Review: The white guard
Redactionele recensie - Kirkus ReviewsAnother fine Bulgakov work, this is a compassionate and gently satirical novel about a likable, feckless White Russian family coping as best they can while all hell breaks loose in Kiev outside their parlor in 1918-19. The play derived from this novel, The Days of the Turbins, was a popular Moscow Art Theatre piece until, under Stalin, it was considered to be too compassionate toward these gentle stumblers in the march of progress. The Turbin family consists of doctor Alexei, sister Elena married to a disappearing opportunist, and young Nikolka. All are as anxious as whippets and cherish their safe harbors of familiar ideals, their home of books, music, conversation and whist. When the shooting flairs up and subsides in Kiev, the White forces are routed by advancing armies and their own impotent confusion. Assuming military postures Alexei and Nikolka attempt to help for they are brave, and they do perform touching acts of kindness amid the brutal mindlessness of mobs. There are marvellously theatrical moments: the Turbins and their White officer friends happily shouting songs and slogans while their timorous landlord is being terrorized by raiding hoodlums; the arrival of an orphan of the storm, an unstrung relative (with bird), whose first definitive act is to crash into the dinner china. An epilogue by Victor Nekrasov from Novy Mir sets forth an affectionate appreciation of the Turbins and the translation is by Michael Glenny. A Russian Heartbreak House in which the Turbins barely survive.
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - GoodreadsI was advised by a Russian professor not to worry too much about how was fighting for what and why and just enjoy the writing and characterisation. Best advice I got, as once I stopped worrying about not knowing enough about Ukrainian politics around 1918, I adored this book.
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Paul Soychak - GoodreadsTheatrical Adaptation at the MXAT was Stalin's favorite! He then forced them to close it. Wonderful book. You'll feel with Bulgakov that you're shocked you've never heard of him. Only man who ever stood up to Stalin. My favorite writer. Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Miklos Hargitay - GoodreadsThe serious side of Bulgakov, still isn't so serious. There is wit and cynicism as well as heartrending moments of suffering and love gone awry. For 300 pages, The White Guard demands rereadings ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Dragan - Goodreadswhat a man can say but: Mischa, thank you. Read this for the first time some 25 years ago. Read it, understood it. Loved it, obviously. few years later i myself went through a similar experience of ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - GoodreadsI like my magic realism but in small doses so this suited me far more than Bulgakov's better known Master and Margarita . So, aside from the odd dream sequence, the author sticks to the concrete ...
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Jesse - GoodreadsThis was a great book. Completely different from the other books that I've read by Bulgakov. This book lacked the humor that "The Master and Margarita" and "Heart of a Dog", but in many ways, this is ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Nicole - Goodreadsre: Kiev: "In winter, as in no other city in the world, a calm fell over the streets and lanes and the upper City, over the hills and the lower City, which sprawled out at a bend in the frozen Dnieper ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Aaron - GoodreadsWhite Guard haunted me. As noted by other readers, the descriptions of Kiev are astounding. Even after my first visit to Kiev, I recognized many of the descriptions. In fact, I first learned of this ... Volledige recensie lezen
Review: The White Guard
Gebruikersrecensie - Ivan - GoodreadsA truthful and frightening recount of an ordinary pre-revolution family transformed by successive events in Ukrainian history. This isn't a horror story, and it doesn't have any gore, but the ... Volledige recensie lezen
