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Gabriela's Reviews > Istoria Insulei
Istoria Insulei
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„Prezentul pierde în fața viitorului, ca și realitatea în fața imaginației. Și în această privință sunt lipsite de noimă înțelegerile: viitorul are resurse nelimitate. Numai după aceea poate fi comparat cu prezentul, numai că asta nu mai are sens. E tardiv.
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Reading Progress
May 20, 2021
– Shelved
May 20, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 25, 2021
–
Started Reading
October 16, 2021
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Finished Reading
January 13, 2022
– Shelved as:
owned-paper
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
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Ekaterina
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rated it 3 stars
Oct 05, 2021 01:04AM
Hi Gabriela, so what's your impression from the latest Vodolazkin? I would be interested to know.
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I like it a lot, it's allegorical, but also humorous. The jumps in time and space are excellently mastered. I would really like to read more about it, but I can't read Russian and I didn't find anything interesting in English. For instance, what does the Island stand for? I think it's more subtle than just Island=Russia. What so you think?
I think it does stand for Russia in the first place (the allegory becomes more distinct towards the end of the book where events that occur on the Island are thinly veiled events from the Russian history of the XX century). At the same time, in representing Russia, the Island likely represents any country or nation, as far as the most important things that Vodolazkin wants to say are concerned (and those go beyond the historical facts). As I said in my review, the ending is a clear allusion to the Old Testament, and as such can be universally applied.
One of the episodes I loved most were the two versions of the life of duchess who raised both Ksenia and Parfeny (I wonder how his name should be spelt in English). Now that was tongue-in-cheek!
The parallel histories-theme was great indeed! I live in a former communist country, so fabricated history is not unfamiliar for me either.
