Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : Godalming : Picador ; Melia [distributor], 2011.
Description
In all his work, the critically acclaimed Emmanuel Carrère has trained his unblinking gaze on the lives of others as they fight a losing battle with that most fearsome of adversaries: the self. Now, determined to escape the bleak visions of his narratives, he takes on a film project in the heart of Russia, while also embarking on a new love affair back home in Paris; but soon enough, the diversion he seeks eludes him, intimacy proves too arduous and Carrère is left peering into the dark mirror of his own life.Set in Paris and Kotelnich, a small post-Soviet town, A Russian Novel traces Carrère's pursuit of two obsessions: the disappearance of his Russian grandfather and his fascination with a woman he loves but cannot keep from destroying. Elegant and passionate, A Russian Novel weaves the strands of Carrère's story into a travelogue of a journey inward. Road trip, confession, emotional tour de force, this fearless reckoning illuminates the schemes we devise to evade ourselves and the inevitable payment they exact.… (more)
Media reviews
Carrère’s priority of frankness has forged, from book to book, new ways of managing to be truthful, new ways of including the first person. [...] Even to call his recent books, as Carrère sometimes has, “nonfiction novels” doesn’t do much to clarify what makes them so unusual. Though
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it’s easy to notice the mechanics of a Carrère book — his characteristic inclusion of himself in the proceedings, his habitual inclusion of the process by which the book in question is being formed — what is genuinely original in Carrère’s work is the sensibility that animates those varied approaches, infused as it is with Carrère’s at-times-skeptical, at-times-maniacal way of thinking, his well-stocked intelligence, his spare, unfussily lyrical prose, his shameproof feed of uncensored interiority, his tireless storytelling energy and his unstinting attempts and, importantly, failures at maintaining sympathy for his subjects. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Clara53
Mixed feelings. At the start, I see a sort of self-indulgent man writing a memoir of 3 years out of his life. I see some display of self-pity, am taken aback by a tawdry interlude at about the middle of the book... But then it becomes more poignant and serious. He is searching for an outlet for his
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grief and bewilderment over the loss of his grandfather who vanished in Paris in mysterious circumstances during German invasion in World War II. His grandfather being of Russian (Georgian) descent, the author is taking trips to Russia, first on a film assignment as a writer and then - as if drawn to his Russian roots through his mother and grandfather. In the meantime, he is having his own relationship problems... He is being looked at askance in a provincial Russian town, but finally, a Russian remarks with understanding: "You didn't just come here looking for our unhappiness, you brought your own along". The end is quite touching and sort of brings closure to the author's quest, and finally the title of the book and the front cover image start making sense. Show Less
LibraryThing member franoscar
Spoilers. I was a little confused -- is this all true or is it partly a novel? The library I checked it out from classified it under Fiction. So...I liked some of this book really well & I thought some of it dragged & was irritating. i kind of speed-read-ed the last part because it was due at the
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library. I read every word but I forged through when I might have put it down if I had more time. Anyway. there are some major streams of this book. One is the discovery of a Hungarian prisoner of WW2 who is still sitting in a Russian institution for the mentally ill; he is identified & repatriated & our hero takes a film crew to go film the town. This is paired with the story of the narrator's grandfather, who was possibly insane and who never really made a success of his life and who was taken from his home & presumably killed as a collaborator. So the grandfather is a missing victim of WW2 too. And then there are the love affairs; the narrator has a girlfriend who he mistreats (emotionally) and that kinda goes on & on. There is a story w/in the story of his writing a dirty story to be published in Le Monde for her to read in an elaborately planned time & place, which falls through & he freaks out. The relationship thing got pretty dull, and the narrator is honest about his failings but they are pretty irritating anyway. Meanwhile they go back with the film crew to Russia and continue to follow things in the small town, including the relationship between Sasha & Anya, & then Anya's murder. I'm sure the 2 relationships mirror each other but I'd have to spend more time thinking about the book than I will to show how. Anyway, the stuff about the grandfather is interesting, & his relationship with his mother & uncle & family in relation to their history; the relationship with Sophie less so. Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
Audiobook. A story that carries u from France to Russian and back. Exciting. Sensual. Thrilling.
LibraryThing member baswood
I have never read a book quite like Carrière's [Un roman russe], the book's title leads the reader into thinking it is a novel when in fact it is an autobiography of a three year period in the life of the author. Sometimes written in the first person sometimes in the second person, with extracts
There are a number of things going on in Carriere's life (if there were not the book would be a little boring). He is in a new and erotic relationship with the girl of his dreams, he is trying to come to terms with the unspoken shame in the family of his maternal grandfather, who was probably shot for collaboration with the Germans in 1944: his mother a successful politician seems to avoid any discussion on the subject. He has become interested in an Hungarian patriot who was captured by the Russians (again in 1944) and spent over 50 years in captivity before being repatriated. He travels to the village of Koltelnitch to find out more with a small team and involves himself in the life of the village, with a view of writing a book or making a film; he makes three or four trips. He has also been commissioned by the newspaper Le Monde to write a novella and he chooses to write an erotic piece based on his own experiences with his girlfriend. This unsurprisingly does not bode well with Sophie his new partner who says to him.
"It is the fault in you because you have never been capable of seeing anything, but your own point of view"
Carrière does not flinch from putting across his own point of view, which more often than not is based on his own selfish needs. He does not ask for the reader's sympathy, as he explains the way he feels during his tempestuous relationship with his partner and his difficult relationship with his family.
The sections of the book are interweaved skilfully to form a coherent narrative. I particularly liked the descriptions of life in the poor Russian village, the fear of the people living under a regime where people can disappear, and the struggles of the author's team in making headway with their investigation. The characters that emerge are drawn from real life and there is another story to be told that makes the journey worthwhile. The difficulties and emotional drain suffered by Carriére in his relationship with Sophie, which seems to be based on sexual attraction and not much else is also well drawn. The extract from his erotic novel, which caused some criticism from the newspaper's own critics, would have been better left out of this book in my opinion and did not encourage me to seek it out.
It may be difficult to look beyond the ego-trip that is undoubtedly part of this book. Carriére is not self effacing and Sophie's criticism of him is strikingly apt. The raw information and evidence of his thoughts and actions are there for all to see and the fragility of his wants and needs can be gleaned from his prose, which never lets him down. He tells it all like he thinks it is and as readers we can piece together a fascinating exercise in autobiographical writing. He does not ask us to like him, but I get the impression this book may have served some sort of purpose for the author and it dragged me along with it - 4 stars.
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from other works that Carriere had published; a letter to his mother rounds off the enterprise which also includes attempts to learn the Russian language and a lullaby to someone else's baby. The book can certainly play with the readers head and all the time this reader was wondering about how reliable a witness, is Carrière: especially when talking about the size of his cock. A well renowned author writing about himself may try and disguise the egoist in the process: Carrière cannot be accused of hiding his light under a bushel, as the most important person in Carrière's world is Carriere himself. This may be difficult to avoid if much of what you are writing about is an analysis of your feelings, however some readers may find this so annoying, that they cannot engage with the book, I found my patience stretched at some points, but in the end I enjoyed the journey.There are a number of things going on in Carriere's life (if there were not the book would be a little boring). He is in a new and erotic relationship with the girl of his dreams, he is trying to come to terms with the unspoken shame in the family of his maternal grandfather, who was probably shot for collaboration with the Germans in 1944: his mother a successful politician seems to avoid any discussion on the subject. He has become interested in an Hungarian patriot who was captured by the Russians (again in 1944) and spent over 50 years in captivity before being repatriated. He travels to the village of Koltelnitch to find out more with a small team and involves himself in the life of the village, with a view of writing a book or making a film; he makes three or four trips. He has also been commissioned by the newspaper Le Monde to write a novella and he chooses to write an erotic piece based on his own experiences with his girlfriend. This unsurprisingly does not bode well with Sophie his new partner who says to him.
"It is the fault in you because you have never been capable of seeing anything, but your own point of view"
Carrière does not flinch from putting across his own point of view, which more often than not is based on his own selfish needs. He does not ask for the reader's sympathy, as he explains the way he feels during his tempestuous relationship with his partner and his difficult relationship with his family.
The sections of the book are interweaved skilfully to form a coherent narrative. I particularly liked the descriptions of life in the poor Russian village, the fear of the people living under a regime where people can disappear, and the struggles of the author's team in making headway with their investigation. The characters that emerge are drawn from real life and there is another story to be told that makes the journey worthwhile. The difficulties and emotional drain suffered by Carriére in his relationship with Sophie, which seems to be based on sexual attraction and not much else is also well drawn. The extract from his erotic novel, which caused some criticism from the newspaper's own critics, would have been better left out of this book in my opinion and did not encourage me to seek it out.
It may be difficult to look beyond the ego-trip that is undoubtedly part of this book. Carriére is not self effacing and Sophie's criticism of him is strikingly apt. The raw information and evidence of his thoughts and actions are there for all to see and the fragility of his wants and needs can be gleaned from his prose, which never lets him down. He tells it all like he thinks it is and as readers we can piece together a fascinating exercise in autobiographical writing. He does not ask us to like him, but I get the impression this book may have served some sort of purpose for the author and it dragged me along with it - 4 stars.
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Subjects
Awards
Prix Duménil (2007)
Language
Original language
French
Physical description
234 p.; 21 inches
ISBN
0312569300 / 9780312569303