#PrixGoncourt shortlist Le mage de Kremlin

OKTOBER

by Giuliano da Empoli

Finish date: 29 September 2022
Genre: novel (288 pg)
Rating: D
Review: Le mage de Kremlin  (ISBN: 9782072958168)

UPDATE: 05 October 2022
Le mage de Kremlin” made it to the shortlist #PrixGoncourt 2022. Please
@AcadGoncourt
tell me why THIS book is better than Sarah Jollien-Fardel’s book
@wespieser
“Sa préférée” Read both books (reviews on blog). Le mage de Kremlin …read and weep.

Bad news: If chapter one is any indication what the rest of the book will be like….I hope I can at least read 50% before I decide to toss it! Reading this book is like pulling teeth!

Bad news: Writing is cluttered, overwritten…too many adjectives and not enough ideas.
Ch 3…bored to tears…but I keep reading. Give the author a chance to redeem himself.

Good news: After 28% of the book (ch 8) the author introduces me to Berezovsky. Well known personage in Russian politics…creating the political party that would bring Putin to power. Now I feel for the first time ‘the historical fiction’ the author intended.
Unobtrusive history…..depending on a believable and reasonably accurate setting; often includes. actual historical personages.

Personal: Despite a very slow start…I did manage to learn more about Russian politics (1998-2005). That is the beauty of historical fiction….it breathes life into some important personages (…in this case Berezovsky). My initial optimism for this book after 8 chapters… has been quashed. Interesting concept…a narrator is the  “fly-on-the-wall” aide to Putin…but all that happens have been in the news and written about in many books. So nothing new here….

Examples: explosion apt buildings to trigger invasion of Chechnya
Boris Berezovsky’s attempt to ruin Putin’s imago. (when officials misled and manipulated the public and news media about Kursk submarine disaster (Aug 2000) and refused help from other countries’ ships nearby. President Vladimir Putin initially continued his vacation at a seaside resort in Sochi “Why should I go there, they are all ready dead”)

• No, this is not a prize winning book (longlist Prix Goncourt 2022).
• #disappointed #deçu