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The Revolutionist: A Novel of Russia
The New York Times–bestselling author’s decades-spanning novel of two Americans in the Soviet Union: “Gripping . . . suspense, danger, [and] adventure” (Chicago Tribune).
This thrilling historical saga follows two young men who, in 1917, leave the tenements of New York City for revolutionary Russia, while another heads toward Palestine. Covering decades of twists and turns in their lives and in the tumultuous history of the Soviet Union—as well as the dramatic event that will finally reunite these companions—The Revolutionist is “a sweeping and well-researched chronicle of a dream gone wrong” (Library Journal).
This thrilling historical saga follows two young men who, in 1917, leave the tenements of New York City for revolutionary Russia, while another heads toward Palestine. Covering decades of twists and turns in their lives and in the tumultuous history of the Soviet Union—as well as the dramatic event that will finally reunite these companions—The Revolutionist is “a sweeping and well-researched chronicle of a dream gone wrong” (Library Journal).
471 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
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287 people want to read
About the author
Robert Littell
47 books440 followersAn American author residing in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He's also an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
October 18, 2025
A sprawling historical novel that follows Alexander Til (called Zander), an American-born idealist of Russian descent, whose naïve passion for justice drags him into the century's great political and moral disasters.
The story begins in New York's immigrant slums, where Zander grows up on tales of his grandfather, a failed revolutionary whose death by hanging supposedly fertilized the soil of socialism. The boy, dazzled by this martyrdom, becomes a socialist organizer, waving pamphlets and idealism in equal measure. "Justice," he declares after the Triangle Fire, "is what's missing." From that moment, history has him by the lapels.
When Trotsky appears in New York, Zander and a few comrades gather in a dingy basement to hear him predict the coming Russian upheaval. They draw lots to decide who will return to join Lenin's cause. Fate, or Trotsky's preference for people with grandfathers who died dramatically, sends Zander east.
Russia welcomes him with mud, shortages, and the kind of utopian bickering that could sour milk. Zander falls in with a gallery of characters: Atticus Tuohy, a violent Irish revolutionary who treats murder as dialectics ("A good revolution is a lot sexier than some girls I know"); Princess Lili Yusupova, whose aristocratic guilt and beauty ensnare him; and the poet Ronzha, a man inspired by Mandelstam's fatal honesty. These people orbit one another through wars, exiles, and shifting ideologies, each insisting they are fighting for the "real" revolution while knee-deep in its wreckage.
Zander survives the October Revolution, the civil war, and the purges by perfecting the art of compromise. He believes, at first, that bloodshed is the price of justice, but as Stalin's machinery grinds away his friends and ideals, the price looks more like bankruptcy. The man who once declared, "Idealism has not yet been declared a crime," learns that history doesn't need new criminals, it simply promotes the old ones.
He becomes a film technician, a job that keeps him near power but beneath suspicion, and is eventually entangled in a half-hearted plot to poison Stalin's warm milk. His hesitation, typical of a man who thinks too much when he ought to act, may or may not alter the course of history. "One man dies of fear," his brother once said, "another is brought to life by it." Zander remains stranded somewhere between the two.
The book ranges from the smoky basements of Petrograd to the cold paranoia of Moscow's purges, where friends vanish like ink washed from a page. Littell treats revolution as a tragic farce, where zealots trade one tyranny for another and idealists such as Zander end up feeding the beast they hoped to starve. The final pages draw together the scattered strands of Zander's life with a cruel historical irony: "He dreamed of justice and woke up in history."
Littell retells the Russian Revolution through dissecting the kind of personality drawn to it, the sentimental intellectual who confuses purity of motive with moral clarity. It is what happens when someone mistakes the Marxist slogan "Workers of the world unite" for an open invitation to a costume party.
It's an immense novel of immense ambition, stitched together from ideology, irony, and good old-fashioned narrative chutzpah. Littell writes political history as if it were pulp noir, with Lenin's Russia cast as one long bad night in a foreign bar. Zander, the hapless idealist, moves through it all like a man trying to light a match in a hurricane, brave, absurd, and always about to burn his fingers.
It's a novel of great intelligence and even greater irony. Every time Zander insists that the revolution is for "the people," one can almost hear the people coughing politely and asking to be excused. The book's greatest trick is how it makes fanaticism sound romantic right before pulling the rug, the ideology, and the hero's sanity out from under him.
Littell sometimes mistakes encyclopedic detail for emotional depth. I occasionally felt like a museum visitor trapped in the "Bolshevism: A Retrospective" exhibit, nodding at yet another glass case labeled "Tragedy, 1937 edition." Still, his satire gleams like a sharpened sickle.
It's brilliant in patches, exhausting in stretches, and unforgettable overall, a history lesson disguised as tragicomedy, where every revolution eats its young and then complains about the indigestion.
"...The official version, published on a back page of Pravda, said that Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, had died of peritonitis, but everyone with connections in the superstructure knew the truth. The marriage between Stalin and Nadezhda, who was twenty-two years younger than he, had been stormy from the start. In the mid nineteen twenties, after one particularly vicious blowup, she had run off with the children to her parents in Leningrad. But Stalin, by then the undisputed khozyain, or master—Trotsky had been hounded out of the Party and the country, and the other Old Bolsheviks seemed to stumble over each other to stay in Stalin's good graces—obliged her to return.
In the early thirties Nadezhda began studying synthetic fibers in Moscow's Industrial Academy. There she heard of the suffering caused by the first five-year plan, launched in 1929; about the great famine of 1931, the mere mention of which was considered a state crime; most of all, about her husband's policy of collectivization of agriculture. The Party had decided to liquidate the relatively well-off peasants known as kulaks and force all the others onto collective farms where, so the theory went, they would till the land with the efficiency of factory workers on an assembly line. The only trouble with the concept was that the peasants had killed their livestock, burned their crops, and destroyed their equipment rather than turn everything over to the collectives. In the confrontation that followed, something like seven million peasants died—with bullets in the neck, or through deportation to Siberia, or as the result of the famine brought on by Stalin's policies.
Nadezhda, the daughter of ardent revolutionists, raised the question of collectivization with her husband, but he cut her off with a remark about a woman's place being in bed. "I don't see what the peasants have to complain about," he told her another time. "Every one of them has the right to three square arshins of land—enough to dig a grave!" And he slapped his thigh in pleasure.
When classes resumed in the fall of 1932, Nadezhda discovered that several of her friends were missing; it was whispered around that they had been arrested for talking to her about sensitive matters. Political realities, along with the deteriorating relationship with her husband, sent Nadezhda into a deep depression. At a Kremlin banquet marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin called rudely to her from the head of the table, "Hey, you, have a drink!" "Don't you dare 'hey' me!" Nadezhda retorted, and she stormed out of the party.
That night, November 8, 1932, at Zubalovo, their family home twenty miles from the Kremlin, Nadezhda pressed a tiny Walther pistol to her head and pulled the trigger. She was thirty-one years old..."
The story begins in New York's immigrant slums, where Zander grows up on tales of his grandfather, a failed revolutionary whose death by hanging supposedly fertilized the soil of socialism. The boy, dazzled by this martyrdom, becomes a socialist organizer, waving pamphlets and idealism in equal measure. "Justice," he declares after the Triangle Fire, "is what's missing." From that moment, history has him by the lapels.
When Trotsky appears in New York, Zander and a few comrades gather in a dingy basement to hear him predict the coming Russian upheaval. They draw lots to decide who will return to join Lenin's cause. Fate, or Trotsky's preference for people with grandfathers who died dramatically, sends Zander east.
Russia welcomes him with mud, shortages, and the kind of utopian bickering that could sour milk. Zander falls in with a gallery of characters: Atticus Tuohy, a violent Irish revolutionary who treats murder as dialectics ("A good revolution is a lot sexier than some girls I know"); Princess Lili Yusupova, whose aristocratic guilt and beauty ensnare him; and the poet Ronzha, a man inspired by Mandelstam's fatal honesty. These people orbit one another through wars, exiles, and shifting ideologies, each insisting they are fighting for the "real" revolution while knee-deep in its wreckage.
Zander survives the October Revolution, the civil war, and the purges by perfecting the art of compromise. He believes, at first, that bloodshed is the price of justice, but as Stalin's machinery grinds away his friends and ideals, the price looks more like bankruptcy. The man who once declared, "Idealism has not yet been declared a crime," learns that history doesn't need new criminals, it simply promotes the old ones.
He becomes a film technician, a job that keeps him near power but beneath suspicion, and is eventually entangled in a half-hearted plot to poison Stalin's warm milk. His hesitation, typical of a man who thinks too much when he ought to act, may or may not alter the course of history. "One man dies of fear," his brother once said, "another is brought to life by it." Zander remains stranded somewhere between the two.
The book ranges from the smoky basements of Petrograd to the cold paranoia of Moscow's purges, where friends vanish like ink washed from a page. Littell treats revolution as a tragic farce, where zealots trade one tyranny for another and idealists such as Zander end up feeding the beast they hoped to starve. The final pages draw together the scattered strands of Zander's life with a cruel historical irony: "He dreamed of justice and woke up in history."
Littell retells the Russian Revolution through dissecting the kind of personality drawn to it, the sentimental intellectual who confuses purity of motive with moral clarity. It is what happens when someone mistakes the Marxist slogan "Workers of the world unite" for an open invitation to a costume party.
It's an immense novel of immense ambition, stitched together from ideology, irony, and good old-fashioned narrative chutzpah. Littell writes political history as if it were pulp noir, with Lenin's Russia cast as one long bad night in a foreign bar. Zander, the hapless idealist, moves through it all like a man trying to light a match in a hurricane, brave, absurd, and always about to burn his fingers.
It's a novel of great intelligence and even greater irony. Every time Zander insists that the revolution is for "the people," one can almost hear the people coughing politely and asking to be excused. The book's greatest trick is how it makes fanaticism sound romantic right before pulling the rug, the ideology, and the hero's sanity out from under him.
Littell sometimes mistakes encyclopedic detail for emotional depth. I occasionally felt like a museum visitor trapped in the "Bolshevism: A Retrospective" exhibit, nodding at yet another glass case labeled "Tragedy, 1937 edition." Still, his satire gleams like a sharpened sickle.
It's brilliant in patches, exhausting in stretches, and unforgettable overall, a history lesson disguised as tragicomedy, where every revolution eats its young and then complains about the indigestion.
"...The official version, published on a back page of Pravda, said that Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, had died of peritonitis, but everyone with connections in the superstructure knew the truth. The marriage between Stalin and Nadezhda, who was twenty-two years younger than he, had been stormy from the start. In the mid nineteen twenties, after one particularly vicious blowup, she had run off with the children to her parents in Leningrad. But Stalin, by then the undisputed khozyain, or master—Trotsky had been hounded out of the Party and the country, and the other Old Bolsheviks seemed to stumble over each other to stay in Stalin's good graces—obliged her to return.
In the early thirties Nadezhda began studying synthetic fibers in Moscow's Industrial Academy. There she heard of the suffering caused by the first five-year plan, launched in 1929; about the great famine of 1931, the mere mention of which was considered a state crime; most of all, about her husband's policy of collectivization of agriculture. The Party had decided to liquidate the relatively well-off peasants known as kulaks and force all the others onto collective farms where, so the theory went, they would till the land with the efficiency of factory workers on an assembly line. The only trouble with the concept was that the peasants had killed their livestock, burned their crops, and destroyed their equipment rather than turn everything over to the collectives. In the confrontation that followed, something like seven million peasants died—with bullets in the neck, or through deportation to Siberia, or as the result of the famine brought on by Stalin's policies.
Nadezhda, the daughter of ardent revolutionists, raised the question of collectivization with her husband, but he cut her off with a remark about a woman's place being in bed. "I don't see what the peasants have to complain about," he told her another time. "Every one of them has the right to three square arshins of land—enough to dig a grave!" And he slapped his thigh in pleasure.
When classes resumed in the fall of 1932, Nadezhda discovered that several of her friends were missing; it was whispered around that they had been arrested for talking to her about sensitive matters. Political realities, along with the deteriorating relationship with her husband, sent Nadezhda into a deep depression. At a Kremlin banquet marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin called rudely to her from the head of the table, "Hey, you, have a drink!" "Don't you dare 'hey' me!" Nadezhda retorted, and she stormed out of the party.
That night, November 8, 1932, at Zubalovo, their family home twenty miles from the Kremlin, Nadezhda pressed a tiny Walther pistol to her head and pulled the trigger. She was thirty-one years old..."
August 8, 2011
yes, I am on something of a USSR / Cold War binge. This has long been a fascinating subject to me, and every once in a while I need a new fix!
As far as "life behind the iron curtain" books go, I quite liked this one, for a couple of reasons. First of all, this one goes way back to before the revolution, and starts when the international communist movement was still taking shape around the world, in this case, in NY as Trotsky was fund-raising on the eve of revolution. Second, Littell characteristically manages to weave historical events and figureswith some ease into the story, while still keeping the main plot about normal, usual people, and their perspective on world changing events. The ideological meltdown of the revolution into a police state of unbelievable proportions, and the quasi-religious will to believe it was all part of a bigger plan, even among those being massacred, is well portrayed, and beyond that, the little ins and out of living through it keep things real enough. And finally, far-fetched as it may be, the fictional ending is quite an appealing thought!
One of Littell's best.
As far as "life behind the iron curtain" books go, I quite liked this one, for a couple of reasons. First of all, this one goes way back to before the revolution, and starts when the international communist movement was still taking shape around the world, in this case, in NY as Trotsky was fund-raising on the eve of revolution. Second, Littell characteristically manages to weave historical events and figureswith some ease into the story, while still keeping the main plot about normal, usual people, and their perspective on world changing events. The ideological meltdown of the revolution into a police state of unbelievable proportions, and the quasi-religious will to believe it was all part of a bigger plan, even among those being massacred, is well portrayed, and beyond that, the little ins and out of living through it keep things real enough. And finally, far-fetched as it may be, the fictional ending is quite an appealing thought!
One of Littell's best.
October 31, 2025
Robert Littell is best known for his spy fiction, but he also writes good novels about Russian history (mostly 20th century). This is a good book, just not a great Littell.
April 26, 2020
Großartige Einzelmomente, aber auch ärgerliche Schwächen in der Ausführung der Gesamtkomposition, insofern ist Littells Revolutionsroman in jeder Hinsicht das Gegenstück zu Doktor Schiwago. Als Vorläufer für die russischen Kapitel im ersten Teil von Ken Folletts Jahrhundert-Trilogie hat das Buch vielleicht auch gewisse Meriten, etwa beim idealistischen und beim kriminellen Bruder.
Als Vergleichsgröße aus derselben Ära könnte man Herman Wouks Krieg und Frieden im Zweiten Weltkrieg heran ziehen, das zur Entstehungszeit von Roter Winter als Serie im Fernsehen lief oder gerade gelaufen war.
Rein literarisch ist Littell der viel bessere Autor, überstrapaziert aber, wie Wouk oder später James Ellroy, das aus dem 19. Jahrhundert stammende Muster des historischen Romans über alle Maßen, sprich seine Helden sind an jedem Schauplatz der Oktoberrevolution zugegen, Identifikationsfigur Sander, der während der Säuberungen mal durch einen Federstrich Stalins von der Todesliste gestrichen wurde, findet zuletzt die Gelegenheit den Diktator zu vergiften, bevor der die nächste Runde Pogrome in Gang setzen und dort weiter machen kann, wo Hitler aufgehört hat.
Die Art und Weise in der RL literarisch einem Bösewicht schlechthin doch noch Gerechtigkeit widerfahren lässt hat sogar etwas für sich, leider lässt der Autor sich und seinem Personal zu wenig Platz, wie schon bei früheren Agentenromanen ist das Buch ein Drittel zu kurz, um dem Potenzial gerecht zu werden, in Sachen Mandelstam (Ronscha in diesem Roman) hat er ja später den Fehler korrigiert, beim ersten Vorstoß auf ein neues Terrain aber zu viel zu schnell passend gemacht.
Als Vergleichsgröße aus derselben Ära könnte man Herman Wouks Krieg und Frieden im Zweiten Weltkrieg heran ziehen, das zur Entstehungszeit von Roter Winter als Serie im Fernsehen lief oder gerade gelaufen war.
Rein literarisch ist Littell der viel bessere Autor, überstrapaziert aber, wie Wouk oder später James Ellroy, das aus dem 19. Jahrhundert stammende Muster des historischen Romans über alle Maßen, sprich seine Helden sind an jedem Schauplatz der Oktoberrevolution zugegen, Identifikationsfigur Sander, der während der Säuberungen mal durch einen Federstrich Stalins von der Todesliste gestrichen wurde, findet zuletzt die Gelegenheit den Diktator zu vergiften, bevor der die nächste Runde Pogrome in Gang setzen und dort weiter machen kann, wo Hitler aufgehört hat.
Die Art und Weise in der RL literarisch einem Bösewicht schlechthin doch noch Gerechtigkeit widerfahren lässt hat sogar etwas für sich, leider lässt der Autor sich und seinem Personal zu wenig Platz, wie schon bei früheren Agentenromanen ist das Buch ein Drittel zu kurz, um dem Potenzial gerecht zu werden, in Sachen Mandelstam (Ronscha in diesem Roman) hat er ja später den Fehler korrigiert, beim ersten Vorstoß auf ein neues Terrain aber zu viel zu schnell passend gemacht.
November 10, 2013
Anyone interested in the Stalinist Era or has a curiosity of the beginnings of communism in the former Soviet Union should read this book. Of course, with historical fiction the author (admittedly) has taken some liberties with some of the unknowns in history. Never-the-less Littell has once again created a wonderful story from an evil past - about evil men - and more importantly exposes the failings of communism in the wake of the Russian revolution.
One of his characters says it all -- "I committed myself to a revolution that turned out to be totally corrupt-the revolution was corrupt, the system it created was corrupt, the people who led it were corrupt, - - -"
During the reading of this book also gave me pause to also reflect on our current (US)political climate and administration. I will not delve into the similarities - drawn your own conclusions.
One of his characters says it all -- "I committed myself to a revolution that turned out to be totally corrupt-the revolution was corrupt, the system it created was corrupt, the people who led it were corrupt, - - -"
During the reading of this book also gave me pause to also reflect on our current (US)political climate and administration. I will not delve into the similarities - drawn your own conclusions.
August 18, 2018
If this was simply historical fiction about the Russian Revolution, I would have rated it much higher. Unfortunately, Littell ruined the book by inserting graphic sexual discussions and graphic sex acts for no reason. I'm all for well-placed sex scenes that add to the story. But every few pages, someone will bring up their cock or cunt (their words, not mine) and discuss in detail various uses for these body parts. "Hey Ivan, hold my cock," says a random soldier. "Look at her shaved cunt," says a 10 year old boy. Sex scenes are fine, but to casually mention that our hero allows his girlfriend to anally penetrate him? How does this further the story or our opinion of him? And the girlfriend is another issue. She constantly talks about sex and how important masturbation is to her. Her regular prayer is, "I'll give up masturbation if you only..." She's supposed to be a well bred Russian princess, but somehow discusses her shaved genitals with anyone who will listen. And about that. In 1917, shaving was not only not in fashion in Russia, but would have been considered gross and ugly. Hair was considered sexually appealing. Littell may not find it so, but he's applying a contemporary viewpoint to a historical tale. Unfortunately everyone keeps bringing up this woman's lack of hair as though it was such a great selling point. Not in 1917 it wasn't.
I can't figure out whether Littell hates Communism and is trying to portray Communists as filthy pigs or if it's just his writing style. Let's see, we've got a main character who is happily penatrated by his girlfriend, a supposed Russian princess who openly brags about her sexual partners (quite a few) including her brother, a prince who spends the entire story trying to have sex with his sister, a secondary character who orally rapes a woman after committing murder because he gets off from the violence, famous Communist leaders with STDs, children who kill and eat cats, soldiers who torture people by touching and cutting parts of male genitals. There is more but you get the picture. Everyone is either sexually deviant or sadistic.
The hero of the book is supposedly so in love with the princess but it's not clear why. All Littell has done is show them having lots of sex and brief discussions about revolution. There's no progression of the relationship on any real level. The princess is described as being small framed with very tiny breasts, minimal curves and short hair. Early on, she had a cavity drilled and filled with lead, so her smile is marred by a grey front tooth. And yet, a nude picture of her is circulated among several men who either immediately drop their pants and "use the pic" nightly, or caress the pic with their hands. Even a priest steals the pic and looks at it under a magnifying glass! A snaggle-toothed woman with a boyish figure? Doesn't figure. Nude pics were available during this period in Russia so it's not lack of availability.
Another thing that's annoying is that every woman is apparently starved sexually. They are all only there to please men physically and are lost without sexual companionship. It's silly and unrealistic. Not one woman in the book is independent in her own right. Even the ones who stand up to men wind up folding like a house of cards when the man shows up at her door. One male character forcibly gropes any woman he meets, forces himself on women in violent ways and yet has random women offering threesomes and openly discussing sex acts in public. It's just silly.
It's a shame about this book. If Littell had focused on bringing the events of the revolution to life and cut out all the hardcore dialogue that didn't fit the story or characters, this could have been a really great story. He went to the trouble of listing all his research at the end so I'm not sure why he added all this drivel that had zero basis in historical fact. Too bad.
I can't figure out whether Littell hates Communism and is trying to portray Communists as filthy pigs or if it's just his writing style. Let's see, we've got a main character who is happily penatrated by his girlfriend, a supposed Russian princess who openly brags about her sexual partners (quite a few) including her brother, a prince who spends the entire story trying to have sex with his sister, a secondary character who orally rapes a woman after committing murder because he gets off from the violence, famous Communist leaders with STDs, children who kill and eat cats, soldiers who torture people by touching and cutting parts of male genitals. There is more but you get the picture. Everyone is either sexually deviant or sadistic.
The hero of the book is supposedly so in love with the princess but it's not clear why. All Littell has done is show them having lots of sex and brief discussions about revolution. There's no progression of the relationship on any real level. The princess is described as being small framed with very tiny breasts, minimal curves and short hair. Early on, she had a cavity drilled and filled with lead, so her smile is marred by a grey front tooth. And yet, a nude picture of her is circulated among several men who either immediately drop their pants and "use the pic" nightly, or caress the pic with their hands. Even a priest steals the pic and looks at it under a magnifying glass! A snaggle-toothed woman with a boyish figure? Doesn't figure. Nude pics were available during this period in Russia so it's not lack of availability.
Another thing that's annoying is that every woman is apparently starved sexually. They are all only there to please men physically and are lost without sexual companionship. It's silly and unrealistic. Not one woman in the book is independent in her own right. Even the ones who stand up to men wind up folding like a house of cards when the man shows up at her door. One male character forcibly gropes any woman he meets, forces himself on women in violent ways and yet has random women offering threesomes and openly discussing sex acts in public. It's just silly.
It's a shame about this book. If Littell had focused on bringing the events of the revolution to life and cut out all the hardcore dialogue that didn't fit the story or characters, this could have been a really great story. He went to the trouble of listing all his research at the end so I'm not sure why he added all this drivel that had zero basis in historical fact. Too bad.
March 27, 2012
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Russian/Soviet history who is looking for a fairly general understanding of the sequence of events that led Russia to challenge and ultimately destroy the tsarist empire, and the evolution of the Bolshevik revolutionary project from a small but dedicated cadre of Marxist reformers to a mass movement that inflicted immense terror and initiated massive changes in the makeup of Russia's economy, society and culture.
This book chronicles the story of two young communists who migrate from America to Russia in 1916 in order to foment the burgeoning revolution, and the divergent paths their experiences take as one, the true believer, is disillusioned and ultimately persecuted by the increasingly totalitarian, monolithic regime as Comrade Stalin tightens his grip on every lever of the Soviet machine, while the other, a ruthless, Machiavellian type is advanced to the heights of Soviet power through his willingness to execute any order passed down to him no matter how heartless or destructive it may be.
Littell's book is more or less a guided tour of this period of Russian history from the dawn of the October/November revolution through the death of Stalin and the gradual thaw that followed. The principal characters in this story serendipitously come across and interact with a number of the major figures of this period of Russian history as a way for Littell to introduce their characters and the role they played in the era.
Overall, this was a reasonably entertaining read, but I would recommend it for those who do not have a deep understanding of Russian history, particularly young-adult/high school readers who would like to learn more about this critical period. As a student who focused on the history and politics of the region in college, I found the book somewhat dull as it was for the most part a watered-down review of information I had already studied to greater depths, but I can see how it would be an intriguing and educational read for readers less familiar with this historical period.
This book chronicles the story of two young communists who migrate from America to Russia in 1916 in order to foment the burgeoning revolution, and the divergent paths their experiences take as one, the true believer, is disillusioned and ultimately persecuted by the increasingly totalitarian, monolithic regime as Comrade Stalin tightens his grip on every lever of the Soviet machine, while the other, a ruthless, Machiavellian type is advanced to the heights of Soviet power through his willingness to execute any order passed down to him no matter how heartless or destructive it may be.
Littell's book is more or less a guided tour of this period of Russian history from the dawn of the October/November revolution through the death of Stalin and the gradual thaw that followed. The principal characters in this story serendipitously come across and interact with a number of the major figures of this period of Russian history as a way for Littell to introduce their characters and the role they played in the era.
Overall, this was a reasonably entertaining read, but I would recommend it for those who do not have a deep understanding of Russian history, particularly young-adult/high school readers who would like to learn more about this critical period. As a student who focused on the history and politics of the region in college, I found the book somewhat dull as it was for the most part a watered-down review of information I had already studied to greater depths, but I can see how it would be an intriguing and educational read for readers less familiar with this historical period.
December 4, 2016
The story is an interesting one, there is a good deal of research work behind, and the characters are quite engaging; however, the novel does not have the tension, the energy that such a subject would naturally deserve; it feels as if you are taken to a walk through the October revolution as a distant observer, rather than to a frantic ride through those turbulent events.
There's a lot of set up in the first third of the book, before the story gets into its juicy part; it's all pretty useful set up, both in historical terms (giving quite a lot of background to what led to the October revolution) as well as to build the key characters adequately, but it slows down quite a bit the beginning of the novel.
Inexplicably enough, especially after such a thorough set up, the story leaves a big hole in a critical period of the post revolutionary history of Russia, between 1924 (Lenin's death) and the early 30's: the huge fight for Lenin's succession and Stalin's rise to power is simply ignored by the story.
At times, the protagonist looked like a sort of Forrest Gump, in so far that during his life he happens to cross paths with politicians like Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Molotov, Ben Gurion, poets like Mayakovsky, Pushkin, Pasternak....while his best friend will have the exceptional chance of being among the founders of the Cheka, ramping up the echelons of the NKVD, to work for Stalin, for Beria and for Khrushchev, to participate to unique historical events like the Stalin purges in the 30's and the mass deportations of the Jews in the 50's; you end up with the impression that the lives of these two characters have been constructed to be at the service of the story the author wanted to tell as opposed to be the description of real-life stories of "revolutionists" in the era of the communist Russia.
So, all in all, this was a rather slow and boring book, I must confess that often times I found myself skimming through the pages and I did have a hard time to reach the end.
There's a lot of set up in the first third of the book, before the story gets into its juicy part; it's all pretty useful set up, both in historical terms (giving quite a lot of background to what led to the October revolution) as well as to build the key characters adequately, but it slows down quite a bit the beginning of the novel.
Inexplicably enough, especially after such a thorough set up, the story leaves a big hole in a critical period of the post revolutionary history of Russia, between 1924 (Lenin's death) and the early 30's: the huge fight for Lenin's succession and Stalin's rise to power is simply ignored by the story.
At times, the protagonist looked like a sort of Forrest Gump, in so far that during his life he happens to cross paths with politicians like Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Molotov, Ben Gurion, poets like Mayakovsky, Pushkin, Pasternak....while his best friend will have the exceptional chance of being among the founders of the Cheka, ramping up the echelons of the NKVD, to work for Stalin, for Beria and for Khrushchev, to participate to unique historical events like the Stalin purges in the 30's and the mass deportations of the Jews in the 50's; you end up with the impression that the lives of these two characters have been constructed to be at the service of the story the author wanted to tell as opposed to be the description of real-life stories of "revolutionists" in the era of the communist Russia.
So, all in all, this was a rather slow and boring book, I must confess that often times I found myself skimming through the pages and I did have a hard time to reach the end.
March 14, 2019
This novel is a good read, particularly if you want a broad picture of the drama and tragedy of the Russian Revolution and its Stalinist aftermath. in some ways, though, the tale struck me as contrived. The protagonist, Zander Til, is like Woody Allen's Zelig in that he just happens to present at every key moment in history, from the Triangle Fire of 1911 to Stalin's death in 1953. In between, he can be found running through the Winter Palace at the moment it is stormed and helping to rescue the Grand Duchess Anastasia from the murder of her royal family. There are historical facts that the author alters to suit his plot, such as when he uses the details of Osip Mandelstam's life to create his own version of the poet who defies Stalin. But for most incidents, the book is historically accurate and the picture of Bolshevik oppression is unrelenting.
If you want a less imaginary but still fictional picture of Soviet life by someone who lived it, read either of Vasili Grossman's powerful novels.
If you want a less imaginary but still fictional picture of Soviet life by someone who lived it, read either of Vasili Grossman's powerful novels.
February 27, 2025
Y avait des moments intenses et extrêmement kiffants, notamment toute l’histoire d’amour révolutionnaire entre Lili et Zander. Mais comme d’habitude, il faut brûler tous les dirigeants révolutionnaires. Parce que le problème « c’est le pouvoir ». Cinquante ans plus tard Zander se rend compte que le ver était dans le fruit et que le débat qu’il a eu avec son demi-frère Léon était à tort. Breeeeef. La fin m’a soûlée. Je regrette pas d’avoir lu mais c’était long anyways.
March 24, 2020
Littell is just good. There’s no getting around it.
His novels can be difficult and complex, but they are worth the effort. This one will teach you the history of Russia from WWI through the death of. Stalin. It is fiction, but it is also complex truth.
This is the best Littell I’ve read yet.
His novels can be difficult and complex, but they are worth the effort. This one will teach you the history of Russia from WWI through the death of. Stalin. It is fiction, but it is also complex truth.
This is the best Littell I’ve read yet.
August 10, 2021
This was a pretty so-so book. Too much exposition, not enough story. Or at least it didn't interest me much despite the fascinating topic.
The last part, as things speeded up, was pretty good. Too many coincidences but the overall brutality of communism is well portrayed.
The last part, as things speeded up, was pretty good. Too many coincidences but the overall brutality of communism is well portrayed.
October 24, 2020
Sprawling story from the days before the Russian Revolution to the death of Stalin, as seen thru the eyes of on the ground participants. Not for the faint of heart.
June 5, 2023
C'est effroyable (pire que ce que j'imaginais du stalinisme !) mais très bien décrit
November 3, 2023
read this ages ago but have been so obsessed with finding it again
July 16, 2024
Brutal
October 13, 2024
Shum ok. 👍
December 25, 2025
rough start, felt like I had to force myself to keep up with the characters and plot. middle got a little better and the towards the end is where I really enjoyed it. such a fitting ending
October 31, 2018
I enjoy reading historical novels, and this one is no exception. I like doing so because they bring to life history in a way that is consumable and enlightening. I knew of course that Russia was a bloodbath for decades but really had no sense of scale until reading this book. I also had no sense of why Russians are so paranoid and this book helps illustrate the why.
February 24, 2023
Read this year's ago...brilliant account of the Russian revolution from start till Stalin's death...through the eyes of two brothers who take different paths which merge at the end.
November 17, 2013
I've been working my way through Littell's bibliography, most of which I have read previously, at one point or another. Somehow, this one I had missed. As an avid reader, it's hard to decide if I wish I had read it closer to its publication, or if I am glad I discovered it now. It is a gem.
Most of Littell's work revolves around espionage, particularly during the Cold War. Perhaps the fact that this book is entirely different somehow put me off at the time. It follows a small collection of characters from early 1917 to 1953. It tells the story of the Bolshevik revolution, the ideals of Trotsky and Lenin and others. It follows the resultant civil war, and leads all the way to the death of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili, who of course adopted the name Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin
While the narrative does not precisely take "sides", it does an excellent job of illustrating the ideals which led the Bolsheviks to Communism, and the eventual - perhaps inevitable - corruption of those ideals. The story suggests that the terror and brutality the Bolsheviks employed to combat the terror and brutality of their enemies - first the Tsar, and later the Provisional Government - became a habit. A character laments that "terror has become a habit".
Historical figures are explored in interesting depth - Lenin, Trotsky, Pushkin, Stalin, Mandelstam (who is thinly disguised as a fictional character of a different name) - and the characterizations stay close to the spirit of known historical facts. The story eventually finds its way to the atrocities of Stalin's regime - the extent and specifics of which are not even completely known today. Littell has a particular skill of relating terrible events - the tortures, depravations, and murders of Stalin's purges, for example - without descending into unnecessarily clear descriptions of the actions or the physical torments. His clear suggestions of what is happening in the story are more chilling than any pulp detail could ever be. The ending to this book is something of a surprise, though it shouldn't be. The entire narrative - the entire described life and journey of the main protagonist - leads inevitably to only one conclusion. The fact that that conclusion cannot be predicted until very late in the book, and more that this conclusion is very uncertain until it is done, speaks to Littell's craft.
My heritage is Irish, and due to some striking similarities in the history and mindset of the two peoples, the history of the Russians has always interested me. Littell frequently explores the Russian history and the Russian's soul, and when he does, he seldom disappoints.
Most of Littell's work revolves around espionage, particularly during the Cold War. Perhaps the fact that this book is entirely different somehow put me off at the time. It follows a small collection of characters from early 1917 to 1953. It tells the story of the Bolshevik revolution, the ideals of Trotsky and Lenin and others. It follows the resultant civil war, and leads all the way to the death of Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili, who of course adopted the name Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin
While the narrative does not precisely take "sides", it does an excellent job of illustrating the ideals which led the Bolsheviks to Communism, and the eventual - perhaps inevitable - corruption of those ideals. The story suggests that the terror and brutality the Bolsheviks employed to combat the terror and brutality of their enemies - first the Tsar, and later the Provisional Government - became a habit. A character laments that "terror has become a habit".
Historical figures are explored in interesting depth - Lenin, Trotsky, Pushkin, Stalin, Mandelstam (who is thinly disguised as a fictional character of a different name) - and the characterizations stay close to the spirit of known historical facts. The story eventually finds its way to the atrocities of Stalin's regime - the extent and specifics of which are not even completely known today. Littell has a particular skill of relating terrible events - the tortures, depravations, and murders of Stalin's purges, for example - without descending into unnecessarily clear descriptions of the actions or the physical torments. His clear suggestions of what is happening in the story are more chilling than any pulp detail could ever be. The ending to this book is something of a surprise, though it shouldn't be. The entire narrative - the entire described life and journey of the main protagonist - leads inevitably to only one conclusion. The fact that that conclusion cannot be predicted until very late in the book, and more that this conclusion is very uncertain until it is done, speaks to Littell's craft.
My heritage is Irish, and due to some striking similarities in the history and mindset of the two peoples, the history of the Russians has always interested me. Littell frequently explores the Russian history and the Russian's soul, and when he does, he seldom disappoints.
June 30, 2015
Tout d'abord, merci beaucoup à Babelio ainsi qu'à l'éditeur BakerStreet de m'avoir donné l'opportunité de lire cet ouvrage, via le dispositif de Masse Critique.
Je suis une grande fan de Robert Littell et je suis vraiment ravie d'avoir eu l'opportunité de ce livre initialement paru 1989 et réédité par Baker Street cette année.
Je dois dire que cette lecture fut longue. 500 pages en grand format, l'équivalent d'un 900 pages en poche je pense.
Pour autant, je me suis régalée. Je suis une passionnée d'histoire et ce roman m'a donné l'occasion de me replonger dans l'histoire de la Russie du XXe siècle, que j'avais un peu oubliée depuis mes cours de terminale!
Attention, aux grands fans d'histoire, ce roman est un mélange entre faits historiques indiscutables, et libertés prises par Robert Littell pour des besoins romanesques.
J'ai donc faits de nombreux allers retours avec Wikipedia afin de discerner le vrai du romanesque.
Mais pour ma part j'ai adoré.
J'ai adoré accompagner Alexander dans son cheminement de pensée, arrivé idéologiste en Russie pour instaurer le communisme et sauver le peuple, et qui au fur et à mesure des années découvre l'horreur du régime communiste instauré par Lénine puis Staline.
Nous vivons avec Alexander :
- l'horreur de la guerre,
- les purges où l'on assassine les ingénieurs (entre autres) parce qu'ils ne travaillent pas suffisamment vite et que l'on accuse donc de complot anti-communiste,
- les purges où l'on assassine également les enquêteurs chargés d'accuser les ingénieurs (là encore je reprends mon exemple) parce qu'ils n'arrivent pas à prouver suffisamment rapidement que les ingénieurs sont coupables de complot (oui on marche sur la tête),
- les purges des intellectuels et de toute personne pensant différemment des Bolcheviks,
- la famine je pense involontaire mais néanmoins organisée par le gouvernement car n'y connaissant rien en agriculture, organise la confiscation des semences aux "capitalistes propriétaires de terre" qui du coup, n'ont plus rien à planter en terre pour l'année d'après,
- l'alimentation faite de chats (errants ou domestiques, beurk) et le cannibalisme ( beurk beurk) nécessaires pour survivre pendant des années,
- la rencontre avec les enfants sauvages, pauvres gosses orphelins dont les familles ont été décimées par les purges, qui s'organisent entre eux pour tuer les adultes qui n'ont rien à leur donner à manger...
- et tant d'autres choses...
Bref, un roman long et difficile! Mais néanmoins un excellent roman à découvrir...
Je suis une grande fan de Robert Littell et je suis vraiment ravie d'avoir eu l'opportunité de ce livre initialement paru 1989 et réédité par Baker Street cette année.
Je dois dire que cette lecture fut longue. 500 pages en grand format, l'équivalent d'un 900 pages en poche je pense.
Pour autant, je me suis régalée. Je suis une passionnée d'histoire et ce roman m'a donné l'occasion de me replonger dans l'histoire de la Russie du XXe siècle, que j'avais un peu oubliée depuis mes cours de terminale!
Attention, aux grands fans d'histoire, ce roman est un mélange entre faits historiques indiscutables, et libertés prises par Robert Littell pour des besoins romanesques.
J'ai donc faits de nombreux allers retours avec Wikipedia afin de discerner le vrai du romanesque.
Mais pour ma part j'ai adoré.
J'ai adoré accompagner Alexander dans son cheminement de pensée, arrivé idéologiste en Russie pour instaurer le communisme et sauver le peuple, et qui au fur et à mesure des années découvre l'horreur du régime communiste instauré par Lénine puis Staline.
Nous vivons avec Alexander :
- l'horreur de la guerre,
- les purges où l'on assassine les ingénieurs (entre autres) parce qu'ils ne travaillent pas suffisamment vite et que l'on accuse donc de complot anti-communiste,
- les purges où l'on assassine également les enquêteurs chargés d'accuser les ingénieurs (là encore je reprends mon exemple) parce qu'ils n'arrivent pas à prouver suffisamment rapidement que les ingénieurs sont coupables de complot (oui on marche sur la tête),
- les purges des intellectuels et de toute personne pensant différemment des Bolcheviks,
- la famine je pense involontaire mais néanmoins organisée par le gouvernement car n'y connaissant rien en agriculture, organise la confiscation des semences aux "capitalistes propriétaires de terre" qui du coup, n'ont plus rien à planter en terre pour l'année d'après,
- l'alimentation faite de chats (errants ou domestiques, beurk) et le cannibalisme ( beurk beurk) nécessaires pour survivre pendant des années,
- la rencontre avec les enfants sauvages, pauvres gosses orphelins dont les familles ont été décimées par les purges, qui s'organisent entre eux pour tuer les adultes qui n'ont rien à leur donner à manger...
- et tant d'autres choses...
Bref, un roman long et difficile! Mais néanmoins un excellent roman à découvrir...
November 4, 2021
A somewhat fictionalized view inside the Russian Revolution and the reign of Stalin, from the view point of a man who starts out being a Communist in Brooklyn, joins Lenin's movement in Russia. Becomes a conspirator of Lenin and Stalin, until Stalin takes power, when he becomes a persecuted enemy of the latter. An incredible book, recommend!
July 16, 2020
A book which takes place during and after the Russian revolution. We follow Zander along with Atticus on their journey back home to Russia in order to instore socialism.
It feels like Littell wrote the book hoping it would turn into a film as some of the actions feel very cliché. Why did they have to be Americans? Why did Atticus have to be half Irish? It feels a little tacky at times.
The middle part of the story lags a little as it seems the characters wander aimlessly from place to place just to add pages to the book.
I appreciate the segments that place us in time.
In short, it's a book you read once and kinda forget.
It feels like Littell wrote the book hoping it would turn into a film as some of the actions feel very cliché. Why did they have to be Americans? Why did Atticus have to be half Irish? It feels a little tacky at times.
The middle part of the story lags a little as it seems the characters wander aimlessly from place to place just to add pages to the book.
I appreciate the segments that place us in time.
In short, it's a book you read once and kinda forget.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2021
The Revolutionist introduces the reader to two central characters, both American immigrants: Atticus Orso Tuohy, an Irish/Russian known for composing his own epitaphs; and his friend, Alexander Til, grandson of The Til, a famous revolutionist hero. These two young men represent the yin and yang of the Russian Revolution, and we follow them from its inception until the death of Joseph Stalin. We also follow the real revolutionists: Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Molotov, Krupskaya, Inessa Armand, Lenin, and Berra.
Robert Littell's writing is intensely powerful and moving: this is one of his best.
Robert Littell's writing is intensely powerful and moving: this is one of his best.
January 9, 2014
A novel about the emergence of the USSR as told by a idealistic socialist is as horrifying and depressing as one would imagine. It is a fascinating look into the great experiment of communism and it's inevitable and soul crushing failure. There is nothing surprising about the novel, I knew the ride I was about to go on and the book fatefully followed through with a very sober look at what went so wrong in Russia and why.
February 3, 2010
Excellent novel on the the Russian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Stalinism. The book poses the question of whether it was the ideals of the revolution that were at fault or was it the people who implemented it. Interesting all the way through. Under my old rating system I would have given it five stars but I'm reserving five stars writing the caliber of Borges or Casares.
June 1, 2016
Read it in French. While it's written correctly, somewhat immersive and based upon history, I found my experience of it lukewarm. It's taking liberties with history (not a specialist on the period but it was a biased view), the characters are somewhat extremes and the overall effect felt forced to me.
February 2, 2016
Great book...very engaging historical fiction. The only downside was that a part of the sotry line was very similar to Littell's most recent Stalin Epigram. Littell is definitely a master of this genre.
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