Dreams of My Russian Summers

Geoffrey Strachan,
Andrei Makine

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'Dreams of My Russian Summers' by Andrei Makine is a deeply moving and autobiographical novel depicting the intertwining influence of two cultures, French and Russian, on the developing personality of a young boy growing up under the bitter legacy of Stalinism and the trauma of Russia's sacrifices in the war against the Nazis. The story is told in retrospect in the first person, focusing on the narrator's grandmother who has both French and Russian backgrounds. The narrative style is described as elliptical and oblique, requiring readers to pay strict attention and read slowly to fully appreciate the details of the story.

The plot revolves around the unnamed boy who later becomes a young man, exploring his part French heritage which makes him an outsider in the USSR. The story delves into his struggles with childhood and adolescence, his relationship with his French grandmother, and his journey towards understanding and remaining true to himself amidst the backdrop of a world filled with pain and suffering. weaves together multiple timelines, showcasing the narrator's summers with his grandmother, his school years, Charlotte's youth in Paris, and his life after leaving Russia for the West, primarily set in Paris.

Characters:

The characters, notably the narrator and his grandmother, are introspective and complex, providing a rich backdrop to the theme of identity.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is intricate and poetic, with a notable difference in tone between the original French and the English translation.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot weaves through the life of a boy in Soviet Russia, his summers with his French grandmother, and the complexities of his identity amidst Cold War tensions.

Setting:

The setting spans Soviet-era Russia and early 20th-century Paris, creating a poignant backdrop for the interplay of cultures.

Pacing:

The pacing is slow and thoughtful, encouraging deep engagement with the text, but the ending may feel hurried.

WHILE STILL A CHILD, I guessed that this very singular smile represented a strange little victory for each of the women: yes, a fleeting revenge for disappointed hopes, for the coarseness of men, for ...

Notes:

The novel is originally written in French and later translated into English.

It tells the story of a boy growing up in Soviet Russia with a French grandmother.

The story has four interrelated timelines, including the boy's summers with his grandmother in Siberia.

The grandmother, Charlotte, has a rich back story involving early 20th Century Paris.

The book is considered a Bildungsroman, focusing on personal growth.

Andrei Makine's writing style is described as flowery and requires careful reading.

The narrator struggles with his mixed heritage, feeling like an outsider in the USSR.

Parts of the narrative are introspective, depicting the narrator's internal thoughts and memories.

The tone of the English translation is seen as inconsistent compared to the original French.

The novel won two prestigious French literary awards: the Prix Goncourt and the Prix Médicis.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings may include themes of loss, the impact of war, and reflections on identity in a post-totalitarian society.

From The Publisher:

Every summer, young Andrei visits his grandmother, Charlotte Lemmonier, whom he loves dearly. In a dusty village overlooking the vast Russian steppes, she captivates her grandson and the other children of the village with wondrous tales-watching Proust play tennis in Neuilly, Tsar Nicholas II's visit to Paris, French president Felix Faure dying in the arms of his mistress. But from his mysterious grandmother, Andrei also learns of a Russia he has never known: a country of famine and misery, brutal injustice, and the hopeless chaos of war.

Enthralled, he weaves her stories into his own secret universe of memory and dream. She creates for him a vivid portrait of the France of her childhood, a distant Atlantis far more elegant, carefree, and stimulating than Russia in the 1970s and '80s. Her warm, artful memories of her homeland and of books captivate Andrei. Absorbed in this vision, he becomes an outsider in his own country, and eventually a restless traveler around Europe. Dreams of My Russian Summers is an epic full of passion and tenderness, pain and heartbreak, mesmerizing in every way.

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About the Author:

Andreï Makine is an internationally best-selling author. He is the winner of the Goncourt Prize and the Medicis Prize, the two highest literary awards in France, for his novel Dreams of My Russian Summers, which was also a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Makine was born in Siberia in 1957 and raised in the Soviet Union. Granted asylum in France in 1987, Makine was personally given French citizenship by President Jacques Chirac. He now lives in Paris. Arcade Publishing has published ten of Makine's acclaimed novels in English.

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