Intimacy and Terror

Rating:
Summary: The unthinkable, the unspeakable -- and the mundane
Review: Fascinating, absorbing, upsetting and boring -- these diaries are all of the above.Soviet Russia's not replete with oral histories of the 30's (they didn't have a WPA; they had Stalin), nor with many trustworthy contemporary accounts. They're in here, though. It's heartbreaking to read of everyday annoyances and delights, and to know the fate that was soon to befall many of these diarists. "A Chronicle of the Year 1937" is almost more than I could bear. A sad and good book, well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: The unthinkable, the unspeakable -- and the mundane
Review: Fascinating, absorbing, upsetting and boring -- these diaries are all of the above.Soviet Russia's not replete with oral histories of the 30's (they didn't have a WPA; they had Stalin), nor with many trustworthy contemporary accounts. They're in here, though. It's heartbreaking to read of everyday annoyances and delights, and to know the fate that was soon to befall many of these diarists. "A Chronicle of the Year 1937" is almost more than I could bear. A sad and good book, well worth reading.