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Review
Wonderful ... an amazing panoramic view ... I've rarely read anything like it (Claire Tomalin )
Awesome ... one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read. I defy anyone to read it without weeping at its human suffering, cruelty and courage ... a celebration of family love in an epoch of hellish cruelty ... now in this book these righteous heroes have their rightful memorial (Simon Sebag Montefiore Mail on Sunday )
This is a heart-rending book ... its importance cannot be overestimated ... This book should be made compulsory reading in Russia today (Antony Beevor, Author Of Stalingrad )
A masterful account of lost and stolen lives (Sunday Times )
Awesome ... one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read. I defy anyone to read it without weeping at its human suffering, cruelty and courage ... a celebration of family love in an epoch of hellish cruelty ... now in this book these righteous heroes have their rightful memorial (Simon Sebag Montefiore Mail on Sunday )
This is a heart-rending book ... its importance cannot be overestimated ... This book should be made compulsory reading in Russia today (Antony Beevor, Author Of Stalingrad )
A masterful account of lost and stolen lives (Sunday Times )
Review
'Wonderful ... I've rarely read anything like it'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came to this book knowing virtually nothing about Soviet Russia. My only background came from a book about the First World War and the effect of the Russian Revolution on the part the nation played, as well as a vague notion of the number of Russians killed during Stalin's regime. After reading the book I have a greater understanding of just what did happen and how many people were affected and for how long.
As I started the book I wondered how well it would all fit together. There are no really central characters, it is a collection of short biographies, with only a few people appearing on more than a couple of occasions. However, their stories are so compelling, it works. Not only does the book include the memoirs of those sent to the Gulags and family members of those who were shot, it also includes those who were better off and profited from the Soviet system.
It is through the narratives of those who survived, and their families, some of whom remained firm believers in the Soviet system, that the reader can start to picture how life was like in the Soviet Union. It is not the poverty that leaves the biggest impression, as I am not sure that life was better for everyone in the UK in the 1920s and 1930s, but it is the fear and the terror, the inability to discuss anything in public for fear of a knock at the door in the middle of the night. What this book brings home is that this fear pervaded every household, anyone could be an informer and just knowing the wrong people, having a 'spoilt biography' could be enough to be sent to a Labour camp.
I can't recommend this book enough, anyone who has any interest in twentieth century European history, or just wants to appreciate how liberal life is, should buy this.
As I started the book I wondered how well it would all fit together. There are no really central characters, it is a collection of short biographies, with only a few people appearing on more than a couple of occasions. However, their stories are so compelling, it works. Not only does the book include the memoirs of those sent to the Gulags and family members of those who were shot, it also includes those who were better off and profited from the Soviet system.
It is through the narratives of those who survived, and their families, some of whom remained firm believers in the Soviet system, that the reader can start to picture how life was like in the Soviet Union. It is not the poverty that leaves the biggest impression, as I am not sure that life was better for everyone in the UK in the 1920s and 1930s, but it is the fear and the terror, the inability to discuss anything in public for fear of a knock at the door in the middle of the night. What this book brings home is that this fear pervaded every household, anyone could be an informer and just knowing the wrong people, having a 'spoilt biography' could be enough to be sent to a Labour camp.
I can't recommend this book enough, anyone who has any interest in twentieth century European history, or just wants to appreciate how liberal life is, should buy this.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very impressive and moving account of what it was like to live through the repression of Stalin's Russia. Figes is good on the historical background and of supplying context to the individual stories. I thought that it supplied just the right amount of detail.
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
You will never read a more granular, detailed and moving book about what Stalin did to his own people. The final whispering of the generations persecuted,the sheer number of people's stories might be overwhelming if they were not so individual and peculiar, so consistent and so different. You may go in thinking Stalin less evil than Hitler, but you will not finish this book with that idea. The sheer scale of the madness, the length of time it went on, will take your breath away. Orlando Figes writes plainly, and tells you first, what happened during the chapter (the context), then provides detailed examples, and follows a few family stories all the way from 1917 till today. This is great scholarship and history, valuable to professionals and ordinary readers.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
WIDELY ACCUSED OF ERRORS AND MISQUOTATION
See attached for a more in-depth analysis of this book's errors; there is also widespread published controvery around Figes' legal actions against senior critics.
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Published 9 days ago by M M MacNair
Unexpectedly good
I bought this book because it was on the reading list I was given for studying A level History, but I had never read anything by this author before. Read more
Published 5 months ago by ami_2493
Figes does it yet again
What a great read by an author who truely understands the essence of the Russian soul. His assembly of all this information from survivors (and their relatives) of this, one of the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Roy Meintjes
Non Fiction
I learned of this book while reading (for my History Honours Degree) about Russia in the time of Joseph Stalin; and thought it would be interesting to read more; however, I was... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. G. Johns
excellent educational read
This book has not only educated me but had me gripped to the atrocities that went on in russia and Stalins victims . Read more
Published 16 months ago by linda stewart
Should have been better
This is a long book and largely comprises a series of harrowing and disturbing anecdotes. To the extent that it conveys the horrors of Stalin's Soviet Union through the experiences... Read more
Published 20 months ago by lesharris
A labour of love
'The Whisperers' by Orlando Figes is truly wonderful. Figes has pieced together the tragic story of Stalin's forgotten victims in their millions, and given them a voice. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by Dr Eva Maria Chapman
The Whispers
The most compeling and beatifuly written book I have read since Natasha's Dance - wonderful !
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by Mrs. Ann T. Nicholson
Truths unveiled...
Words cannot describe this book of many years of unspoken truths now revealed. The stories are heartbreaking, some times cold but yielding for closure on a chapter of Russian life... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2010 by Mental Food
Great read
This is a very intersting read, not for anyone expecting a light read, very well written in a way that makes it easy to understand especially with the Russian names, a must read.
Published on 2 Dec 2009 by G. Davis
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