A Beautiful, Literary Evocation Of A Siberian Childood

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	• Once upon the River Love Andrei Makine Penguin (Non-Classics), 1999 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Encountering sex and art in a Siberian wasteland.

In a callous and cold Siberian village, whose inhabitants' lives revolve around timber, prisoners, and gold, there is no room for romance and beauty. Makine tells the story of three young boys who are full of indiscernible longings, until a Belmondo film arrives at a nearby town and gives voice to all their dreams. In one of novel's most poignant chapters, Makine describes how each of the three boys sees a different hero on the cinema screen- for the hardened Samurai, it is Belmondo's feats of bravery; for the crippled Utkin, it is his stoicism in the face of lifelong disappointment; and for the poet Dmitri, it is the alluring Western world of beauty and sensuality. Makine brings powerful emotion to both Dmitri's sexual desire and his longing to experience the West. Perhaps more than any other author, Makine manages to find intense lyric beauty in this carnal desire, devoting pages to blurry visions of female flesh. But most of all, this masterfully crafted novel leaves the reader with an emotional and philosophical understanding of how a single work of art can forever change the course of three human lives.

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East meets West

... through images and imagination. For the western reader it will be difficult, if not impossible, to visualize the utter remoteness of a Siberian village lost in the vast plains of the taiga. Life is completely controlled by nature - winters last seven months or more. Before leaving the land and the people to recover in a short spring, winter hits with another vicious snowstorm. Only the houses' chimneys are seen protruding in the expanse of white. Digging out a path is like hollowing out a deep tunnel back to the surface. Makine's intricate portrayal of the land's extraordinary beauty, whether under snow or during the spring thaw, reveals his deep connection to nature and his Siberian past. It is a backdrop and, almost, a participant in this engaging story.

First of all, though, this is a growing-up story of three local boys: Dmitri, the narrator, and his friends Utkin and Samurai. For them "the beauty of the land was the least of the preoccupations in the land where we were born..." It was taken for granted. Still, the reader senses the equilibrium between the boys and their natural environment. A vivid account of their thrill at swimming in the icy cold current of the Olyei River and being confronted with unwelcome onlookers. Taking a steam sauna in a remote bath hut in the forest reflects their intimacy and happiness at being friends.

Daily life is also controlled by the political powers: the story is anchored in the early 1970s and Soviet rule dominates all aspects of it. Their village, having played an important role in the past and during the war, it is now only a shadow of itself: controlled by "gold, the gulag, and the taiga". The boys accept their reality while dreaming of a different world beyond their community on the shores of the Amour River and inhospitable Siberia. The Trans-Siberian train speeding by in the night symbolizes the wider world, the link between Occident and Orient.

For the three teenage friends, growing up also includes an increasing awareness of sexuality and curiosity for women and love. Eroticism and sensuality, let alone "love", had never been part of the local people's vocabulary, going back to the village's founding some 300 years ago by Cossacks. Carving out an existence has always been rough and challenging. Now, any sense of reality or knowledge of the outside world was filtered through Soviet-style propaganda: reaching or surpassing the monthly quotas; winning whatever battle was being fought. Women and men were, above all, socialist partners with a mission to fulfill the expectations of the system. For boys, eager to explore their blossoming feelings, this was not a good introduction.

Into this bleak and harsh reality "strolls" Jean-Paul Belmondo, charming, easy-going and successful ... and the boys and the villagers are changed forever: Belmondo appears on screen in the cinema "Red October". The impact could not have been more dramatic if he had come in person. The political slogan banners at the Politburo pale in comparison to his big poster in the main village square. His comedies, the first one in particular, stir the imagination of the boys. He represents a life in the "Occident" that is fantastic as it is alien. There, people have an easy time, life is rich, and the hero usually wins the girl. For the villagers, it is impossible to distinguish between fiction and reality. Through many repeat visits Dmitri and his friends slowly understand the story line. Each scene, every small item is analyzed and interpreted as authentic reflection of life in the West. The boys increasingly live an alternative reality - they visualize Paris, Venice and more. The West has met the East.

Makine's portrayal of the boys, their emotions and experiences of growing up is beautifully presented. There is Olga, Samurai's Francophile older friend, who introduces the boys to French literature and culture; there is Utkin's grandfather and Dmitri's aunt. They all come to life and round off the picture. Humour and irony balance the serious exploration of the challenges faced by young people living in remote places like Siberia and with ambitions to change their lives. They feel torn between Occident and Orient, between the unknown and the familiar worlds. Despite their different personalities and ambitions, they each have to choose their future direction.

Similarly to other Makine books, the story is embedded in a short narrative set decades later in New York. It sets a frame and also allows for reflection of the lives lived. Once Upon the River Love is very rich novel. It is specific in its captivating detail of land and people while at the same time raising pertinent general issues of fiction versus fact, imagination versus action and the role of these in forming young people's minds everywhere. I read the novel in the original French and was captivated by the exquisite style and richness of language. The emotional depth of the story reveals the Russian roots of the author. Read it slowly and savour its beauty. [Friederike Knabe].

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Thoughtful, paced, and beautiful

If you are used to reading fast-paced page turners, this may not be the book for you. To appreciate the beauty of Once Upon the River Love, you need to slow down a bit and savor the ethereal splendor of Andrei Makine's writing. The storyline is relatively simple, but his absolute magic with words will haunt you afterward.

A beautiful book on growing up in Siberia

Samurai, Oetkin and the narrator, Juan, grow up in a sleepy town in Siberia. Their futures seem to be settled: one becomes a gold digger, lumberjack or prison guard, has sex with one of the local woman and slowly drinks oneself dead. But all three boys are idealists and dreamers in their own way, full of unfulfilled desires, who all somehow realize that there must be more to life. Only when they see the movie "The Red October" with Jean-Paul Belmondo, they realize that they can take their lives into their own hands.

Andrei Makine wrote a beautiful novel in which the reader can feel the snow and the Siberian cold and the hopelessness of life in a Siberian village, but also with exquisite descriptions of Siberian springs, romance, melancholy and unfulfilled desires. A great book.

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A Beautiful, Literary Evocation Of A Siberian Childood

I was stunned by the beauty of the language in this book. Not only has Mr. Makine written a wonderful short novel, but Mr. Strachan has done a masterful job in translating it from French into English. The brilliance of a translation can easily be eclipsed by the overpowering beauty of the original, but in this case Stachan's work really shines. His translation is so wonderful that I can only wish I were capable of reading the Mr. Makine's original French; it must be truly extraordinary.

Mr. Makine's language is so rich and descriptive that I've decided to wait a bit before reading his "Dreams Of My Russian Summers." In a world of dull prose I'm not sure I've fully digested the banquet that Mr. Makine has presented in "River Love." I very heartily recommend this most beautiful literary novel.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

In this brilliant, affecting novel, acclaimed Russian novelist Andrei Makine takes readers to the vast, remote forests of eastern Siberia to tell the story of Alyosha, Utkin, and Samurai, three boys on the verge of manhood. Isolated by history as well as geography, with only the passing lights of the Transsiberian train to assure them of an outside world, the three friends yearn for experiences their small village cannot provide. But after trekking by snowshoe to a cinema in the neighboring city, their whole world is changed forever as they watch the gorgeous spectacle of a motion picture starring the French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and a cast of beautiful women. Written from the perspective of twenty years later, Once Upon the River Love follows the destinies of these three young idealists up to the present day, to the boardwalks of Brighton Beach and the jungles of Central America. Once Upon the River Love is a beautifully rendered novel that demonstrates Andrei Makine's remarkable ability to recreate the past with such precision that the present becomes all the more poignant.

"If Dreams of My Russian Summers marked Mr. Makine's arrival on the literary scene, Once Upon the River Love indicates that he will remain there." --The New York Times

"One of the great books of this year." --The Washington Post Book World

Once Upon the River Love was a Publishers Weekly 1998 Best Book

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