Found it difficult, possibly because of the translation. Didn't seem to flow. ( )

In lesser hands this tale of the triumph of love and the human spirit against a bleak backdrop of wars and other horrors could easily have been trite and cliched, but Makine's writing transcends this, and I found this a very moving and impressive novel.

The book tells the story of Elias Almeida, an Angolan "professional revolutionary" across various African war zones over forty years, and also spells in Cuba and Soviet Russia. As one would expect from a writer brought up in the dying days of Soviet Russia, it is very strong on the moments of minor heroism that transcend the gradual decline of big ideology-driven movements and conflicts. Elias's story is told by a younger friend, a Russian agent working in Angola and other African war zones, and later a writer able to reflect on what has changed in Africa since the "end of history".

In some ways this reminded me most strongly of Doctor Zhivago. Elias is motivated by an impossible and platonic love for Anna, a Siberian who rescues him from racist thugs in Moscow, and their trip to visit her mother in Siberia is pivotal - the Siberia whose landscape itself is built on the wreckage of idealistic dreams. The African backdrop moves gradually from idealistic liberation struggles via cold war power games through to anarchic wars motivated purely by greed and self interest. Petty brutality and injustice are never very far from the surface.

To pack so much history and feeling into such a short story is ambitious, but for me it works and the ending is very moving, and entirely consistent with Makine's wider oeuvre, much of which is more memoir than fiction. ( )

A sad book, a poignant story of imported mini-revolutions all over the globe, as witnessed by an Angolan participant and a Soviet "expert-turned-writer" who narrates the story. Most of Andrei Makine's books (this one is my 5th) are permeated with a melancholy streak, which by no means it makes them less appealing. His unique style, his intriguing attention to detail, uncovering so much meaning in each detail and being able to deliver this meaning to the reader are the mark of a master writer. The book won't go away after the last page is read. It persists in your mind, you don't want it to (it's too grim), but it does, provoking the question: why?... ( )