Grossman asks: how could the height of rapid modernisation also be the era of such calculated inhumanity? How could the century of Einstein and Planck also be the century of Hitler? How could revolutionary progress in the fields of science, education, and technology coincide with war and the death camps-with such indescribable suffering and death?Īs I read, I like to dog-ear each page that contains something gripping, inspiring, or noteworthy. It focuses on life’s ‘impossible complexity’ during a time of dizzying contradictions.
Life and Fate is equal parts inspiring, moving, and devastating. It follows the lives of the Shaposhnikov extended family throughout Russia during the later years of World War II, as they’re torn apart by the brutality of war and senseless unpredictability of life in a totalitarian state. Spanning across Russia’s Eastern front, from the encircled Stalingrad to the southernmost steppes, and from there into German death camps and Russian gulags- Life and Fate is a stunning tour de force. Today we’ll review his war epic, often dubbed the Soviet War and Peace… Such striking and evocative turns-of-phrases whisk you through the pages of Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate. This remains one of the most impactful introductions to a book that I’ve read.
…How could a man be unhappy outside the camp? In the first chapter of the novel, Grossman muses:
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