White against the Reds on Russian rivers. Steamboats beating on the water. The fate of people intertwining among themselves and with history. On steamers there is a place for all women, and men, and sovereigns, and commoners, and rivers, and sailors.
All of us, probably, are at least a little familiar with the history of that civil war. We can distinguish red from whites. But it would be better to read more about it before familiarizing yourself with the book (this is certainly not necessary, but some things will be more understandable). The world is described without much details, but allows you to move to that era.
The rivers at Ivanov have always occupied a special place. So in a new novel, all events are flowing on the water. But as a separate character you can’t meet her, it is just a place of action, making its own adjustments to history.
Three forces collide in the book, red, white and large companies. Each side has its own interests. Much is spinning around money, oil and power. And each side is ready to go to everything to achieve their goals.
Unlike many authors, Ivanov does not go into thinking who is right and whose ideology is more true, ordinary people are fighting, someone believes in ideology, and someone only adjusts the ideology for themselves and searches for their own benefits.
So at first in the Reds you see only bloody animals, but a little later you understand that it was just rural men who reached the authorities, which they had long dreamed of. They want to embody all their desires, fully enjoy, and try to make it quickly as someone is about to come and send them back to the field;. Something living is felt in this. This is not the generals give an order to execute, this local commander is eager to quench the thirst for power through violence. After all, there is nothing sweeter than disposing of other people’s lives as if the Lord.
There are a lot of characters here. https://playwin-casino.co.uk/ And when I say huge, I mean that it is better to approach a book with a notebook and pen. At first it is difficult to keep track of all stories and characters. Everything comes to the point that when the author focuses on a pair of characters, you begin to forget what is happening with the rest. And of course all these characters are connected with each other, each someone’s brother, sister, husband, wife, father or mother. And soon you begin to get confused in a pile of names and connections, but, fortunately, at important points, the author refreshes the necessary personal stories and plot paths.
The characters themselves are interesting and corrosive in memory. Their actions are logical and explained. Their story is alive and you believe in it. Introduce us to them gradually, and the journey into their past passes smoothly and in the topic.
Everyone will find a hero to their liking. On the course of the plot, we will get acquainted with a pile of characters. We will monitor the prince who dreamed of returning to the family, the God -fearing river shaking over the icon, the agent of the oil company in whose duties basically includes the murders, whose captain of the tugboat who does not care about white or red, for the ambitious swindler who always has a plan, for the crankcase Schuler that is looking for excuses, for a strong modern woman (by the standards) of a woman losing himself in love, for a brilliant young engineer who is so far only ideas, but what, behind the writer seeking glory and for many others. And all this Codl constantly intersects with each other, they fight, fall in love, quarrel, create families, part and reunite. And monitor this exciting.
At first, Ivanov has no bad or good, the characters live on the pages and there are no saints or devils among them. This becomes a problem. At the end of the book, a lot of things happen and with a large number of characters, they manage to do good deeds and bad things. You stop empathizing with it, and in important points the intensity of passions is lost. Imagine the character is unfairly and others suffer from this, and then the author hopes that we will empathize with him in the moment when he is already offended. Maybe, of course, I am a moralist, but I caught myself thinking “so he needs” in relation to some of the central characters, and the tension from this collapsed. But this can be attributed to the pluses, the characters are multifaceted and deep, it is interesting to follow and find out closer.
The structure of the book is whole and very well worked out. History develops smoothly and rapidly. We begin with the confrontation of white and red, we are greeted by the disasters of the war, then we move to the battles and by the end of the book the war fades into the background. All Chekhov rifles are shooting properly. In history, everything is in its place and it is important for the plot.
As such, there is no central plot at first. We observe how people try to continue to live during the war. Someone runs away from the front, someone has a special task, and someone just turned out to be between the two lights and tries to survive. This creates the feeling that you are not following the characters of the book, but peeps on the life of living people. What no storyline loosen closer to the middle. Most of the main characters are involved in it and it spins around McGaffin.
So it turns out that at first it is a monumental novel telling about the fate of ordinary people in a big and cruel war. In a war in which there are no more rich and poor, right and wrong, good and bad, as in any war there are only living and dead. And then the monumental story about the fate of an immense country passes into albeit very harsh, but to the usual adventure. All the characters are “losing weight”, now there are good main characters who are good because they are good (and it doesn’t matter that before that they killed, rude and built pods), and a villain who builds intrigues like a zealous. By the end of the book, Ivanov seemed tired of being serious and mundane, tired of building a drama, tired of being cruel and gave both himself and the reader to rest. Although the intensity of passions rises, but the oppressive atmosphere of the war gradually comes to naught. Now we have chases on steamboats, shootings, traps, and war somewhere in the distance amid.
Why the last third of the book is knocked out of the mood? The novel is read as something global and serious. We look into the souls of ambiguous and living characters, impregnated with sympathies and antipaths, and for whom to root on ourselves. We ourselves choose favorites, the victories and defeats of which are alternated. Feel the era and the world around. And in the end we are led by the handle, leaving no room for their own choice. The space is narrowing. And so we read a chamber story about the confrontation of bad and good.
That’s what the problems are with the central idea. Ivanov is trying to say “live and let others live, but by the end of the book only“ live ”remains. There are ideas criticizing and greed of characters, and their aggressiveness and inhumanity of war, but they pass by a pass. It is best to describe the book to be the phrase "Live led by your idea". It is precisely such characters who, even during the war, do not think about survival, but about something more and important for themselves, are prescribed so that you sympathize with them the most, and they intercept all attention on themselves.
The language of the book is simple and appropriate. A village man speaks as a village man, and a nobleman as a nobleman. Even speech helps in revealing characters. Dialogs are written dynamically and interesting. But with descriptions, everything is not so bright. Of course, we are described by barges, tugboats, and people, and nature, but something is missing. The image in the head is not created, and you yourself make it based on your ideas. This does not matter when we imagine people or nature, but when it comes to swimming means, trouble with trouble. I probably, and most, are poorly versed, and my maximum distinguish the barge from the tugboat. Therefore, it would be nice to pay more attention to the ships (not that it is not enough there, but I would like even more).
Does the book make you think? Yes, and how. I caught myself thinking that I began to perceive the Communists differently, and I spent many hours on reflection on this topic. But some eternal topics are missing.
The book is read in 16 hours. The impression of her is positive. I would re -read it? Obviously yes. This is a great journey into the past and fascinating adventure story. I would advise this book to everyone, and those who are interested in that era, and those who only know that there was such a war, and lovers of adventure and lovers of heavy works.