Comments on: Tom Rob Smith: Child 44

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:56:06 +0000

Hi Mikaele, thanks for your comment! I haven’t thought about this book for some time, though I actually remember it quite well. Of course, I respectfully accept your dissent. In fact I tend to agree with your reasons for liking the book. The first half had some nice insights even if it was a bit overwritten for my taste. I particularly remember a passage about a snowball. I think it was three or four sentences describing someoe picking up, making, then throwing the snowball. And maybe a bit about the ball in the air. I remember thinking, couldn’t this have been said in a sentence? Or, since it was such an insignificant detail, in part of a sentence? I remember thinking hat often he would spend much longer on a thought, almost as if he had to keep reiterating it to say what he wanted rather than revising it at he end. And I have to say, the villain was an incredible flaw. I think it was Stewart somewhere who said he had the complex psychology of a Scooby Doo villain, and I have to agree.

I wrote the above review wanting to highlight some of what was good, and it’s depiction of the Soviet system in the first was compelling to me.

Did you find strengths in the second half, particularly in the thriller aspect?

(I typed this on my iPhone and have no patience going through for spelling — please forgive all such errors ;). )

By: Mikaele Baker

Mikaele Baker — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:07:43 +0000

I’m afraid that I must respectfully disagree with you. Child 44 is one of my favourite books, it explores life under the yoke of Stalin and provides a bleak and realistic potrayel of a world where you can trust no one and the police are the worst criminals of all. My friends and I are able to relate to Tom Rob Smith’s characters as easily as if we were gossiping about our co-workers and it seems that every time you read it you find something new. All in all, I really enjoyed Child 44 and though I can’t change your opinion I’ll gladly defend mine. :)

By: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith « The Armenian Odar Reads

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith « The Armenian Odar Reads — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:59:08 +0000

[...] comments and I will add it. Asylum Dovegreyreader Booklit Other Stories An adventure in reading The Mookse and the Gripes Posted in Challenges, Fiction | Tagged Russia, Russian Reading Challenge, Tom Rob Smith [...]

By: Bloggers take on the Booker longlist

Bloggers take on the Booker longlist — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:57:46 +0000

[...] The Mookse and the Gripes (again…) [...]

By: John Self

John Self — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:06:22 +0000

I am about ready to tackle a good thriller.

Ah, but are you ready to tackle Child 44? ;-)

By: Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:05:21 +0000

I very much look forward to your comments, Redhead! I assume this will be the most read book of the longlist this year, even though most reading it will have no idea what the Booker prize is, so your insights will be very interesting in the mix!

By: redheadrambles

redheadrambles — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:32:10 +0000

Wow, Trevor you have sure generated a lot of interesting debate on this book. I am looking forward to reading it and adding my comments. I am about ready to tackle a good thriller.

By: Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:22:38 +0000

Thanks for the complimentary comment, Max! And I’m glad I read this book for one thing – it’s bringing a lot of (hopefully) higher quality thrillers to my attention.

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:16:46 +0000

Tremendous review Trevor, really thorough and informative and I took a lot from it.

It doesn’t sound like a natural Booker nominee, not because it’s a thriller but because of the sort of thriller it is, but that aside it sounds a bit like one might be best off waiting for the movie. It also sounds like it may have a whiff of compromise about it, to use a phrase I heard once, in that an interesting novel about Stalinism and modern echoes thereof is compromised by a perhaps over-rote adherence to formula.

Not sure if Fred Vargas is an Edgar winner, but she’s in no way formulaic. Odd, but not formulaic. I’m actually not quite sure what I make of Fred Vargas, which I suppose is in itself something of a recommendation.

By: Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:10:48 +0000

I look forward to checking those titles out, Lizzy. And since I’m especially intrigued to know what it was about my review here that piqued your interest in my comments about these books, I’m interested to see how I get on with those books!

Some extra thoughts on why Child 44 stuck in my mind though through no real merit of its own: As I read about the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was imprisoned in a Gulag for eight years after writing a bit of criticism of Stalin in a private letter to his friend, I still think Smith’s portrayal of the system, its fear, and its justification was well wraught – for a time. It is really unfortunate that Smith chose instead to go the formulaic route, driving us towards a very unimaginative ending. Since Russia looks increasingly like it wants to bring back its totalitarian past (and The Economist reports that in an online poll Stalin is front-runner for the title of greatest Russian), even this otherwise vapid book offers a bit of insight into the horrors of the time, but if only it could have done it better, in a more nuanced, thought-provoking way!