Heavy Sand

by Anatoli Rybakov

Book Overview

Lyubov' geroev romana Anatoliya Rybakova - Rahili i YAkova - zarodilas' nakanune mirovoj vojny. Radi nee on pereezzhaet iz Shvejtsarii v SSSR. Im predstoit projti cherez zhernova HH veka - stradaya i... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670364991
• ISBN13: 9780670364992
• Release Date: April 1981
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A generational saga told simply and movingly

You know, I say this all the time, but I have really got to learn Russian one of these days. This time the reason I wish I knew the language is because I'd like to see if the original of Heavy Sand has the same plainspoken, conversational tone which makes the English translation so engaging. It doesn't take long to get [wrapped up] into the story of the Rakhlenko family and to fall in love with all the characters, from the noble to the scoundrels, with all shades of messy humanity in between. At times you don't even feel as if you're reading a novel but hearing a good friend masterfully tell his story and those of his parents and grandparents. This is perhaps the most unpretentious great novel I've ever read.The small events of the novel's first half blend seamlessly into the world events of the war and the destruction of the entire village, and in both times and places you feel utterly transfixed by what is happening to the people of this family and their village. And despite its depressing setting, Heavy Sand ends on a relatively uplifting note. There is plenty of horror in the book, but also plenty of hope. I didn't want this book to be over. Highly recommended!

My grandmother's story

This novel is based on my grandmother's family history. Anatoly Rybakov was my second cousin. He interviewed my grandmotehr several times, taperecorded her stories, baed the novel on our family's history.This book was published in Russia in 1979 (the year I emigrated from the Soviet Union), and it was the first legally available publication to mention the figure 6 million (estimated number of Jews perished in the Holocaust). The story is not necessarily girm or frightening, there is quite a bit of humor, a very romantic love story and a pretty uplifitng ending despite all tagedies.

the more time passes, the more I elevate it in my opinion

I am the son of Russian Jews and my life has been inundated with stories of the Shoah.Ialways thought that the theme would one of these days be completely drained literally, artistically, visually.. I was wrong. I love Remarque's 'Spark of Life' and right after reading 'Heavy Sand' I quickly decided that the former supersedes the latter in literary expressiveness and breadth of thought, imagination, and emotion. Now I am not so sure. Some of my distant and not so distant relatives, have perished in the Shoah, but that is not the only thing that I would like to think of as a bond between myself and thousands of Jews and non-Jews of my generation whose families sustained the destruction ofthe war. No. What I wish can unite us as well, is the knowledge that such an event can happen in any country, given the appropriate circumstances. Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, are all examples of genocide, but genocide with a cause, a reason, whether it is because of independence of a minority populace or religious disputes. The Shoah is an example of a blind genocide, a genocide for the purpose of genocide. The poles. Jews, gypsies, Russians and others were exterminated like unwanted poisonous species of animals or insects, that cause harm just by existing, that do not have the right to exist, and so the SS took on the task of G-d, to obliterate Sodom and Gemorrah, which to them were every non-aryan race in sight. I am at the moment living in Britain, and I strongly believe in the potential of the English to commit genocide under the right conditions. the English, like the Germans are people who more or less trust their governments and politicians and are willing slaves to rules and regulations imposed by federal authority. I am mentioning the mass, not the individual. It's as clear as daylight that every nation has its exceptions to its national character, but regretfully, these exceptions are the overwhelming minorities.

It was haunting and I will never forget this book.

I read this book over ten years ago. I lost it during a move. I actually read parts of it to my children and then they went on and read the book in it's entirety when they grew up. We still all talk about it and it's beautiful images amid the saddness. I hope that anyone who has an interest in mankind, the human spirit, and the kindness and cruelty of mankind will read this book and embrace it's message.

An incredible work-- find it and read it.

This book caught me with the first paragraph and never let go. (I found it browsing in a recycled store.) This epic story of family and romantic love, community, momentous change (the Russian Revolution) and war (the Nazi invasion and genocide) is told in the simple, conversational style of a master storyteller. It has the authentic an compelling voice of a participant, or witness to the events. (I find myself wondering about Rybakov... who is he? Did he live through these times? Is this his family's story? It feels that real.) This book is about far more than the Nazi attrocities (which occupy only about the last 1/4 of the book). It is really about human nature, and the nature of relationships under all sorts of conditions. It is one of the most moving and memorable works I have read, and it is truly a loss that it is out of print. Do search it out.