Also been reading October by Mieville. It's the story of the Russian revolution, month by month over 1917.
I thought I would like this more, but maybe I'm missing something. Mieville is normally a science fiction author, but has a few toes dipped into European communist publications, I believe. In any case, you'd think with that combo, you'd get a really compelling and informative read of the Russian revolution that I'd be lapping up like a little doggy. But no.
Maybe I have some responsibility in this: something in me lately has been wanting to read about politicians getting their disgusting faces smashed in with bullets and various heavy objects. There's not really enough of that in the book. I know it's important to be historically accurate, but maybe he could have spent more time on the face-smashing bits. Seems like there's too many names/characters that are inconsequential to the narrative, too many sections that get too writerly, which I find embarrassing and uncouth.
Been thumbing through Avrich's The Russian Anarchists and that seems a bit more my vibe. The paragraphs are clear. The prose, though nothing fancy, is generous in a way I do not see in Mieville. The face-smashing appears to be evenly paced.
