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Laurus Hardcover – October 13, 2015

by Eugene Vodolazkin (Author)

61 customer reviews

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"A quirky, ambitious book ... Eugene Vodolazkin succeeds gloriously."
—Janet Fitch, LARB

"In LAURUS, Vodolazkin aims directly at the heart of the Russian religious experience and perhaps even at that maddeningly elusive concept that is cherished to the point of cliché: the Russian soul.”
— Ken Kalfus in The New Yorker

“Brilliant storytelling ... a uniquely lavish, multilayered work.”
—Booklist

“LAURUS is without a doubt one of the most moving and mysterious books you will read in this or any other year.”
— The American Conservative

“A timeless epic ... pointed, touching, and at times humorous, unpredictably straying from the path and leading readers along a wild chase through time, language, and medieval Europe.”
—Asymptote Journal

“An epic journey novel in all the best traditions. There are countless colorful characters, exciting twists of fate, and profound truths in the protagonist’s words and deeds… The Idiot meets Canterbury Tales meets The Odyssey. Highly recommended.”
— Russian Life Magazine

"Love, faith, and a quest for atonement are the driving themes of an epic, prizewinning Russian novel that, while set in the medieval era, takes a contemporary look at the meaning of time.... With flavors of Umberto Eco and The Canterbury Tales, this affecting, idiosyncratic novel ... is an impressive achievement."
—Kirkus

Laurus

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Product Details

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Oneworld Publications; First Edition, First Printing edition (October 13, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1780747551
ISBN-13: 978-1780747552
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #467,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #27980 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		85%
4 star		4%
3 star		3%
2 star		3%
1 star		5%

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Top Customer Reviews

A Russian Masterpiece, a Universal Novel

By Annie Martirosyan on October 6, 2015

Format: Hardcover

It is a hard and brilliant read. The hero of the story is a medieval man who lives through four major phases in his life, changing his name as he goes - Arseny, Ustin, Amvrosy, Laurus. Left alone in the world after grandfather Christofer's death, Arseny inherits his gift of a healer. He cures his patients with herbs, words and nothing. But when his beloved woman dies in childbirth, he cannot forgive himself for overestimating his powers to restore life where it is threatened. Unable to overcome the guilt and grief for his stillborn son and Ustina, who died without confession and in sin (as they had not been married), Arseny decides to reject his own life and live in Ustina's stead to win eternity for her.

Now Ustin, he travels far and beyond, curing the victims of the great plague. The novel unfolds a story of a life devoted to love at its many layers. Vodolazkin portrays a magnificent range of life on the medieval road, in movement but out of time's joint. We follow the hero's life as a holy fool in the graveyard of a nunnery through to his pilgrimage to Jerusalem with an Italian Catholic seer. Ambrogio's visions throw us forward into a familiar Petersburg setting and farther into the unknown future; in constant searches for the time of the end of the world the novel leaves us on its pages frustratingly faced with the nonentity of time.

Vodoazkin's beautiful portrayal of holy fools demystifies, or rather mystifies, the concept of yurodivy associated with Russian Orthodoxy (but not unique to it). The writing is soaked in religious beauty without the least Orthodox bias.Read more ›

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A masterpiece of mystical Christianity

By Rod Dreher on December 1, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I am rarely at a loss for words, but it is especially difficult to find the right ones to express how luminous, how wondrous, is this book. Often I would set it down on my lap, dazed and dazzled. As a religious believer, I generally don't care for religious fiction, because it is very, very difficult to represent the life of the spirit accurately. The only fiction I've ever encountered that does this as well as "Laurus" are the Elder Zosima chapters of "The Brothers Karamazov". But don't think for a moment that "Laurus" is only a book for and about mystical medieval Russian Orthodoxy. It is a book about the mystery of life, and how, out of the ruins of our humanity, can emerge a goodness so pure we call it holy.

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A novel of the Russian Orthodox soul, set in the Middle Ages.

By Global Octopus on December 14, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

My tenth-grade English teacher once reproached me by quoting the aphorism "We don't judge a classic; it judges us." Whether or not Laurus is a classic will not be known for a century or two, but it is of sufficient weight and complexity to judge the reader. Hence the five stars. Who am I to doubt?

Russia underwent three traumas in the last century--the Revolution, the forced industrialization and repression of Stalinism, and the Second World War. The first two were accompanied by the worst persecution of Christians in history. The demise of communism has led to a revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, with the support of the state. My recent read, Everyday Saints, and this book were both best sellers, and bear witness to this trend. In fact, Vodolazhkin was secretly baptized as a child, and feared exposure as a Christian in his university days.

He has written a book which expresses the legendary Russian soul and certain aspects of the Russian version of the Orthodox world view.

Set in the Fifteenth Century, with occasional leaps to other times, the book traces the life of his hero, in four stages, represented by his four names, Arseny, Ustin, Amvrosy, and Laurus. Arseny metamorphoses throughout the book, from a rural healer, to a "fool for Christ," a pilgrim, and a monk, among other things. In the course of the book, we are treated to elements of historical fiction--a recreation of the era in rural Russia, of magic realism with leaps in time all kinds of strange and miraculous events, a meditation on the meaning of time, an introduction to many aspects of Russian Orthodoxy, and a touch of the picaresque, though without the cynicism of, say, the Lazarillo de Tormes.Read more ›

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A novel of medieval Russia that speaks to us today

By Glynn Young VINE VOICE on December 28, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

Arseny is born in Russia in 1440, or “the 6948th year since the Creation of the world.” When he is seven, his father brings him to live with the boy’s grandfather, Christofer; Arseny’s parents have grain to reap even though they are awaiting a recurrence of the plague. His parents do not survive the plague. Christofer raises Arseny, teaching him what he knows about healing, everything from setting broken bones and dealing with illnesses to helping couples become pregnant. He also teaches Arseny about nature and God. They live within the shadow of a monastery.

These themes – healing, nature and God – suffuse Eugene Vodolazkin’s “Laurus.” This isn’t a novel about religion and faith set in medieval Russia; this is a novel that places the reader firmly in the reality of medieval Russia. We live Arseny’s life. We heal with Arseny’s hands. We live his life, and it is a remarkable life. It is a story that moves in unexpected directions. And it is a story of redemption, and how a holy man, in the sense that medieval Russia understood “holy men,” finds redemption.

“Laurus” is an astonishing work. I approached it with skepticism because I couldn’t imagine becoming engaging with a novel about a holy man in medieval Russia. From the first pages, I could barely stand to put it down.

At times, it reads like an old story found in archives, complete with the occasional use of archaic language, which translator Lisa Hayden transforms into Old English for the English translation. The challenges she faced in the translation had to be prodigious; she write’s about some of them in the translator’s introduction.

And at times, it reads like “a journal of the plague years.” The plague becomes a kind of character of its own in the story.Read more ›

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