Veniamin Kaverin's work "Two captains" describes a book of adventures under a biographical sphere of a Russian child, teenager, adult, Alexandr Grigoriev (Sanea). I had not read such a work for a long time, resembling many adventure books from childhood, however, Kaverin's work has something more, brighter, more hidden, even camouflaged. It will be an adventurous work, but it describes the life of this character, from the age of 8 to after 25. Life itself is an adventure; sprinkled with dramas that break your soul, love for passions and loved ones, betrayals of those who hinder you, as well as the actual war.
To minimize Kaverin's story, it is described by an orphan who grasps both the First World War, with its dramas, and the premature death of his parents. Following the Bolshevik Revolution and his "treatment" of muteness being helped by a Bolshevik doctor. Sanea's escape from that sad cradle is followed, even if she abandons her sister. He ends up at an orphanage-school, where he gradually develops. However, in the middle of the problem of the book, some letters are lost that increase the character's curiosity to discover the adventure of Captain Tatarinov, naval captain of the ship "Saint Maria". The book may be propaganda for some. Well, not at all, it just needs to be understood, as for that propaganda, it's just a misunderstanding of patriotism to save the motherland. Reading between the lines of the book, it touched me in my strong point, the passion for geography and exploration, at the same time it reminded me of a good "aviator", my cousin (sometimes I have the impression that she is like a more distant sister), to whom I promised that I will dedicate this book to him with a recommendation. For her, there really is this chain between profession and passion, I stick to the passion and profession of Katia Tatarinov.
The book is extraordinary, but you have to let your guard down against the Russians, they are not what the Romanian televisions preach, as I said in other comments of some books by Russian authors, you must be very stupid to judge a country by some idiotic leaders. The USSR was a great power, but also a true, united homeland, which obviously, in any order, politics will destroy.
As for Kaverin, he deserves a place among the great authors of Russian origin, with the play of love and betrayal mentioned by Tolstoy, with the drama of Chekhov or Gogol, with the beauties of Dostoevsky or Pushkin and of course with the politics of Gorky. It is, in my opinion, the best novel to describe Russia for such a long period, but also by debating so many themes, simply integrated into...life.
Now, in the last few lines, I will explain to you how I came across this book misfortune, being a fan of science fiction and war books: a bizarre but curious visit to a new antique shop in Oradea that had a promotion for 1 leu each book (that day stopping at 25, and the next at 20). Curiosity pushed me to look for books that describe naval battles (initially I didn't even know what the book was about, or if Kaverin was Russian). The book gained a place of honor after reading it. It is truly a gem, be it Soviet.
"Fight and search, find and don't let yourself be knocked down!"