I ran across the first Leo Demidov book by accident, when I finished a previous audio book and the did a search for more books by the narrator. What a fun find. Semi-historical, but slightly far-fetched, Leo Demidov, the ex-MGB officer turned homicide detective has been on the beat for three years since events ending the prior book, Child 44. The Secret Speech continued Leo's story and quest to become a better man. Leo and his wife Raisa are trying to raise Zoya and her sister Elena, girls left orphaned by Leo's prior activities in arresting denounced anti-Soviets. But you see, they're not doing a good job. Because try as he might, Leo is still responsible for their parents' death, and 13 year old Zoya is having NONE of this. In the meantime, it seems like someone is out to get old MGB officers, hunting them down and killing them. Well, they had created quite a few enemies. At the same time, Khrushchev has given a speech, a "Secret" speech before the party leadership denouncing the excesses and cult of personality operated under Stalin. Now the power dynamic is shifting and no one in Russia is quite sure what is going to become the new normal.And, as it happens, the people who were made powerful by the denunciations, purges and reprisals of the past, are not looking forward to letting go of power. This leads to unlikely allies and a quest by Leo to hold his family together. I like Leo's struggle to be a better person in the face of a state apparatus designed to bring out the worst in people. I also like the banality with which Soviet violence is presented. There's such an undercurrent of futility and waste that makes one wonder why the whole experiment didn't crumble sooner.
3.5/5 Stars.
I'm such an a-hole. The only thing I can think to say at the beginning of this review is that as much as The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a widely acclaimed literary think piece I just didn't "get it." And that's not really true. I did get it. I got it in about the first 50 pages and then after I got it I thought, okay why is the author making me try to re-get it over and over and over again.Have I become accustomed to smooth plot lines and robust character development? Maybe. Or do I just enjoy using the character and story to draw my own ideas of themes and lessons from the literature? Yes probably that too.Listen ULB has no true structure. The character and the plot serve as devices for Kundera to wax philosophical on the lessons he has learned from his own life. And I really appreciate his point of view and what he has to say, but it's almost like getting stuck talking to someone at a dinner party where by the time you get to dessert, you've heard about their complete philosophy on life and you are just hungry for a new topic. The book only has four characters, Thomas and Theresa, Sabina, and Franz. The plot jumps between and among them and back and forth in time to visit and re-visit points in their lives which tell us more about the author's own philosophies. This is a freshman literature student's dream, all the lessons the author wants you to get from the book are spelled out again and again. You don't have to interpret or internalize anything. It's all write there. That term paper practically writes itself. Listen, I did get it but I just got bored. I feel like I've let my pseudo-intellectual self down but this one was just not for me.
2/5 Stars.
