Life and fate
by Vasiliĭ Semenovich Grossman · first published 1986
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Sprawling WWII novel often compared to War and Peace, praised for its wide view of society, serious moral debate and its unflinching account of totalitarianism; suits readers who enjoy large historical fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
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…it justice; O'Brian's great inspiration was Jane Austen, and the focus is on characters and people, particularly the brilliantly contrasting personalities of the two main characters. Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate. Like Tolstoy's War and Peace, but set in Russia during WWII. Explores the dark heart of the 20th century (the Battle of Stalingrad, concentration camps, the gulag) through the eyes of a wide cast of…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman Russian epic following multiple characters through WW2. It shows how serious, good people can have very different and legitimate views on life; It characterises some eternal types…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2014?” ↗Hard to choose one, but others haven't so neither will I. Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate. It's the War and Peace of the second world war. All aspects of society and human relations are touched upon in profound ways. It's been a long time since my last (re)read; a lot of the particulars are…
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite novel? Why?” ↗I'm currently reading a remarkable novel modeled after War and Peace: Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate https://www.nyrb.com/products/life-and-fate?variant=10949301... It's astonishingly good, both as literature and as an indictment of war and totalitarianism, and I'd recommend it to anyone who loves…
on “On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”” ↗Hi everyone! As a serious reader, how important are discussions for you? I love reading and I often find myself in the following situation: 1) Read a really great book i.e., Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman (amazing read btw, 10/10 would recommend) 2) Find someone to have meaningful, deep discussions with (someone who has also read the book) 3) Profit. Unfortunately, #3 comes rarely.…
on “Ask HN: As serious readers, how important are discussions for you?” ↗…the work[6] To finish I will give 7 books, very well known, but they wont always appear in, say a reddit top 100 books or whatever: 1. The tartar steppe. Dino Buzzati 2. Pedro Paramo. Juan Rulfo. 3. Life and fate.Vasily Grossman 4.Memoirs of Hadrian. Marguerite Yourcenar 5. The book of disquiet. Fernando Pessoa 6. The House of the Sleeping Beauties. Yasunari Kawabata. 7. Midaq Alley. Naguib Mahfouz [1]http://www.complete-review.com/main/main.html [2]http://www.complete-review.com/main/main.html [3]https://larepubliquedeslivres.com/ [4]https://www.clarin.com/tema/libros-recomendados.html [5]https://web.archive.org/web/20130401045155/http://www.themod... [6]https://4chanlit.fandom.com/wiki/Recommended_Reading/Literat...
on “Good Books for a Lousy Year” ↗Seconded; Life and Fate is a wonderful novel, and the only viable literary response to the Holocaust that I've read. Grossman's Writer at War is also excellent, and IMHO mandatory for anyone interested in WWII. His chapter on…
on “On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”” ↗I also recommend Vasily Grossman's books. Life and Fate, Stalingrad, Everything Flows, etc. Life and Fate is one of the most powerful books I've read. https://www.nyrb.com/products/life-and-fate?_pos=1&_sid=f10e...
on “David Dushman, last surviving Auschwitz liberator, dies aged 98” ↗Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman is a fascinating of samizdat. Never published it during his lifetime, it was smuggled out of the USSR on microfilm and now its considered one of the great novels of the 20th century
on “Samizdat” ↗If you liked war and peace, you should check out grossman’s life and fate, it’s WWII’s version, fantastic. And blacklisted by the soviet government because critical of it.
on “On Fyodor Dostoevsky’s the Brothers Karamazov” ↗Life and Fate is a truly incredible book - readable, thought provoking and deeply moving. Wildly underappreciated. There's also an excellent translation with light commentary of Grossman's journalistic notes and articles…
on “Reading Grossman's “Stalingrad” and ”Life and Fate”” ↗Not sure if I would call him the greatest writer of the 20th century, but "Life and Fate" is fantastic. It's a shame that he isn't more recognized in English. Great that NYRB books published him again.
on “The Achievement of Vasily Grossman” ↗Another comment mentioned Grossman, I put Life and Fate down after a particularly brutal, yet humanising scene. I do want to get back to it, it was just all too much. I don’t have the appropriate callouses to tolerate war in the same way. Conrad McCarthy…
on “Brutality of Life Reading List” ↗…Phillips Currently reading: Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous Financial Shenanigans by Howard M. Schilit Up next: Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman These Truths by Jill Lepore Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms by Shalev Shwartz and Ben David
on “Ask HN: Which book do you want to read next?” ↗