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Confessions of a Lapsed Standard-Bearer

Confessions of a Lapsed Standard-Bearer

by Geoffrey Strachan (Translator), Andreï Makine (Author), Andreï Makine (Author), Geoffrey Strachan (Translator)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2000

    $3.45

  • Used

    Paperback 2000

    $3.45
Synopsis

Addressing himself to his childhood friend Arkadi from exile in Paris, Alyosha recreates their happy years in a village commune outside Leningrad in the 60s, when the sky was always blue and each summer they marched with drum and trumpet at communist youth camp, their eyes set on the glorious future promised by the propaganda machine - until they learnt the full horror of what their parents had suffered during the war and under Stalin, and began to see through the lies.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 176
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 15 Jun 2000
ISBN 10: 0340728086
ISBN 13: 9780340728086

Media Reviews
'In spite of the harsh background there is nothing depressing about Makine's work. He shows how tenderness and humour can alleviate human distress, his poetic use of language illuminating everything he writes' The Good Book Guide 'Makine masterfully illuminates some very dark corners' Zulfikar Abbany, The Times A beautiful piece of work, as good as Chekhov...a superb achievement...You will be lucky if you happen upon a better book than this'...Scarcely more than a novella, this story of a boy growing up in the Khrushchev years and later serving in Afghanistan, is truthful, nostalgic, and moving. Makine is as good as anyone writing today' Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'Perhaps his most exquisitely wrought work. It is one of those books that proceed almost sotto voce, as its author quietly lays his groundwork; then it grabs your mind and heart and never lets go...Mr Makine fashions a tale of remarkable strength and poignancy...He is a poet of the meaning that lies in the discrepancy between the 'ideological torrent' as Alyosha calls it, and the ordinary struggle of ordinary people to live ordinary lives...brillliant...Russia may be past for Mr Makine, but he continues to find ways of remembering it that produce novels striking in their depth and beauty' Richard Bernstein, The New York Times 'It is easy to understand Makine's success. He writes lyrically, with an intensity that appeals to all our senses. He is adept at evoking both the everyday - men playing dominoes in the courtyard - and the extraordinary' -- Robert Chandler, Independent 'Wonderfully sharp, sensuous imagery and delicate delineation of feeling...a moving and gripping story' -- Derwent May, The Times 'A glory and a dream' 'Makine is a master word-painter and, even in translation, you can admire his precise brush-work...it has the panoramic sweep of the great Russian novels of the nineteenth century' -- David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'A beautiful piece of work, as good as Chekhov...a superb achievement...You will be lucky if you happen upon a better book than this' -- Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'Stunning ... the lasting impression from this excellent novel is one of hope' NEW REVIEW
Author Bio
Andrei Makine was born in Siberia in 1957, and taught at the University of Novgorod. In 1987 he left the Soviet Union and sought asylum in Paris, where he lived rough before finding teaching work. He is the author of the bestselling Le Testament Francais, winner of the Priz Goncourt and Prix Medicis, and an international bestseller. Confessions of a Lapsed Standard-Bearer, his second novel, is his third to be published in English, following The Crime of Olga Arbyelina (Sceptre, 1999).