- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; First Edition, First Printing edition (5 Mar 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747552363
- ISBN-13: 978-0747552369
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 711,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In the Blue House is a fragmented text, with disparate voices answering each other back through the tumultuous decades of the first half of the 20th century. Russian exile Leon Trotsky and beautiful Mexican artist Frida Kahlo are the two characters who join the voices. The couple had a brief love affair in the 1930s when Trotsky was warmly offered a refuge from Stalin in Mexico. Their voices, though, are only two among many. Stalin and Trotsky feature as children in pre-revolution Russia, and as grown men ripping apart their country with their conflicting ideas. Stalin's wife tells of her growing discomfort with her status and with her husband in cold Moscow, while Trotsky's wife contrasts this with her tales of her affection for her husband and their intimacy in the heat of Mexico. The tales and voices of those whom history has forgotten also figure, such as doctors and engineers in the USSR; Trotsky's bodyguard and assassin; Trotsky's father; and a one-legged Mexican Judas-maker.
Delahunt's novel manages to be both an affectionate portrait of "El Viejo", the "Old Man", and also a disturbing insight into the consequences of the revolution of which he was a part. The fragmented structure of the text, with so many voices fighting for attention, darting back and forth from 1932 to 1917, or from 1940 to 1952, can be confusing. A "dramatis personae" would be useful, and perhaps a timeline of Russian history--though this might ruin the effect of the non-sequential narrative. For those readers with very little knowledge of the Russian revolution and its aftermath in the first half of the 20th century, this book reads best entirely as a work of fiction. For those with historical knowledge at their fingertips, it may make real people more real and allow their voices to be heard. --Olivia Dickinson
The Good Book Guide, June 2002
"This ambitious novel lyrically and movingly shows the indivisibility of the individual and history."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book flits between Mexico (where Trotsky is in exile) and Russia, and between the late 19th century up to the 1950s. Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different person. Early on I found it hard to follow. I was not always sure of the identity of the narrator of the chapter - yes, they were named at the front but often the names meant nothing to me. I don't know if this is because of my ignorance of Russian history or because links are not made strongly enough in the book. Anyway, as time moved on I found it easier to understand what was happening and make the links for myself. Even then, I had lost sight of the change of identity of Trotsky's assassin and only realised late on. There is no doubt that the book is very well written, but it is let down by confusion in that first third.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A wonderful novel, with interesting plot and wonderful descriptiveness, a very good read.
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