The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel

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		The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel
		The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel

基本信息·出版社：Harper Perennial
·页码：256 页
·出版日期：2007年02月
·ISBN：0060825316
·条形码：9780060825317
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语
·丛书名：P.S.
·外文书名：列宁格勒的圣母(小说)

内容简介 在线阅读本书

Bit by bit, the ravages of age are eroding Marina's grip on the everyday. An elderly Russian woman now living in America, she cannot hold on to fresh memories—the details of her grown children's lives, the approaching wedding of her grandchild—yet her distant past is miraculously preserved in her mind's eye.

Vivid images of her youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army's approach signaled the beginning of what would be a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation, bitter cold, and a relentless German onslaught, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping, leaving the frames hanging empty on the walls to symbolize the artworks' eventual return. As the Luftwaffe's bombs pounded the proud, stricken city, Marina built a personal Hermitage in her mind—a refuge that would stay buried deep within her, until she needed it once more. . . .

作者简介

Debra Dean worked as an actor in New York theater for nearly a decade before opting for the life of a writer and teacher. She and her husband now live in Miami, where she teaches at the University at Miami. She is at work on her second novel.

编辑推荐 Daily Telegraph
'Dean shows the consoling and invigorating power of art.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Financial Times
'Dean has moments of brilliance...a pretty impressive debut.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

SHE
'A beautifully painted debut that has 'book group' and 'Anthony Minghella' written all over it.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Waterstones Books Quarterly
'Every once in a while a new book comes along with the power to halt you in your tracks...' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Observer
'A taut and boldly unsentimental tale, Dean’s glistening debut plumbs the twin mysteries of memory and the imagination.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Guardian
'...[Dean] has brought the siege of Leningrad to dramatic, desperate life...a richly rewarding experience for the reader...' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Glasgow Herald
'A seamless, beautifully crafted tribune to the emotional potency of memory.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Time Out
'A remarkable story.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Russian emigré Marina Buriakov, 82, is preparing for her granddaughter's wedding near Seattle while fighting a losing battle against Alzheimer's. Stuggling to remember whom Katie is marrying (and indeed that there is to be a marriage at all), Marina does remember her youth as a Hermitage Museum docent as the siege of Leningrad began; it is into these memories that she disappears. After frantic packing, the Hermitage's collection is transported to a safe hiding place until the end of the war. The museum staff and their families remain, wintering (all 2,000 of them) in the Hermitage basement to avoid bombs and marauding soldiers. Marina, using the technique of a fellow docent, memorizes favorite Hermitage works; these memories, beautifully interspersed, are especially vibrant. Dean, making her debut, weaves Marina's past and present together effortlessly. The dialogue around Marina's forgetfulness is extremely well done, and the Hermitage material has depth. Although none of the characters emerges particularly vividly (Marina included), memory, the hopes one pins on it and the letting go one must do around it all take on real poignancy, giving the story a satisfying fullness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Her granddaughter's wedding should be a time of happiness for Marina Buriakov. But the Russian emigre's descent into Alzheimer's has her and her family experiencing more anxiety than joy. As the details of her present-day life slip mysteriously away, Marina's recollections of her early years as a docent at the State Hermitage Museum become increasingly vivid. When Leningrad came under siege at the beginning of World War II, museum workers--whose families were provided shelter in the building's basement--stowed away countless treasures, leaving the painting's frames in place as a hopeful symbol of their ultimate return. Amid the chaos, Marina found solace in the creation of a "memory palace," in which she envisioned the brushstroke of every painting and each statue's line and curve. Gracefully shifting between the Soviet union and the contemporary Pacific Northwest, first-time novelist Dean renders a poignant tale about the power of memory. Dean eloquently describes the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Raphael, but she is at her best illuminating aging Marina's precarious state of mind: "It is like disappearing for a few moments at a time, like a switch being turned off," she writes. "A short while later, the switch mysteriously flips again." Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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