Life and Fate: The Complete Series (Dramatised)

De: Vasily Grossman

Narrado por: Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant, Raquel Cassidy, Greta Scacchi, Adrian Scarborough, Alex Tregear, full cast

Kenneth Branagh stars in BBC Radio 4's ambitious eight-hour dramatisation of Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman's epic masterpiece set during the Battle of Stalingrad. This powerful work, completed in 1960, charts the fate of both a nation and a family in the turmoil of war. Its comparison of Stalinism with Nazism was considered by Soviet authorities to be so dangerous that the KGB placed the manuscript under arrest and Grossman was informed his book would not be published for at least 200 years.

Having been a household name as one of Russia's most distinguished war correspondents, Grossman died aged 58 - the banning of his book hastening the end of his life - and he would never know the fate of his masterpiece: smuggled out of the Soviet Union on microfilm, to freedom and eventual publication in the West. Today it is increasingly hailed as the most important Russian novel of the 20th century.

©2011 AudioGO Ltd (P)2011 AudioGO Ltd

Soviets gonna Soviet

Great story. Too much volume variation. English accent for Russians is just a little off.

Great

Philosophical reflections on an extermination war that was directed against ethnical groups Slavic and Jewish, a reflection on humanity and propaganda.

A 20th Century War and Peace

Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate is a phenomenal book on par with Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Sweeping, epic, gripping, it is not only one of the greatest Russian novels of the 20th century, but one of the greatest novels the world has produced in the last century, The realism of the dialogue and sound effects in this sumptuous BBC radio production astounded me. I’m glad activists smuggled this manuscript out of Russia in microfilm so that the world could finally read what the Russians tried so hard to suppress.

Very well performed!

One of the most important literature of 20th century, also my favorite title of this month. Recommend to all who've read the book.

Painfully well done

I had a bit of a struggle following the thread of the story between the characters, however the narration skills of these amazing actors overcame this difficulty for the most part. As indicated in other reviews, the story is unrelentingly grim, realistic, and painful to listen to because of its adherence to accurate portrayal of individual experiences in World War II.