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apleiades17's review against another edition
3.0
"Descrierile trebuie să fie legate de ceea ce nu ocupă un loc în istorie, dar rămâne în inimă pentru totdeanua."
andersls's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
kp_readss's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
tcoate's review
5.0
While the storyline might sound trite, perhaps like a Russian "Flowers for Algernon", the reality is far from it. I really found myself engrossed in the story and totally engaged with the characters. Unlike Vodolazkin's Laurus that had a dreamlike nature (stunning in its own right), this story is very solidly grounded in reality. Enough so that I found myself heading to Google Earth to pull up street views of the key locations of the novel and could really see the characters there. And yet, as always, Vodolazkin was able to leave me thinking about big existential questions about what it means to be human dwelling in space and time. And I would be remiss not to credit Lisa Hayden for producing a wonderfully readable English translation.
ridgewaygirl's review
5.0
A man lies in a hospital bed. He's being cared for by a doctor and nurse, who have asked him to write down his memories as he regains them. Slowly, his life returns to him, but how is it that his memories are of events a century ago?
The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin tells the story of Innokenty Platonov, who spent his childhood in a comfortable Petersburg apartment and a summer dacha, until the Revolution took the life of his father and moved him, along with his mother, from their home into a room in the apartment of a professor and his daughter. As Innokenty's memories return, he also realizes that he is no longer in his time and the doctor explains that he was part of an early Soviet experiment in freezing living men and then thawing them. He survived frozen for eighty years. His recovery isn't just physical, but in learning how to live in a time not his own.
The Aviator is an odd mix of things; there's the look at the effects of being out of one's own time and the dislocation that results, there's the vivid descriptions of life in Russia before and during its most turbulent years, and finally there's the character study of Innokenty himself.
It took me a while to get into the rhythms of this book, but once I had, I enjoyed it very much.
The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin tells the story of Innokenty Platonov, who spent his childhood in a comfortable Petersburg apartment and a summer dacha, until the Revolution took the life of his father and moved him, along with his mother, from their home into a room in the apartment of a professor and his daughter. As Innokenty's memories return, he also realizes that he is no longer in his time and the doctor explains that he was part of an early Soviet experiment in freezing living men and then thawing them. He survived frozen for eighty years. His recovery isn't just physical, but in learning how to live in a time not his own.
The Aviator is an odd mix of things; there's the look at the effects of being out of one's own time and the dislocation that results, there's the vivid descriptions of life in Russia before and during its most turbulent years, and finally there's the character study of Innokenty himself.
It took me a while to get into the rhythms of this book, but once I had, I enjoyed it very much.
estellecool's review
3.75
I went through phases. Definitely a good concept, but I feel like there was unfulfilled potential from the Russian setting. And I get it, but I just didn’t enjoy the double Anastasia situation.
catrink's review against another edition
4.0
This book grew on me, though I do prefer Laurus. It's also hard to know what genre to assign this book, and if I say too much about THAT I will give too many spoilers. So if you like the earlier work - read this and give it a chance to work into your system, I think you will be glad that you did. I found Laurus to be that way for me as well. While a very different type of novel, there are several deep themes that this novel taps into - and I will stop now because of spoilers ;-)
ianl1963's review
3.0
Enjoyable listen, three readers; one for each of the main characters.
Provoked some thoughts.
Russian novel, Russian government torturing and murdering the populace!
Inept and corrupt government over in the UK, a peaceful revolution would be quite nice.
Tea and cucumber sarnies; no crusts obs! ;-)
Provoked some thoughts.
Russian novel, Russian government torturing and murdering the populace!
Inept and corrupt government over in the UK, a peaceful revolution would be quite nice.
Tea and cucumber sarnies; no crusts obs! ;-)
sve100's review against another edition
4.0
Имах притеснението, че тази книга ще ми дотежи, но Водолазкин пише изключително елегантно за злото, смъртта, паметта и забравата, че буквално препусках през страниците. Хареса ми отворения финал. "Авиатор" за мен влиза в диалог с "Времеубежище" на Георги Господинов, което намирам за много вълнуващо.
julianav's review against another edition
4.0
This is a hard book to read. The premise, that of a young man frozen as an experiment in 1930 can be thawed is interesting. The fact that the book are diary entries made primarily by the unthawed Innokentiy starting to remember his life from early childhood until his 'freeze' and his reactions to a new life in 1999 has potential.
What I didn't expect was the honest an0d brutal account (fictionalised in the case of the hero, but the author used recollections of real people) of the difficulty for those middle class and intelligentsia that stayed in the newly made USSR and braved the new power headed by Lenin and his successors. The easy way in which you can be taken into the middle of the night and never returned; the account of Solovetz, the prototype of the famous Russian Gulags and the brutality of the new system. The aggression and evil that came from those that were given power over people from a class that would previously look down on their now jailors. And this before the Great Purges of the mid 1930s initiated by Stalin.
The author doesn't point his character's finger at just early Soviet bureaucrats and law enforcement. There is talk about personal responsibility and forgiveness and punishment. The latter half of the book doesn't leave as much impact, perhaps due to the hero acclimatising to the post Soviet Russia. Interestingly, but at this point unsurprisingly he finds the new Russia more puzzling than the USSR of the 20s. I wasn't hugely fond of the ending, I think the author could have been more clearer about events, but overall it's a great book full of philosophy and introspection and the power of nostalgia.
This is probably not the best book to recommend to people who know little of the history of USSR; how the revolution came about since it touches only on very few aspects of an enormous country and regime that for better or for worse lasted over 70 years. Not everyone's experiences were negative, not everyone was sent off to the camps that became death traps of many people, but the fact that it did is still a stain on my former home country.
What I didn't expect was the honest an0d brutal account (fictionalised in the case of the hero, but the author used recollections of real people) of the difficulty for those middle class and intelligentsia that stayed in the newly made USSR and braved the new power headed by Lenin and his successors. The easy way in which you can be taken into the middle of the night and never returned; the account of Solovetz, the prototype of the famous Russian Gulags and the brutality of the new system. The aggression and evil that came from those that were given power over people from a class that would previously look down on their now jailors. And this before the Great Purges of the mid 1930s initiated by Stalin.
The author doesn't point his character's finger at just early Soviet bureaucrats and law enforcement. There is talk about personal responsibility and forgiveness and punishment. The latter half of the book doesn't leave as much impact, perhaps due to the hero acclimatising to the post Soviet Russia. Interestingly, but at this point unsurprisingly he finds the new Russia more puzzling than the USSR of the 20s. I wasn't hugely fond of the ending, I think the author could have been more clearer about events, but overall it's a great book full of philosophy and introspection and the power of nostalgia.
This is probably not the best book to recommend to people who know little of the history of USSR; how the revolution came about since it touches only on very few aspects of an enormous country and regime that for better or for worse lasted over 70 years. Not everyone's experiences were negative, not everyone was sent off to the camps that became death traps of many people, but the fact that it did is still a stain on my former home country.