Stalingrad

I got Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman free from NetGally for a fair and honest review

Stalingrad is the the book set before one of Vasily Grosman’s famous books Life and Fate. However  this is the first time that the book has been published English it was originally published in 1952, under the name, For A Just Cause, although the writer himself wanted it to be called by this name, Stalingrad.

The story follows a number of individuals from high ranking officers in the Russian army, ordinary soldiers, new recruits, doctors and nurses as well as workers and scientists. Although the story does start after the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany, it does go back and tells the individual stories on how each dealt with the time just before the conflict and in those first months of the war when the Russian military had little chance of holding the German army up.It ends in September 1942 during the hight of the Battle for Stalingrad.

This is an epic novel in many ways, Grossman, himself said he wanted to write World War II War and Peace, and be the Red Tolstoy that the state wanted. War and Peace appears throughout the book, as was common during the conflict, so Grossman was only reflecting this.

The writer takes the reader into the mind of each of the major individual, giving them their own thoughts, so even though they is a large number of people in the book it allows the reader to get to know them,so when you encounter them again you as a reader know who they are. 

The bombing of Stalingrad by the German air force is told with such a way that it brings the terror of the raid to life. Another scene, that stands out for me, is where the writer describes, that the cities animals have mainly moved out and how, the animals in the surrounding area are aware something major is happening, this then expands out, to the world as a whole watching this epic clash between to totalitarian systems. Now as this book was written in Russian originally, and translated to English by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, I do not know who has the greater effect on the style of writing we as a reader experience, but all of them have put together such a beautiful written book .

Who would I recommend this book to, every one who has read Life and Fate as this book is set before that, so you find out how the people got to where they did. Another group of readers are those who have read War and peace and are looking for a similar book set in World War II. In fact this book is for every one who loves to read books, which takes you the reader to places where you may never go, into the minds of the people you won’t meet, who are experiencing a normal life while living in challenging times. Then I can highly recommend that you take time out and read Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman as you will not be disappointed