When the Gods Are Silent

A Soviet writer who "chose freedom" publishes in translation here, where he has recently come from an Austrian DP camp, a novel the scope of which defies concentration of space to report. To readers who wish they could put themselves in the place of a youth growing up in 20th century Russia, experiencing each turn of the wheel of revolution and dictatorship, and ultimately descending into the pit of disillusion - here is an opportunity. Politics- history - the firing and destruction of faith in an ideal- played out against 30 years in the life of a tenant farmer. The 1905 uprising, the First World War, the Revolution, the Second World War- each costs the lives of sons, until only Mark, the youngest, survives. Promises of a better life from the Kremlin can no longer sustain him- but his choice to stay is made "because my place is here, on Russian soil....God will bring forth another sunrise in the east". There is romance and intense emotional upheaval here, but the turgid Russian pace seems at times long-drawn out, difficult reading. Once compassed, the reader has gained insight. But for this reader, the book is not the War and Peace of the publisher's claims. (Kirkus Reviews)