Great book, background knowledge required

This is a fantastic book, with great depth. Background knowledge is needed in order to completely follow the characters and events.

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Wonderful book .

History , brought to life , by a great writer . Can't recommend it enough .

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5 people found this helpful

An analysis from a different viewpoint for once..

I’m well versed on the Russian revolution and subsequent history, but this brought a whole new point of view to the table. I don’t know about his current politics, but China, as a member of the far left, interested in grass roots working class action and revolutionary consciousness. His sympathy with this issue gives us a much clearer understanding of the relative class dynamics in this startling period. Not being a “historian” yet keeping to established historical methodologies gives us a second layer of clarity in understanding. The book tears along at pace, and the twists and turns of revolutionary politics is laid out in a clear, understandable and consequently exciting manner. Yes, exciting. I listened to this virtually in one sitting. I had a much better sense of place than you get from the “proper” historians and with a few changes in approach this could almost be a novel. That is NOT to undermine this books importance as a historical narrative. Bourgeoise historians, knowing what followed and never really grasping the emotion and aims of revolutionaries can never really get to grips with what actually makes this period interesting: At what point and for what reason does class consciousness spill over into a world turned upside down: at what point does the struggles of ordinary life become global history.
Google tells me that China was a member of the SWP, and if this correct then it is all the more to his credit that there is virtually nothing here of the abstruse Marxian theories and language that could so easily mar this topic: it’s not “for” Marxists in that sense (though the ideas are there if you know what you’re looking for).
The narration is great, and you don’t get that annoying focus on the speech of the narrator that you sometimes get when it goes wrong.
Overall: If you want a look at the revolution from the point of view of the revolutionaries, the ebbs and flows of consciousness that make history astonishing at certain conjunctions in time, and if you want that book delivered by someone with fiction writer skills (loved “the city and the city”), dive in!

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1 person found this helpful

A fantastic account

Excellent narrator, great story. I would highly recommend to anybody wishing to understand the Russian revolution.

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Doesn't work as an audiobook

Well read and well written account of the events leading up to the October revolution but far too complicated to work as an audiobook, you really need to read this rather than listen to it

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For political anoraks

This is a great, broad, sweeping discourse on the year of 1917 in Russia and primarily Petrograd that focuses on the the left wing parties, revolutionary soldiers and workers. There is much of internal debate, resolutions, political differences in the revolutionary struggle. Great for political anoraks. I throughly enjoyed it. The narrator gives a masterclass in how read a factual book.

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A well written account of the Russian revolution

A fascinating account of the Russian revolution that China Miéville has written in a way that makes it feel like a book of fiction. The characters are interesting and the every day details that Miéville includes brings to life a period of history that could be as dry as dust!

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6 people found this helpful

Like Lenin's corpse - accurate but waxy

“The one guaranteed outcome from a committee of Trotskyists is 2 committees of Trotskyists who both think the others are traitors” and so we have the story of the most argumentative people in history. To some extent, that’s where this book falls down – what happened in the Russian revolution was amazing but the actually telling of it is essentially just endless bickering and hissy-fits. Pick any 10 minutes of this book at random and it will be “…and the Mensheviks demanded that the committee of the Dumas approved x so the Bolsheviks walked out” etc etc. Surprisingly for a (good) fiction writer, Mieville provides a step by step reportage which is accurate, but lacks the “Beginning, Middle and End” that all good stories need. A few juicy details and speculation would have livened it up.

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3 people found this helpful

Very interesting, and well read

The story about the Russian revolution is very important if you want to understand both the previous and post revolution politics and history of Russia. This book gives a good idea about how things happened in those days.

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Interesting

Although I was well aware of the major events of the revolution in Russia this book fills out the details

Narration was good.

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4 people found this helpful