by M. T. Anderson 2015
This biography is stunning; it is so compellingly told that I couldn’t put it down.
The story will stay with me for a long time. I’m finding it hard to start another book. ( which is impeding my usual book a day vacation reading schedule! ) I guess that’s a sign of a great book. I keep thinking that it would work as science fiction. It’s too horribly bizarre to be real … except that it is. That’s the horrifying impact; that the mass murder and atrocities committed by Stalin and Hitler really happened. I was aware of this period in history of course, but MT Anderson’s telling, through the life of Shostakovich makes it devastatingly personal. I wish I could have listened to his music while reading the book but we were in a no internet location. The title refers to his 7th symphony which he wrote to voice the suffering of the Russian people during the two and one half year siege of Leningrad., his beloved home city. About 2 1/2 million people starved to death during that time. I have it in J Fic but I will move it to YA because of the disturbing descriptions of what people suffered. That part is not overdone but told cleanly and powerfully. I think it will be of great impact for both teens and adults. I know I will never forget it.
SP 8/14/20