Four Soldiers
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- £11.99
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2019
'I am astonished by Four Soldiers. I have never read anything like it, yet it is one of those books you feel must always have existed, a classic of writing about the human condition... A small miracle' Hilary Mantel
1919. The Russian Civil War. It is the harsh dead of winter, as four soldiers set up camp in a forest somewhere near the Romanian front line. There is a lull in the fighting, so their days are filled with precious hours of freedom, enjoying the tranquillity of a nearby pond and trying to forget their terrifying nightmares, all the while talking, smoking and waiting. Waiting for spring to come, waiting for their battalion to move on, waiting for the inevitable resumption of violence. Tightly focused and simply told, this is a story of friendship and the fragments of happiness that can illuminate the darkness of war.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mingarelli's tepid novel (after A Meal in Winter), set in the hard winter of 1919 during the Russian Civil War, follows four young, illiterate Red Army soldiers on the Galician front. Benia narrates the story, as the men himself, Pavel, Kyabine, and Sifra build winter quarters in the forest and spend their days gambling, sleeping, foraging for food, and staying warm. Mingarelli devotes most of the story to the soldiers' dull days and nights, effectively describing their friendship, which is expressed cleverly in their peculiar nighttime sharing of a broken pocket watch with a woman's picture inside. When spring comes, their battalion marches into battle, a forlorn affair with a sudden conclusion. Mingarelli's portrayal of simple men waiting for combat is authentic, but readers may be disappointed by the glacial pace and static story. This will appeal more to those interested in the psychological effects of war's downtime than those hoping for an action-packed story.
