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The Last and the First
On a crisp September morning, trouble comes to the Gorbatovs' farm. Having fled the ruins of the Russian Revolution, they have endured crushing labour to set up a small farm in Provence. For young Ilya Stepanovich, this is to be the future of Russian life in France; for some of his Paris-dwelling countrymen, it is a betrayal of roots, culture and the path back to the motherland.
Now, with the arrival of a letter from the capital and a figure from the family's past, their fragile stability is threatened by a plot to lure Ilya's step-brother Vasya back to Russia. In prose of masterful poise and restraint, Nina Berberova dramatises the passionate internal struggles of a generation of Russian emigres.
Now, with the arrival of a letter from the capital and a figure from the family's past, their fragile stability is threatened by a plot to lure Ilya's step-brother Vasya back to Russia. In prose of masterful poise and restraint, Nina Berberova dramatises the passionate internal struggles of a generation of Russian emigres.
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
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About the author
Nina Berberova
105 books100 followersNina Nikolayevna Berberova was a Russian writer who chronicled the lives of Russian exiles in Paris in her short stories and novels. She visited post-Soviet Russia and died in Philadelphia.
Born in 1901 to an Armenian father and a Russian mother, Nina Berberova was brought up in St Petersburg.[1] She left Russia in 1922 with poet Vladislav Khodasevich (who died in 1939). The couple lived in several European cities before settling in Paris in 1925. There Berberova began publishing short stories for the Russian emigre publications Poslednie Novosti ("The Latest News") and Russkaia Mysl’ ("Russian Thought"). The stories collected in Oblegchenie Uchasti ("The Easing of Fate") and Biiankurskie Prazdniki ("Billancourt Fiestas") were written during this period. She also wrote the first book length biography of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1936, which was controversial for its openness about his homosexuality. In Paris she was part of a circle of poor but distinguished visiting literary Russian exiles which included Anna Akhmatova, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak, Tsvetaeva and Mayakovsky.
After living in Paris for 25 years, Berberova emigrated to the United States in 1950 and became an American citizen in 1959. She began her academic career in 1958 when she was hired to teach Russian at Yale. She continued to write while she was teaching, publishing several povesti (long short stories), critical articles and some poetry. She left Yale in 1963 for Princeton, where she taught until her retirement in 1971. In 1991 Berberova moved from Princeton, New Jersey to Philadelphia.
Berberova’s autobiography, which details her early life and years in France, was written in Russian but published first in English as The Italics are Mine (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969). The Russian edition, Kursiv Moi, was not published until 1983.
Born in 1901 to an Armenian father and a Russian mother, Nina Berberova was brought up in St Petersburg.[1] She left Russia in 1922 with poet Vladislav Khodasevich (who died in 1939). The couple lived in several European cities before settling in Paris in 1925. There Berberova began publishing short stories for the Russian emigre publications Poslednie Novosti ("The Latest News") and Russkaia Mysl’ ("Russian Thought"). The stories collected in Oblegchenie Uchasti ("The Easing of Fate") and Biiankurskie Prazdniki ("Billancourt Fiestas") were written during this period. She also wrote the first book length biography of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1936, which was controversial for its openness about his homosexuality. In Paris she was part of a circle of poor but distinguished visiting literary Russian exiles which included Anna Akhmatova, Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak, Tsvetaeva and Mayakovsky.
After living in Paris for 25 years, Berberova emigrated to the United States in 1950 and became an American citizen in 1959. She began her academic career in 1958 when she was hired to teach Russian at Yale. She continued to write while she was teaching, publishing several povesti (long short stories), critical articles and some poetry. She left Yale in 1963 for Princeton, where she taught until her retirement in 1971. In 1991 Berberova moved from Princeton, New Jersey to Philadelphia.
Berberova’s autobiography, which details her early life and years in France, was written in Russian but published first in English as The Italics are Mine (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969). The Russian edition, Kursiv Moi, was not published until 1983.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 6, 2025
3,5*
Versão portuguesa: "Os Últimos e os Primeiros", edições Ambar, 2002, tradução de António Pescada
Eu não tenho nenhuma esperança, Aleksei Ivánovitch. É preciso fazer tudo; por isso eu o faço.
Nina Berbérova não é Irène Némirovsky, mas ocupa um lugar importante no meu cantinho reservado à literatura de russos expatriados, e não resisto a trazer as obras dela que a defunta Ambar publicou com tanto desvelo, sempre que as encontro em alfarrabistas. Berbérova tem uma escrita bonita e um dom para expor a alma das personagens.
Quem alguma vez esteve ali, quem alguma vez viu esses bairros guardará para sempre no seu coração, nem que seja em segredo, a recordação de uma ofensa e de uma dor sem igual no mundo. E que, nos anos da sua maturidade, da luta e da consciência, passe na memória de Iliá Gorbatóv, o trespasse com a sua ponta aguçada, a recordação dessa manhã de Setembro; e na velhice, quando aparecerem outras recordações, as recordações de uma vida vivida com dificuldades e paixões, e queiram apagar o sonho desse passeio, que não consigam apagá-lo!
“Os últimos e os primeiros” é uma novela um pouco confusa que começa in media res e que é protagonizada por Vera Kiríllovna e a sua família, Vássia, Marianna e Iliá Stepánovitch, filho do primeiro casamento de Gorbátov, o qual permaneceu em Moscovo quando Vera se divorciou dele e decidiu vir para França nos anos 20, como muitos compatriotas seus. Levando uma vida confortável mas trabalhosa como lavradores na Provença, é intenção de Iliá deslocar-se a Paris para chamar tantos refugiados russos quanto possível para trabalharem no campo, numa exploração bem-sucedida de espargos.
Olhem para ele [Iliá], este primeiro dos primeiros – pensava ele. – O primeiro que se afastou do nosso tempo para um outro a que nós não temos acesso. O primeiro daqueles que vivem de outro modo, de um modo diferente daquele que nós vivemos em tempos. Acabou em nós, com eles começa. E entre nós há uma brecha de duas épocas. Se eles são melhores ou piores do que nós, outros julgarão… O tempo estilhaçou-se e ninguém conseguiu perceber o instante em que tudo isso aconteceu, e nós ficámos aqui, neste lado do fosso, eles lá do outro lado.
Iliá simboliza a nova geração, sendo um dos primeiros a optar por uma nova vida no país de acolhimento, enquanto Aleksei Ivánovitch Cháibin, ex-amante da sua madrasta, representa os últimos, aqueles que ainda estão presos ao passado e sem rumo no presente.
Naquele amplo quarto de uma casa camponesa, Cháibin sentiu por um instante essa emoção única, doce e indizível que nos domina ao ficar a sós com a mulher que em tempos amámos louca e apaixonadamente e com a qual nada poderá nunca repetir-se. Cháibin sabia muito acerca de si mesmo, pode-se mesmo dizer que, como homem daquela geração, ele sabia quase tudo acerca de si mesmo. Podia, como muitos deles, ser um pouco a sombra de si próprios.
Versão portuguesa: "Os Últimos e os Primeiros", edições Ambar, 2002, tradução de António Pescada
Eu não tenho nenhuma esperança, Aleksei Ivánovitch. É preciso fazer tudo; por isso eu o faço.
Nina Berbérova não é Irène Némirovsky, mas ocupa um lugar importante no meu cantinho reservado à literatura de russos expatriados, e não resisto a trazer as obras dela que a defunta Ambar publicou com tanto desvelo, sempre que as encontro em alfarrabistas. Berbérova tem uma escrita bonita e um dom para expor a alma das personagens.
Quem alguma vez esteve ali, quem alguma vez viu esses bairros guardará para sempre no seu coração, nem que seja em segredo, a recordação de uma ofensa e de uma dor sem igual no mundo. E que, nos anos da sua maturidade, da luta e da consciência, passe na memória de Iliá Gorbatóv, o trespasse com a sua ponta aguçada, a recordação dessa manhã de Setembro; e na velhice, quando aparecerem outras recordações, as recordações de uma vida vivida com dificuldades e paixões, e queiram apagar o sonho desse passeio, que não consigam apagá-lo!
“Os últimos e os primeiros” é uma novela um pouco confusa que começa in media res e que é protagonizada por Vera Kiríllovna e a sua família, Vássia, Marianna e Iliá Stepánovitch, filho do primeiro casamento de Gorbátov, o qual permaneceu em Moscovo quando Vera se divorciou dele e decidiu vir para França nos anos 20, como muitos compatriotas seus. Levando uma vida confortável mas trabalhosa como lavradores na Provença, é intenção de Iliá deslocar-se a Paris para chamar tantos refugiados russos quanto possível para trabalharem no campo, numa exploração bem-sucedida de espargos.
Olhem para ele [Iliá], este primeiro dos primeiros – pensava ele. – O primeiro que se afastou do nosso tempo para um outro a que nós não temos acesso. O primeiro daqueles que vivem de outro modo, de um modo diferente daquele que nós vivemos em tempos. Acabou em nós, com eles começa. E entre nós há uma brecha de duas épocas. Se eles são melhores ou piores do que nós, outros julgarão… O tempo estilhaçou-se e ninguém conseguiu perceber o instante em que tudo isso aconteceu, e nós ficámos aqui, neste lado do fosso, eles lá do outro lado.
Iliá simboliza a nova geração, sendo um dos primeiros a optar por uma nova vida no país de acolhimento, enquanto Aleksei Ivánovitch Cháibin, ex-amante da sua madrasta, representa os últimos, aqueles que ainda estão presos ao passado e sem rumo no presente.
Naquele amplo quarto de uma casa camponesa, Cháibin sentiu por um instante essa emoção única, doce e indizível que nos domina ao ficar a sós com a mulher que em tempos amámos louca e apaixonadamente e com a qual nada poderá nunca repetir-se. Cháibin sabia muito acerca de si mesmo, pode-se mesmo dizer que, como homem daquela geração, ele sabia quase tudo acerca de si mesmo. Podia, como muitos deles, ser um pouco a sombra de si próprios.
September 3, 2021
Video Review here (Youtube link)
I'd like to thank Pushkin Press for this free ARC, and for taking the initiative to translate this debut work from a female author whose influence is not widely known in the Western world.
Regrettably, I cannot recommend this book, and would go so far as to say I do not think it will be well received if published in its current form. I chose to read this as I enjoy Russian writing, and was surprised at how low the ratings for this book were on GoodReads. Given the current users did not write reviews on GoodReads, I figured perhaps this ARC was being misrepresented by ARC reviewers, and I thought I would come and support this story. However, I only ended up confirming the consensus.
Frankly, I think this story will be incoherent to a Western audience. My understanding is that this is a story about uncertainty surrounding which family members from a Russian farm want to emigrate to Paris. One farmer stays ("A First", leaving their homeland for something new) and two return to Russia ("Last", returning to Russia). If that doesn't sound underwhelming enough, it was not entirely clear to me what the motivation for them leaving is, nor what the threat a character called Adolf Alexeivitch or Kellerman is posing to one of the farmers, Vasya, in emigrating to France. A lot of this, I think, is due to the content of the story itself. The Translator's Note suggests this is due to Russians wanting to flee the Revolution and Civil War, but the story does not seem to go heavily into detail on this, or it is so fleetingly mentioned that it was not obvious to me from this translation. If anything, the motivation of the farmers' emigration seems to be that they want to marry people in the other locations.
A big clue for why I think this story will be unenjoyable is the second sentence, as reproduced verbatim below:
This sentence introduces far too much at once. The problem is there are too many redundant characters and relationships in this story — it is arguably the entire content of the story. It is difficult for Western readers to remember these names, and it gets more complicated when many characters go by multiple names. For instance, it was not immediately obvious to me that Alyusha, Shaibin, and Alexei Ivanovich were the same person, and it is not clear why multiple references were needed. There is also nothing memorable about the personality or motivations of any characters in this story.
Another major issue that compounds this initial issue, particularly with this translation, is that pronouns aren't clarified enough for us to know who is talking or about whom people are talking. There will be 3 names mentioned and then 'he' in the sentence, and because nobody actively does anything in the story the emphasis is not enough for readers to infer who is being referenced.
There are relatively few typographical errors, the most systematic is a random space added before or after quotation marks, and sometimes in the middle of words. However, it was alarming that these were found in the main quotable sentences of the text, responsible for the story's title:
Finally, I mean no disrespect, but to me I think the translation reads like broken English. One can tell from picking any paragraph of this book that it is a translation. That I found Ayn Rand's Anthem more fluent than this indicates the translation might not be best conveying the author's writing ability to a Western audience. I'd also think this translation could generally be made simpler for Western readers given the number of the characters and writing style already. It could also be given more cultural context, as sentences about one's homeland and seeing freedom as a negative... I think these could be better supported with more cultural context. For example, I read the debut translation of The Impudent Ones earlier this year and the translator made clear in the introduction that due to the already ambiguous nature of the story (similar to what we have here) they had added and modified content to make it more coherent. I think the same approach would make this better received, but that may be down to the preferences of the translator.
—
I'd like to thank Pushkin Press for this free ARC, and for taking the initiative to translate this debut work from a female author whose influence is not widely known in the Western world.
Regrettably, I cannot recommend this book, and would go so far as to say I do not think it will be well received if published in its current form. I chose to read this as I enjoy Russian writing, and was surprised at how low the ratings for this book were on GoodReads. Given the current users did not write reviews on GoodReads, I figured perhaps this ARC was being misrepresented by ARC reviewers, and I thought I would come and support this story. However, I only ended up confirming the consensus.
Frankly, I think this story will be incoherent to a Western audience. My understanding is that this is a story about uncertainty surrounding which family members from a Russian farm want to emigrate to Paris. One farmer stays ("A First", leaving their homeland for something new) and two return to Russia ("Last", returning to Russia). If that doesn't sound underwhelming enough, it was not entirely clear to me what the motivation for them leaving is, nor what the threat a character called Adolf Alexeivitch or Kellerman is posing to one of the farmers, Vasya, in emigrating to France. A lot of this, I think, is due to the content of the story itself. The Translator's Note suggests this is due to Russians wanting to flee the Revolution and Civil War, but the story does not seem to go heavily into detail on this, or it is so fleetingly mentioned that it was not obvious to me from this translation. If anything, the motivation of the farmers' emigration seems to be that they want to marry people in the other locations.
A big clue for why I think this story will be unenjoyable is the second sentence, as reproduced verbatim below:
Alexei Ivanovich Shaibin, one of its many heroes, turned up at the Gorbatovs'; Vasya, the Gorbatov son, offspring of Stepan Vasilievich and Vera Kirillovna and stepbrother of Ilya Stepanovich, received a letter from Paris, from his friend Adolf Kellerman, with important news about Vasya's father; and finally, a poor wayfarer and his guide arrived at the Gorbatovs' farm in a broad valley of the Vaucluse.
This sentence introduces far too much at once. The problem is there are too many redundant characters and relationships in this story — it is arguably the entire content of the story. It is difficult for Western readers to remember these names, and it gets more complicated when many characters go by multiple names. For instance, it was not immediately obvious to me that Alyusha, Shaibin, and Alexei Ivanovich were the same person, and it is not clear why multiple references were needed. There is also nothing memorable about the personality or motivations of any characters in this story.
Another major issue that compounds this initial issue, particularly with this translation, is that pronouns aren't clarified enough for us to know who is talking or about whom people are talking. There will be 3 names mentioned and then 'he' in the sentence, and because nobody actively does anything in the story the emphasis is not enough for readers to infer who is being referenced.
There are relatively few typographical errors, the most systematic is a random space added before or after quotation marks, and sometimes in the middle of words. However, it was alarming that these were found in the main quotable sentences of the text, responsible for the story's title:
He re he is, this first among firsts, was what occurred to him.
Wh at kind of man was he? He was a "last," as Nyusha put it.
Finally, I mean no disrespect, but to me I think the translation reads like broken English. One can tell from picking any paragraph of this book that it is a translation. That I found Ayn Rand's Anthem more fluent than this indicates the translation might not be best conveying the author's writing ability to a Western audience. I'd also think this translation could generally be made simpler for Western readers given the number of the characters and writing style already. It could also be given more cultural context, as sentences about one's homeland and seeing freedom as a negative... I think these could be better supported with more cultural context. For example, I read the debut translation of The Impudent Ones earlier this year and the translator made clear in the introduction that due to the already ambiguous nature of the story (similar to what we have here) they had added and modified content to make it more coherent. I think the same approach would make this better received, but that may be down to the preferences of the translator.
—
This is my 12th advanced reader copy (ARC) review. This means I received this ebook for free, and read it on my old Amazon Kindle, in exchange for this review which I have also published on Netgalley. I'm not financially motivated, as I read library books, so I only read ARCs I actually think will be good enough for me to rate and review honestly.
June 7, 2025
I like that this wasn’t as depressing as the Russian lit I usually read is
February 9, 2022
Nina Berberova’s The Last and the First
Brilliant.
With the psychological acuity, passion, and mise-en-scène of a Chekhov play this short novel dramatizes the existential dilemma of the Russian émigré community after the Revolution.
The Gorbatov family members are trapped between longing for a return to a Russia now lost, and daring to believe in the possibility of a future in Provence. The Gorbatov brothers Ilya and Vasya are the romanticised archetypes of these opposite outlooks. Vasya, the Last, is being lured back to Russia, with the promise of cultural belonging, purpose, and paternal reconciliation to father and fatherland. Ilya is the First, to whom everyone looks as providing a new hope, finding purpose by striving body and soul to create new Russian village communities and crop-share farms. With a naivety of action, Ilya embodies this hope, not just dreaming it. He therefore demonstrates the belief in not betraying the truth of a Russian past now lost, through Tolstoian sensibilities and reconnection with the earth.
Berberova’s style is limpid, lapping the reader with detail on detail that gleams with a simplicity that makes the reader question: how could this not be so? And yet, with each chapter, she sets the characters on a course of action that surprises, twists, and reveals new truths in the depths of their fears and motivations.
This is a beautifully structured, bright, and soulful debut, in a precise yet timeless translation by Marian Schwartz.
4.5/5
Brilliant.
With the psychological acuity, passion, and mise-en-scène of a Chekhov play this short novel dramatizes the existential dilemma of the Russian émigré community after the Revolution.
The Gorbatov family members are trapped between longing for a return to a Russia now lost, and daring to believe in the possibility of a future in Provence. The Gorbatov brothers Ilya and Vasya are the romanticised archetypes of these opposite outlooks. Vasya, the Last, is being lured back to Russia, with the promise of cultural belonging, purpose, and paternal reconciliation to father and fatherland. Ilya is the First, to whom everyone looks as providing a new hope, finding purpose by striving body and soul to create new Russian village communities and crop-share farms. With a naivety of action, Ilya embodies this hope, not just dreaming it. He therefore demonstrates the belief in not betraying the truth of a Russian past now lost, through Tolstoian sensibilities and reconnection with the earth.
Berberova’s style is limpid, lapping the reader with detail on detail that gleams with a simplicity that makes the reader question: how could this not be so? And yet, with each chapter, she sets the characters on a course of action that surprises, twists, and reveals new truths in the depths of their fears and motivations.
This is a beautifully structured, bright, and soulful debut, in a precise yet timeless translation by Marian Schwartz.
4.5/5
August 3, 2021
I am unsure if its the translation that's amiss or the overall presentation in itself but the book didn't work for me. At its heart, the story is about a family wanting to go back. The meandering conversation that goes back and forth has perhaps some social and cultural significance but unfortunately the context is missing.
From an author who is relatively unknown to western readers, its rather unfortunate not to have enjoyed her translated work. Hope I can find something else by her in future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
From an author who is relatively unknown to western readers, its rather unfortunate not to have enjoyed her translated work. Hope I can find something else by her in future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.
September 20, 2021
Can't wait to read more of Nina Berberova's works. Yet another novel that could've been written about the Syrian diaspora today. This release by Pushkin Press couldn't have come at a better time.
September 6, 2021
What a disappointment this was. I’m a student of Russian and Russian history and I’ve read a lot of Russian literature. I know my way around and can recognise the themes, preoccupations and tropes of Russian books. But this one had me confused and bewildered, even though I knew the context. How anyone without at least some background knowledge could enjoy this, I really don’t know. I always hesitate to “blame” a translation, especially when the translator is such an eminent one as Marian Schwartz. And indeed perhaps it actually is the original at fault, but nevertheless the translation was so clumsy at times that it really put me off. The novel follows a family of Russian émigrés in the 1920s torn between making a life in France or returning to Russia, a Russia that now in fact no longer exists, at a time when the future of the new Soviet Union is still unsettled and insecure. Some want to stay and in a nod to Tolstoy want to return to the land and become farmers. Others are tempted to go back. But motivations on both side are unclear, characterisation is weak and as unconvincing as the dialogue – though recognisably Russian. Written in exile, I had the feeling the novel was probably expressing Berberova’s own conflicts, but she doesn’t make it easy for the reader to identify with the characters. It might have helped to have an introduction; in fact it seems to me that an introduction is pretty much essential when presenting such a flawed novel. Come on Pushkin Press – you can do better than this. As a Russophile I’m glad I’ve read it, but as a book lover I really can’t recommend it.
July 12, 2024
An emigrant's tale rather than an immigrant's, which in the North-West European debate today seems to have become somewhat of a scarcity. Never mind passers-by named Jolifleur (p. 61) and Parisian landmarks like the Champs-Élysées (p. 93), as the novel's French setting serves chiefly as a backdrop to foreign microcosms hiding behind taverns called the City of Kiev (p. 123) and as a means to loosely tie the characters to international goings-on. As such, it's not the first line of the poor wayfarer's song (pp. 240-241), "Grieve not in this strange country," that best captures the subject of this book, but the second, "Yearn not for Russia-Russia," symbolizing the challenge that vexes most of the characters, each in their own way.
September 29, 2023
Berberova's prose really shines even in this, her first book, & I enjoyed following the various characters & trains of thought that traverse this short but dense & passionate novel. It is unmistakably a Russian novel in spite of its being set exclusively among exiles in France, with its multitude of figures & intertwining stories, & it feels like the author is suffering a bit from first book syndrome: overreaching somewhat & trying to fit all her ideas & the causes close to her heart into this one work. The result is that despite its relative brevity there is a sense of diffusion, an overall lack of focus that makes the final impression suffer, for this reader anyway. Nabokov was mightily impressed (as a blurb proclaims) & I can see why, as they both came from the same world at roughly the same time, making their way from Russia to a more cosmopolitan existence & chronicling that journey in their fiction. I look forward to exploring more of Berberova's.
July 14, 2021
I was really excited to read this book, since I read so little Russian literature, and I wanted to read more after having enjoyed a few novels previously.
While the prose here was amazingly beautiful, with luscious descriptions and melodic use of language, it wasn't enough to keep me reading. My problem was that I was confused about what was happening from the very beginning.
Things such as who was speaking/thinking, or clarity as to where the action was taking place bothered me, and didn't allow me to picture the action. In addition, variances in how characters were called (with nicknames, only surnames, and only given names, changing from line to line), also confused me.
I'm afraid that despite the lovely writing (or translation) style, I just couldn't keep reading this book to the end.
While the prose here was amazingly beautiful, with luscious descriptions and melodic use of language, it wasn't enough to keep me reading. My problem was that I was confused about what was happening from the very beginning.
Things such as who was speaking/thinking, or clarity as to where the action was taking place bothered me, and didn't allow me to picture the action. In addition, variances in how characters were called (with nicknames, only surnames, and only given names, changing from line to line), also confused me.
I'm afraid that despite the lovely writing (or translation) style, I just couldn't keep reading this book to the end.
January 2, 2022
I didn't get this book unfortunately. The characters are empty of any personality, I couldn't figure out when the story was taking place, or the point of it all really.
It's unfortunate because the plot seemed interesting, I wanted to know more about Russian immigration in France and the Russian revolution, but there are pretty much no detail about the subject.
It's unfortunate because the plot seemed interesting, I wanted to know more about Russian immigration in France and the Russian revolution, but there are pretty much no detail about the subject.
Read
November 23, 2021Un premier roman dans lequel on voit tout le potentiel de l'autrice et les thèmes qui deviendront récurrent dans son oeuvre. Intéressant pour qui veut en savoir plus sur le parcours de l'autrice
dnf
July 31, 2021Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for sending me an advanced copy.
DNF at 40%.
I think part of the reason I didn't get on with this book is because of my lack of knowledge of the time and place the novel was set in - this made a lot of the actions of the characters not make sense to me when I felt like they were supposed to be significant but I just didn't understand why and I, therefore, didn't really appreciate the story and found it a bit confusing as well. I liked some of the writing on a sentence level, but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested and I didn't have any inclination to pick it back up after I'd put it down.
DNF at 40%.
I think part of the reason I didn't get on with this book is because of my lack of knowledge of the time and place the novel was set in - this made a lot of the actions of the characters not make sense to me when I felt like they were supposed to be significant but I just didn't understand why and I, therefore, didn't really appreciate the story and found it a bit confusing as well. I liked some of the writing on a sentence level, but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested and I didn't have any inclination to pick it back up after I'd put it down.
August 4, 2022
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The Last and the First by Nina Berberova is the translated version of the author's debut novel. The story revolves around Ilya, whose family emigrated from Russia to France after the Russian Revolution. They've made new lives for themselves in a new country. Now, Ilya's brother Vasya is presented with the opportunity to return to Russia. What will the family decide to do? Will they stay in France or return to Russia?
Here is a descriptive excerpt from Chapter 1:
"Now he was blind, and that same Astrakhan cap had slipped over his shaggy eyebrows. A dark blue scar ran across his face, and he had no beard growing on his cheeks; you could tell a regimental doctor had once mended his face in haste, slapping together the torn pieces of his no longer young, swarthy skin. He was tall and ominously thin, and his military trousers sported red patches in many places - possibly scraps from someone else's service trousers, but French, trousers that had once known the defense of Verdun."
Overall, The Last and the First is a work of Russian emigre fiction that will appeal to fans of classic literature, like War and Peace or Anna Karenina. Unfortunately, I was not interested in any of the characters and nothing seemed to be happening in the story. I made it to the halfway point before losing interest and wondering if I should just skip the rest and read the next book on my TBR list. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of books in translation in general, you can check out this book, which is available now.
The Last and the First by Nina Berberova is the translated version of the author's debut novel. The story revolves around Ilya, whose family emigrated from Russia to France after the Russian Revolution. They've made new lives for themselves in a new country. Now, Ilya's brother Vasya is presented with the opportunity to return to Russia. What will the family decide to do? Will they stay in France or return to Russia?
Here is a descriptive excerpt from Chapter 1:
"Now he was blind, and that same Astrakhan cap had slipped over his shaggy eyebrows. A dark blue scar ran across his face, and he had no beard growing on his cheeks; you could tell a regimental doctor had once mended his face in haste, slapping together the torn pieces of his no longer young, swarthy skin. He was tall and ominously thin, and his military trousers sported red patches in many places - possibly scraps from someone else's service trousers, but French, trousers that had once known the defense of Verdun."
Overall, The Last and the First is a work of Russian emigre fiction that will appeal to fans of classic literature, like War and Peace or Anna Karenina. Unfortunately, I was not interested in any of the characters and nothing seemed to be happening in the story. I made it to the halfway point before losing interest and wondering if I should just skip the rest and read the next book on my TBR list. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of books in translation in general, you can check out this book, which is available now.
August 19, 2021
Thank you netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a review
I was excited to read this book because the summary sounded interesting, but I was disappointed.
Some parts were poetic, but overall I wasn't a big fan of the prose (but it could also be linked to the translation), but most importantly I struggled to keep track of who was who, how the characters were linked and what was happening to them.
I was excited to read this book because the summary sounded interesting, but I was disappointed.
Some parts were poetic, but overall I wasn't a big fan of the prose (but it could also be linked to the translation), but most importantly I struggled to keep track of who was who, how the characters were linked and what was happening to them.
July 31, 2024
I absolutely loved this book. Rather than trying to describe Nina Berberova's style, I'll just call it like that of Dostoevsky against backdrop of Russian emigres in France after 1917. I don't know why she is not better known. I'll be reading another one of her novels soon.
November 12, 2021
I took a while to get into this book, but I'm glad I persevered.
December 23, 2021
I found the plot fascinating- refugees of the Russian Revolution in France and their coming to terms with their new lives. The book focusses on the Gorbatov family, with the eldest son, Ilya, working towards resettling more Russians in the Provencal countryside, and helping them with learning to adapt to a life of farming- even if this wasn't something they were used to. The title refers to Russians affected by the Russian Revolution- the last to leave, and the first to only know life post the Revolution. Ilya has his hands full with preventing his younger brother from returning to Russia, and dealing with his misplaced idealism. It's an interesting context but I can't really recommend this book. I found the book very slow going with several unnecessary characters who didn't really add anything to the story. I'm really grateful to Pushkin Press for the excellent translations they put out, of authors who should be more well known. This book is not one I enjoyed, however.
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