This was a disappointing effort by an author I’ve enjoyed over the years, a cut-rate Stalin biography told in the form of a novel through the eyes of a young boy who is befriended by Stalin during the last months of his life. Stalin says to the 10 1/2 year-old, “interview me like a journalist” and you see a short, imagined autobiography by Stalin in his responses. A four-hour read by a couple of not-so-great narrators, really a lazy excuse of a book, but I suppose Littell has to make a living; nevertheless, very thin gruel.

I thought there was going to be some sort of story line involving the NKVD thug Leon shoots, you know, the NKVD comes sniffing around and almost finds out but doesn’t, that kind of thing....but nothing, they shoot him and dump his body in a swimming pool on -2 and that’s it....feels like Littell just gave up on writing a plotted novel and settled for a half-baked retelling of any one of an actual, ripped-off biography.

I got the Trump/Stalin parallels as I was reading the book. The Make Russia Great Again references at the end were unnecessary and, to me, betrayed a once first-rate suspense writer no longer in possession of his full powers.

The one interesting aspect of the book was the author’s attempt to humanize Stalin who comes across as ornery, bad-tempered and manipulative, but human and committed to his revolutionary ideals. At the very end of the book, Leon muses that the Hitler-Stalin pact was a necessary evil from Stalin’s point of view and that Stalin was the indispensable force that defeated Hitler and the Nazis. Maybe he was. ( )

Robert Littell, the prominent America spy novelist, has, in "Comrade Koba," deviated from the traditional spy narrative and provided a brilliantly imaginative view of Stalin's Russia through the eyes of an innocent, though prodigiously brilliant, ten year old boy. The novel abounds in detailed historical allusions and presents a unique point of view of one of the most enigmatic figures of modern history.

Leon’s mother has been arrested by the KGB. Leon is hiding in his apartment complex, The House On the Embankment. He comes across an old man’s apartment one day. This man is heavily guarded but somehow Leon manages to meet the man and they strike up a “friendship”.

I enjoyed reading this point of view about Stalin or Koba, as he is known in this novel. It is extremely unique and interesting. I did not think the author got the children quite right though. I am not exactly sure what is missing. This story also leaves you wanting more at the end. I have mixed feelings about books which do this. However, this left enough to the imagination to determine Leon’s future.

This was not the book I expected when I started reading. I always just barely scan the blurb of a book. I saw the words Stalin and Russia and thought…GREAT… a change of pace. And this was! It was a wonderful change of pace for me. It is very well researched and rich with history. And I am a little torn with looking at Stalin the man and not Stalin the dictator. Very unique indeed.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

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Comrade Koba by Robert Littell is a novel in which a child, hiding in Communist Russia from the NKVD, meets an old man who is a high ranking government official, and the two strike a strange friendship. Mr. Littell is a published author and journalist who specializes in spy novels.

Leon Rozental is a Jewish kid, son of a heroic nuclear physicist who gave his life to save many, and a doctor. Leon’s problem? He is living in Stalinist Russia where the purge of Jewish doctors has begun and his mother, even though the widow of a hero, has been arrested.

Leon hides from the NKVD in secret rooms in a large building in Moscow. One day he meets an old man, Koba, who lives in the building and his a high ranking office in the Soviet government with insight into the internal workings of the bureaucracy in general, and Stalin specifically.

This book attempts to explain the Stalinist regime to ten year olds, a certain smart ten year old at that. I felt that this was a smart tool to explain to everyone what happened during Joseph Stalin’s reign and make a complicated and nuanced part of history, a bit simpler.

There are parts of Comrade Koba by Robert Littell which are far-fetched, such as a group of kids whose parents been arrested surviving in Moscow, evading the NKVD. I have had to suspend my belief in reality for far more unbelievable series of events, however, than told in this book. The book goes back and forth between Leon hiding in an empty building with his friends, whose parents have also been hiding, and his “interview” with Koba. A few chapters are told from the point of view of Isabeau, Leon’s friend, which help “sell” the story of Leon and how his friends slowly believe his outlandish adventure. Besides that Isabeau’s chapters don’t move the story along, but there aren’t many and I thought they brought in a different, valuable, perspective to the novel.

It is unclear what role Koba plays in Stalin’s government, except that he is a very high, and admired advisor. Koba, like Stalin, also came from Georgia and, like Stalin, excuses the crimes which the regime commits as a path to a greater “worker’s paradise”. It is a very interesting exercise to explain such concepts to an audience, especially if they’re ten year olds. Koba, at points, seem to be trying to convince himself of the deeds he is a part of, instead of convincing Leon. Asking question after question, Leon doesn’t let Koba get away with propaganda talks, especially when it comes to his mother (and the mothers of his friends in hiding). At times, Koba gets frustrated because there simply isn’t enough words in the world to justify these crimes.

This book was short and a very fast read, I found it interesting even though, I believe, it was not meant for my age group, but more towards that of Leon’s. I know that when I was around that age, these are the type of books I enjoyed very much. ( )