- Paperback: 516 pages
- Publisher: Granta Books; New edition edition (22 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1862074526
- ISBN-13: 978-1862074521
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,164,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
There is not much that 20th century Russia didn't know about death and suffering. From the persecution of the peasants to the slaughter of the First World War, the Bolshevik revolution, the Civil war, the famines of the 1930s, Stalin¹s purges, the Eastern front of the Second World War, the gulags and the Mafia wars in Moscow and fighting in Chechnya, Russian modern history has been written in blood. The scale of the tragedy is beyond comprehension to most of us. We are told that roughly 50 million people were killed under the Stalinist regime. It is not the 50 million that is so shocking here; it is the roughly. We could be talking 55 million or more. No one knows. But how could five or so million people just disappear, unrecorded, unnoticed when each and every one was someone's father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter? Where does the mourning take place?
This is the question that Catherine Merridale sets out to answer in Night of Stone, her fascinating yet elegiac investigation into death and memory in Russia. The truth that Merridale uncovers is that the collective grief has merely been hidden, not buried. Over the years the authorities may have tried to kick over the traces of formal mourning by dismantling the state religion, by making cremation the order of the day and by turning squalid death into Marxist martyrdom, all washed down with liberal quantities of painkilling vodka, but the wounds are still open. And this is where Merridale's story becomes so fascinating. Because for every victim willing to come forward in the post-glasnost era to tell the truth about the tortures and the killings, there are several more voices urging them to keep quiet. Some wounds, it seems, are just too deep ever to be allowed to see the healing light of day. --John Crace --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'[An] extaordinary and important book...Night of Stone is an admirable attempt to bridge the gulf in perception which still divides Russia and the West.' The Economist; 'Beautifully and simply written, [Night of Stone] is full of extraordinarily vivid glimpses of the past...This enthralling book...successfully sheds light on...a "beautiful but tortured culture".' The Times; 'No study of 20th-century Russia can avoid consideration of the questions that this book raises.' Independent on Sunday; 'This is a superb book. [Merridale] writes with real flair and passion, and is clearly more than a standard academic observer of her subject...the argument is worth reading not only because it is unexpected, but also because it goes a long way to explaining the infamous, albeit vaguely defined, Russian capacity for 'endurance'. Literary Review; '[Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia is] an ambitious, broad-reaching...tightly woven account based on scores of interviews.' The Moscow Times; '...an epic and moving history.' The Observer; 'An original and intriguing study of death and attitudes to death in 20th century Russia.' Antony Beevor, The Independent; 'A sharply focused history of modern Russia [and] a compelling, emotionally engaged exploration of mentalities. What lingers is Merridale's humility and sensitivity in her deployment of evidence, her fusion of painstaking scholarship and personal inquiry, her questioning intelligence and her obvious passion and admiration for this "beautiful but tortured culture." The Irish Times; 'This majestic oral history should be required reading for anyone wanting to understand the Russia of today...No short review can do justice to the picture which emerges from this riveting narrative.' Michael Church, The Independent
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Ms Merridale writes a fascinating and engrossing account of death and memory in Russia throughout the last century or so. She appears to have done her research well except for one glaring historical mistake that a friend and I noticed. She writes about the stampede taking place at the time of Nicholas's coronation, but in fact it took place on the occasion of his wedding with Alexandra! If one recalls, celebrations were planned for the people in a farmer's field with a tent and food, drink and memorabilia was to have been supplied. So many peasants had heard about this and were anxious to get some of the libations that a free for all ensued and got out of hand. I am surprised her proof readers and/or her editor did not notice! Perhaps a future edition, if there will be one, can be corrected. Otherwise a very good read and a refresher of events from a different perspective.
2 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The stampede did indeed occur at Nicholas' coronation -I double checked. However, further on in the book, Ms. Merridale states that Kuibyshev is a city in the Urals. If she is referring to Samara, then it is not so, as this city is on the Volga river, west of the Ural Mountains.
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