CHOICE review of March 1917, Book 2
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From the May issue of CHOICE magazine:
“Most readers know the name Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but few have heard of—and even fewer have read—The Red Wheel, the author’s longest and most challenging novel, which comprises ten volumes in total. The present volume is book 2 of the March 1917 node, which dramatizes the tumultuous events of the March Revolution—a workers’ strike in Petrograd; abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and house arrest of the Romanov family; establishment of a provisional government to rule over Russia. Although The Red Wheel is fiction, Solzhenitsyn prided himself on the historical accuracy of his work. He spent ten years writing the March 1917 node, adding psychological depth, descriptive details, and, occasionally, his own views to bring well-known personalities and events to life. Solzhenitsyn’s decision to write the novel in vignettes, ranging from several pages to several lines, opens the book to a variety of readers and approaches to reading. Occasionally Solzhenitsyn advances the plot through authentic genres from the period, including telegrams, correspondence, slogans, and official reports. Schwartz’s translation is lively and contemporary. The appendix provides four maps and a helpful index of names that can serve as a reader’s guide through Solzhenitsyn’s maze of embellished historical encounters, which capture the events of March 1917 from many perspectives.”