The Madonnas of Leningrad

Posted on 06 February 2018 by Debra Dean

Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina s grip on the everyday And while the elderly Russian woman cannot hold on to fresh memories the details of her grown children s lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild her distant past is preserved vivid images that rise unbidden of her youth in war torn Leningrad.In the fall of 1941, the German army approached the outskirts of Leningrad, signaling the beginning of what would become a long and torturous siege During the ensuing months, the city s inhabitants would brave starvation and the bitter cold, all while fending off the constant German onslaught Marina, then a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, along with other staff members, was instructed to take down the museum s priceless masterpieces for safekeeping, yet leave the frames hanging empty on the walls a symbol of the artworks eventual return To hold on to sanity when the Luftwaffe s bombs began to fall, she burned to memory, brushstroke by brushstroke, these exquisite artworks the nude figures of women, the angels, the serene Madonnas that had so shortly before gazed down upon her She used them to furnish a memory palace, a personal Hermitage in her mind to which she retreated to escape terror, hunger, and encroaching death A refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once New Download Kindle ePUB The Madonnas of Leningrad By Debra Dean – kino-fada.fr I really didn t read this book I was having some visual problems which made it impossible for me to read for a time The Madonnas of Leningrad was our Book club choice for the month of January and it was not available in audio I asked my sister Jane, who was staying with me for the holidays if she would read it for me and tell me about it She loves to read and I thought she would enjoy it A beautiful thing happened My sister told me the story in such detail and with such emotion that the ch I really didn t read this book I was having some visual problems which made it impossible for me to read for a time The Madonnas of Leningrad was our Book club choice for the month of January and it was not available in audio I asked my sister Jane, who was staying with me for the holidays if she would read it for me and tell me about it She loves to read and I thought she would enjoy it A beautiful thing happened My sister told me the story in such detail and with such emotion that the characters became real to me She loved the book and so did I During her story telling sessions we shed tears as she walked me through the scenes of Leningrad and the Hermitage ...This is a stunning novel Marina is a woman in her 80 s about to attend her granddaughter s wedding near her home in Seattle Her mind is failing, however, and she is transported back to other times in her life, most particularly to the time when, as a young woman, she worked at the Hermitage The joy she took in her work there was countered by the horror of remaining while Germans laid siege to Leningrad It was the most intense period of her life, both horrifying and magical, and it is to this This is a stunning novel Marina is a woman in her 80 s about to atten...When I allot the stars I go by my gut feeling, but I do try to be restrictive When you have just finished a book and think of all the things you liked about it, you tend to give the book too many stars If you do this, a four or five star book just doesn t mean anything So this gets three stars.I DO like this book A lot I liked the wonderful description of the Hermitage and the paintings there Sometimes when you take a guided tour of a museum and you get a guide who really knows their stuff When I allot the stars I go by my gut feeling, but I do try to be restrictive When you have just finished a book and think of all the things you liked about it, you tend to give the book too many stars If you do this, a four or five star book just doesn t mean anything So this get...I reviewed this book for Harper Collins Canada, here s what I said The Madonnas of Leningrad is a lyrical and elegant novel about Marina, a young tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, during the siege of Leningrad in World War Two and her loosing battle with Alzheimer s in present day Seattle The novel shifts smoothly back and forth from Marina s battles in Leningrad with starvation and bitter cold and her present day battle with Alzheimer s, comparing and contrasting the two During the siege, M I reviewed this book for Harper Collins Canada, here s what I said The Madonnas of Leningrad is a lyrical and elegant novel about Marina, a young tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, during the siege of Leningrad in World War Two and her loosing battle with Alzheimer s in present day Seattle The novel shifts s...This was a half book A story of an elderly woman who is suffering from Alzheimer s with her husband and children coping the best that they can I appreciate the author s idea of flashbacks and retained memories, but I felt like I was never in the loop with what was happening For some of the book I couldn t tell if it was Marina s actual memories or just a telling of her past Most of the individuals were not fully developed or just unlikable in my opinion Being at the bombing of Leningrad and Th...I found this awfully dull at times Not one of my favorites.I am not a big fan of Mom Fiction and that is the specific sub genre that I would put this book in The strong point of this work was the style that it was written in Take an 80 year old Russian immigrant who suffers from Dementia and watch her have flashbacks to her youth at the Hermitage in Leningrad during the siege of 41 This is all happening as her daughter is planning to take her to her nieces wedding Yes, this is where the mom fiction comes in The book spends most of the time with t I am not a big fan of Mom Fiction and that is the specific sub genre that I would put this book in The strong point of this work was the style that it was written in Take an 80 year old Russian immigrant who suffers from Dementia and watch her have flashbacks to her youth at the Hermitage in Leningrad during...In Leningrad as a young woman, memories kept Marina alive during the siege and now a memory eating disease is taking her away The author paints vivid pictures of the cold, the fright, the hunger of WWII Russia and the cold and frightening illness that is taking her mind now.This book appealed to me personally, on so many levels My parents born in Ukraine at that time Russia and survived the WWII seige of the nazis Art which I love, and I also visited the Hermitage museum website, as some o In Leningrad as a young woman, memories kept Marina alive during the siege and now a memory eating disease is taking her away The author paints vivid pictures of the cold, the fright, the hunger of WWII Russia and the cold and frightening illness that ...What a magnificent read this was I am resisting the urge to start reading it again right away only because I have so many on my nightstand that I want to read But this will be one to be read again sooner than later I found myself spending so much time looking up the works of art mentioned in the book and the Hermitage Museum website that it took much longer than it should have to read this 228 page book It is so beautifully written I found myself reading passages over and over again and mark What a magnificent read this was I am resisting the urge to start reading it again right away only because I have so many on my nightstand that I want to read But this will be one to be read again sooner than later I found myself spending so much time...August book group.The story follow the current and past years of an aged woman, Marina, afflicted with Alzheimer s Her earlier years are set in WWII Russia when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage in Leningrad Her later years are set in WA state at the time of a grandson s wedding and her visiting daughter s recognition of Marina s current state of health As I read the Russia years I thought of my reading of Angela s Ashes and my feeling of luxury in having ready access to food and comfor August book group.The story follow the current and past years of an aged woman, Marina, afflicted with Alzheimer s Her earlier years are set in WWII Russia when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage in Leningrad Her later years are set in WA state at the time of a grandson s wedding and her visiting daughter s recognition of Marina s current s...

English
06 February 2018

Debra Dean