The three ‘S’s of happinesss
A dulcet and sibilant summary of the source of felicity. Wishing you thrice times blessings of slumber, sunshine and sweets....
Torment-filled pupil
This doesn't refer to a struggling school child but rather the traumatic last moments of a horse in a war...
Dogs of war
How clever these creatures, able to distinguish between the sound of planes that unleash havoc and so should be hidden...
A thousand years of history
On the centenary of the October Revolution, I wonder how Russians today would feel about this terse statement by Grossman.
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Good versus kind
The 800 pages of Grossman's splendid Life and Fate is occasionally interlarded with heartfelt asides by the author, including pleas...
Like atoms of radium
A fine metaphor for dots of kindness shining through darkness; Grossman's hope for the future is largely vested in the...
Communing with the cosmos
Glorious moment in this splendid, human novel: an army officer camped somewhere on the steppe enjoys a moment of embracing...
As simple as…
A simile that deserves to enter daily use. But was Newton’s thought simple? Yes and no…
‘… as simple as...
A noble, ancient world
A beautiful, gentle challenge to any perception of the steppe as being some sort of endless emptiness. Here we find...
Of eyes that saw too much
This is part of a detailed, detached account of what happened when people entered a gas chamber, as experienced by...
Cast-iron sun
A surprising image, as if the sun itself were cast in Vulcan's smithy, a great sizzling shield of liquified iron.
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How to strangle an author
The life and fate of Grossman's manuscript hung in the balance after being arrested by the authorities. He never knew...
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