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The Madonnas of Leningrad: A Novel |  | Author: Debra Dean
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
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Seller: Value Promenade
Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 3885
Media: Paperback
Pages: 231
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0060825316
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780060825317
ASIN: 0060825316
Publication Date: February 19, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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. . . .
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 95
 Art transcends war March 14, 2006
Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA)
118 out of 120 found this review helpful
As a young woman, Marina worked as a museum guide at the Hermitage in Leningrad. When war broke out and the Germans invaded the city, Marina and her comrades were tasked with removing the museum's priceless treasures and storing them safely away. During the 900 days of siege, the city residents faced devastation, starvation, and cold. The Hermitage's basement became Marina's refuge. The empty picture frames gracing its exhibition halls contained echoes of its former art, providing a distraction that helped Marina survive the horrors of war. Now living in Seattle, Marina is an elderly woman who is sinking into dementia. About to attend her granddaughter's wedding, her past overtakes the present and she is living in a muddled world of war, beauty, and the struggle for survival.
"The Madonnas of Leningrad" is a beautifully written and richly layered debut novel. Author Debra Dean achieves the daunting task of juxtaposing the horrors of war with the timeless beauty of art. She seamlessly interweaves Marina's flashbacks with present-day family activities. The descriptions of the deteriorating living conditions and the slow erosion of hope turning to despair are so realistic that the reader is transported to the besieged city to suffer along with its residents. There are touching scenes of grown children struggling to cope with the infirmities of their aging parents. This is also a story of love between Marina and Dmitri; it's a love that spans the years, from their youthful separation during the war to their golden years, when Dmitri must cope with Marina's declining mental faculties. There is even a touch of humor here and there too, such as when Marina reflects on the official Communist Party verbiage used to describe the bourgeois society depicted in the art masterpieces. With such a wide variety of themes and imagery here, all expertly crafted into a modest-sized story, this book is a must-read.
Eileen Rieback
Why isn't this book a Number One Bestseller???? May 6, 2006
Maudeen Wachsmith (Port Townsend, WA)
30 out of 31 found this review helpful
What a magnificent read this was! I am resisting the urge to start reading it again right away only because I have so many on my nightstand that I want to read. But this will be one to be read again sooner than later. I found myself spending so much time looking up the works of art mentioned in the book and the Hermitage Museum website that it took much longer than it should have to read this 228 page book. It is so beautifully written I found myself reading passages over and over again and marking pages with any scrap of paper I had handy. I see it was tied for #1 Booksense pick for April. A pretty good hallmark of an excellent read.
This is an amazing story of a woman with Alzheimer's disease, so many times described as "the long goodbye" and most notable in the following passage, "She is leaving him, not all at once, which would be painful enough, but in a wrenching succession of separations. One moment she is here, and then she is gone again, and each journey takes her a little farther from his reach. He cannot follow her, and he wonders where she goes when she leaves."
The only thing a bit off-putting was the naming of an island in the San Juans "Drake" island when there is no such island (when the author uses so many other real places) but I believe it was actually San Juan Island where I have visited many times, most recently last August. That is such a small quibble.
This is such an outstanding book. I only regret I can't afford to buy one to give to everyone I know.
An exquisite novel! March 30, 2006
Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Debra Dean's debut novel, The Madonnas of Leningrad, is exquisite.
Marina is a docent for the Leningrad's famed Heritage Museum. No one but its director is doing any planning in case the German bombs start falling. He has already numbered all the artwork and assembled packing materials. As the Germans mover closer and closer, Marina and her fellow workers begin to dismantle the artworks. The only thing they leave behind are the painting's frames--representing victory for the Allied Army.
As war creeps closer, Marina and her family, along with the remaining staff and their families, move into the museum to escape the impending siege and the harshest winter in memory. It is during the packing that one of the babushkas encourages Marina to construct her own "memory palace"--a place where she can retreat when the hard times get harder. This isn't difficult as Marina knows which painting is located in which room and hung in which frame on which wall.
Ironically, sixty plus years later in modern America, Marina is losing her memory, falling victim to Alzheimer's. She and her husband Dmitri, who somehow miraculously survived the war, are heading to their granddaughter's wedding. Marina barely remembers she has children, much less grown grandchildren, and that she lives in America.
Memories kept her alive and now a memory-eating disease is taking her away. Dean paints vivid pictures of the cold, the fright, the hunger of WWII Russian and juxtaposes them against a cold, frightening illness. The writing is as crisp as the cold air that whips through the Heritage's blown-out skylights. The setting moves so easily between 1941 and present time that I feel I am experiencing Marina's illness with her.
Near the novel's end, Marina takes a group of young soldier boys on a tour. As she leads them through the dirty, dark, empty building, the great works of art, in their rich, vibrant colors, are once again on display--and this reader was in awe. I loved it!
Armchair Interviews says: Anyone who loved Jonathan Hull's Losing Julia will find The Madonnas of Leningrad as beautiful and enriching.
"joy or grief, eventually they are inseparable" September 1, 2007
doc peterson (Portland, Oregon USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
_The Madonnas of Leningrad_ shows us the world through the eyes of a survivor of the seige of Leningrad, both as it was happening to Marina in 1941, and as it was remembered by an 82 year-old Marina suffering from Alzheimer's. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful story, as Dean vividly describes not only the magnificence of the Hermitage (and its artwork), but also the struggles Marina faces as both a young woman and a crone.
I was particularly struck by the way Dean allowed me to see through the eyes of a woman with Alzheimer's - what Marina's husband, daughter, or construction workers saw as nonsensical, was, in fact, logical to what was going on in Marina's mind. The ebb and flow between time and place, the gradual loss of ones self, and the child-like wonder of someone suffering from dementia were humanely portrayed. Recommended.
A good read on several levels. March 9, 2007
pattycake (Texas)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This first time novel was a reward to read not only for the history and the love story but also for the story between aging parents and children. While some readers did not appreciate the time shifts from the present to WWII and back, I found that it was a necessary and important device to help the reader understand Marina's dementia. The descriptions of the Hermitage and the Winter Palace transport the reader straight to wartorn Leningrad. It was a joy to read and I look forward to the author's next work.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 95
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