Nina Tumarkin

This book was a severe disappointment. I was expecting an analysis of (to quote the subtitle) "The Rise and Fall of the Cult of World War II in Russia"; there's some of that, but most of the book consists either of lengthy anecdotes about the author's life, of interest only to the author's friends and family, or potted bits of Russian history, material presumably already known to the reader of what is supposed to be a specialized study (and if it's not, it can be found far more authoritatively elsewhere). The low point comes on page 181, when she compares the emergence of truth about mass killings to toothpaste being squeezed out of the tube -- not just any toothpaste, mind you, but a particular brand she remembers from her childhood, which she describes at some length. I'm giving the book as many as two stars for the bits of worthwhile information she does provide here and there; it's a crying shame some editor didn't intervene at an early stage and tell her to can all the self-indulgent and/or unnecessary stuff and concentrate on what the book was supposed to be about.… (mehr)