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Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'
The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Susan Sontag, Victor Serge, Willard R. Trask
1 review
jacobinreads's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Having now read some of Serge's other works, I've come to perhaps his most famous, and can safely say that The Case of Comrade Tulayev deserves those accolades. The book is a masterclass in dramatic irony and (perhaps) dark comedy. From the inciting events to the denouement (for the characters "investigating" the case) a litany of error and tragedy parades before the reader. Serge is at the most coherent I've read of him, strangely enough, in a work that describes incoherent events.
This book holds tragedy and comedy in tension, with a deeply observed and sympathetic eye to those it describes. From the lowliest peasant to Stalin himself, Serge reveals the necessities that drive these characters. There is no grand victory here, for this book is set in a land of "defeat in the jaws of victory", the only victory that is had is for the small, for the worker, for the ordinary person. And perhaps that victory is the more important one Serge suggests - seemingly with a weary smirk.
I will be thinking about this book for some time, and of all of his books I've read thus far, I recommend it the most, and with the fewest qualifications.
This book holds tragedy and comedy in tension, with a deeply observed and sympathetic eye to those it describes. From the lowliest peasant to Stalin himself, Serge reveals the necessities that drive these characters. There is no grand victory here, for this book is set in a land of "defeat in the jaws of victory", the only victory that is had is for the small, for the worker, for the ordinary person. And perhaps that victory is the more important one Serge suggests - seemingly with a weary smirk.
I will be thinking about this book for some time, and of all of his books I've read thus far, I recommend it the most, and with the fewest qualifications.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture
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