, interesting and holds the attention of the reader. In fact, the Revolution is the climax of russian history (at least in my opinion, I'm not russian and I really don't know that much about russian history), and the author does a good job in building the tension and creating a very "russian" atmosphere in the previous chapters before the revolution. But the problem is that, after 1917, the book ends. Nothing about the second World War, nothing about Breschnev, the Perestroika and the fall of the Berlin wall. So, I was left with the sense that there was somethig missing. Rutherfurd could have written at least 300 more pages and I wouldn't think this would a book too big, given its subject.
But I think that I was rewarded after closing the final page on "Russka". I wanted a book of fiction that would show me the history of Russia. Rutherfurd's research and his choice of characters, although conservative, were very good. "Russka" is entertaining and gripping, and I was hooked all through its 900 pages.
Grade 8.3/10
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical fiction at its very best., August 2, 2005
Though this is a long read (not to be undertaken in one sitting---at least by those without some background in the region/culture) it is well worth it should you wish to cultivate an understanding of Russia & Eastern Europe. The novel is very true to historical detail, and although many of its characters are of course fictionalized, Rutherford has clearly gone to painstaking lengths to remain historically correct---far moreso than most "historical" novels. Reading "Russka" will leave you with a true sense of a people and how they have evolved historically & culturally over the span of centuries. I am a professor & I used this book with one of my classes as assigned reading, with sections of "Russka" paired with corresponding sections of a Russian history book with truly wonderful results---rather than griping about the reading load as usual, most students loved the book and via the novel & the pairing with the text, they seemed to learn a great deal.
Addendum (Feb 16). Those folks who have criticised the book should perhaps view the book in the right light. It is not intended to be nor should it be used as a text book or scholarly treatise---though it would be a wonderful and creative suppliment for the latter. It is a very well crafted and meticulously well researched historical NOVEL and in accuracy of detail it is far superior to most (e.g. some of Michener's "historical" novels contain egregious innacuracies)
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