Confessions of a Lapsed Standard-bearer - Tapa dura

'In spite of the harsh background there is nothing depressing about Makine's work. He shows how tenderness and humour can alleviate human distress, his poetic use of language illuminating everything he writes' The Good Book Guide 'Makine masterfully illuminates some very dark corners' Zulfikar Abbany, The Times "A beautiful piece of work, as good as Chekhov...a superb achievement...You will be lucky if you happen upon a better book than this'...Scarcely more than a novella, this story of a boy growing up in the Khrushchev years and later serving in Afghanistan, is truthful, nostalgic, and moving. Makine is as good as anyone writing today' Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'Perhaps his most exquisitely wrought work. It is one of those books that proceed almost sotto voce, as its author quietly lays his groundwork; then it grabs your mind and heart and never lets go...Mr Makine fashions a tale of remarkable strength and poignancy...He is a poet of the meaning that lies in the discrepancy between the 'ideological torrent' as Alyosha calls it, and the ordinary struggle of ordinary people to live ordinary lives...brillliant...Russia may be past for Mr Makine, but he continues to find ways of remembering it that produce novels striking in their depth and beauty' Richard Bernstein, The New York Times 'It is easy to understand Makine's success. He writes lyrically, with an intensity that appeals to all our senses. He is adept at evoking both the everyday - men playing dominoes in the courtyard - and the extraordinary' -- Robert Chandler, Independent 'Wonderfully sharp, sensuous imagery and delicate delineation of feeling...a moving and gripping story' -- Derwent May, The Times 'A glory and a dream' 'Makine is a master word-painter and, even in translation, you can admire his precise brush-work...it has the panoramic sweep of the great Russian novels of the nineteenth century' -- David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'A beautiful piece of work, as good as Chekhov...a superb achievement...You will be lucky if you happen upon a better book than this' -- Allan Massie, The Scotsman 'Stunning ... the lasting impression from this excellent novel is one of hope' NEW REVIEW

Addressing himself to his childhood friend Arkadi from exile in Paris, Alyosha recreates their happy years in a village commune outside Leningrad in the 60s, when the sky was always blue and each summer they marched with drum and trumpet at communist youth camp, their eyes set on the glorious future promised by the propaganda machine - until they learnt the full horror of what their parents had suffered during the war and under Stalin, and began to see through the lies.