The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel
by Debra Dean
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Book Reviews of The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel
Book Review: Heartbreakingly beautiful!
Summary: 5 Stars
Apparently, Debra Dean was inspired to write The Madonnas of Leningrad because of a true story. During World War II, staff of the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) packed up 1.1 millions objects of art and evacuated them. 2,000 of the staff lived in the cellar during the seige of the city by Nazis. One of the staff, a former guide, remembered the places and the details of the painting so well that he would give tours of the empty rooms, describing the art so vividly that visitors could envision them. How's that for memory?
In The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean, Marina, a former tour guide at the Hermitage, is now an old woman whose mind is being ravaged by Alzheimer's. Time and memories become fluid for her, as it does in the narrative, which Dean illustrates by seamlessly moving from present to past, sometimes mid-sentence. When Marina slips from the present, to the horror and sadness of her husband and children, she returns to her perfectly remembered memories of her time during the ghastly winter of 1941 when she was living in near starvation in the cellar of the Hermitage. Out of desperation, she built a "memory palace," committing to memory all the works of art that used to be on display in the museum, down to the tiniest detail.
"Marina has her memory palace: that has become her fixation. She can now walk anywhere in the picture gallery, and the sculptures and paintings appear so readily in her mind that she can rattle most of them off without thinking. What started as an exercise, a distraction, has come to seem like the very point of her existence."
This amazing feat is juxtaposed in poignant detail with Marina's current deterioration as an old woman and its effect on her family. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean is a magical, bittersweet book that is so well-imagined that the stirring descriptions of the paintings have convinced me a visit to the Hermitage is imperative.
Book Review: Haunting ...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have wanted to read this book for a long time and it is worth the wait to get my hands on it! It is beautifully written as it criss-crossed across the years of the past into the present. It presented a confused woman's state very well (and very scarily!) as she remembered the war as she hunkered down in Leningrad, and the old lady she has become.
This book is about Marina. She is elderly and confused. She retreats into her memory of what it was like to be in besieged Leningrad during World War Two. She remembers the paintings that adorned the great art musuem and the history while starving. It seems as if the paintings that were no longer there (they had been bundled up to be taken someplace safe) were her lifeline, her reason to remain alive while waiting to hear back from Dmitri, her fiance who had been drafted to fight at the front, and waiting for the endless relentless grip of the bitter winter to be over. Over and over she remembered the living Madonnas that engraced the musuem walls at one time ~~ even long after the war is over.
It is very beautifully written and very haunting. It will haunt you as you read of a woman's mind as she struggles to survive a brutal war as well as the ravages of a disease eating away at her mind. It is compelling and spell-binding. Once you pick this book up, you will not be able to stop until the last page has been turned. Then you'll want to research all the paintings that has been lovely described in this novel ... it will haunt you for days afterwards ~~ as a reminder that life is fragile and art will transcend time and be timeless. This book is a little gem to be shared over and over with your friends and other book lovers.
Don't hesitate to pick this one up. You won't regret it!
4-28-07
Book Review: A Memory Mansion during the Siege of Leningrad
Summary: 3 Stars
The Madonnas of Leningrad, Dean's first novel, won critical acclaim and several awards including the Quill Award for 2006, and ALA Notable Book of the Year 2006. The book will appeal to readers interested in psychological fiction, historical fiction, art history, World War II and Russian history.
Set during the 900 day Siege of Leningrad, (1940 - 1944) Marina, a docent at the Hermitage Museum, lives in the vast museum basement with her family and hundreds of other starving citizens of the city during the Nazi bombings. Increasingly frail and malnourished, she stands watch nightly on the huge roof of the museum buildings spotting enemy aircraft.
The World War II scenes are interwoven with the present-day story of Marina as an old woman living in Seattle, Washington attending a grand-daughter's wedding. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Marina's mind floats freely between the clear memories of her past and her confused experience of the present. During the siege, to distract herself from hunger pains, Marina had memorized much of the huge collection of art treasures, creating a "memory mansion" of paintings and sculptures of the great masters of Western European art. The art lives on very clearly in her disease-riddled brain many decades later giving her the pleasure of viewing the art again as she "walks" through the miles of galleries in her mind.
This book took me to a time and place in history about which I knew very little. Visiting the State Hermitage Museum website to see panoramas from the roof overlooking St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) perhaps showing views that Marina looked at every night added to the experience of reading the book.
Book Review: A lovely exploration of memory and the power of art and the imagination...
Summary: 4 Stars
As an art museum professional, a lover of history, and a fan of stories about family, I found this novel very compelling and wonderfully told. Although I can see one reviewer's point about feeling that the present-day portions were unnecessary, I found them to be very moving and poignant. Not only was it an interesting view into the effects of Alzhiemer's and memory loss on both the individual and the family, but it also brought to light questions about identities within the family and how the past is sometimes obscured from children, for better or for worse. I also really enjoyed how the stories were intertwined and how Marina increasingly got lost in her memories of the war because of her inability to connect with the people and events around her.
I particularly enjoyed the way that the works of art became a focal point of Marina's experience - despite they're having been removed from the museum - and the way that they became one of the things through which she was able to survive and persevere during this terrible period. The descriptions of the works was wonderful and the idea of the memory palace was fascinating.
This is one of the few novels where I felt that it could have been longer. Too often, authors get carried away and drag the story out too far. With the end of this one, I felt like both of the stories had not been played out or developed quite as fully as I would have liked. Despite wishing for more, I really enjoyed the novel and look forward to future novels by Ms. Dean.
Book Review: Heartbreak and Hope
Summary: 3 Stars
Marina Buriakov is an 82-year old woman who is slowly losing her battle with Alzheimer's. During a trip to Drake Island for her graddaughter Katie's wedding, Marina often finds herself reminiscing about the past - a past she and husband Dmitri have chosen not to share with their two children, Andrei and Elena (Helen).
During World War II, Marina, a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, worked to save the Soviet Union's priceless artifacts. However, she, like millions of other residents of the city, experienced the horrors of starvation, air raids, and death as the Germans bombed everything they could find. By creating a "memory palace" - a way of organizing her thoughts, Marina is able to remember the Hermitage in its pre-war glory.
The story frequently jumps between the present and the past, and is told through the frustration of Marina's jumbled mind. While it is a beautiful read, it can be a bit confusing at times deciphering between dreams and reality. And, while the story itself is one of heartbreak and hope, it just didn't grab me as much as I thought it would.
"The Madonnas of Leningrad" is a great book, but not one that riveted my attention like other World War II novels. Definitely spend a day with it, and then decide for yourself.