Read: ‘The Madonnas of Leningrad’
BOOK: The Madonnas of Leningrad
AUTHOR: Debra Dean
TIME: World War II Russia
RATING: 5/5 Cups of Tea!
This is a beautifully told story which weaves the past and present together between the Nazi’s horrific onslaught on Leningrad in 1941 when Marina was a young Russian woman, and decades later, where we find a much older Marina in the throes of early Alzheimer’s Disease.
The author’s extensive historical research regarding the siege itself and its consequences, as well as her remarkable description of the Hermitage and its artworks, will be much appreciated by all readers.
And just as importantly, Ms. Dean shows great sensitivity in allowing readers access inside the world of a woman with Alzheimer’s. The reader is able to get a grasp on understanding that what others see as making no sense, is in fact, perfectly rational to someone like Marina’s way of thinking.
The book opens with Marina standing in the Hermitage Museum’s Spanish Skylight Hall, describing in detail to starving museum residents, magnificent paintings that are no longer hanging in the gilded frames on the walls.
The readers then turn the page to discover it is the present time (the book was published in 2006) and Marina is standing at her kitchen sink. Inside her mind, she has been transported back to 1941 when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage, and the Germans have begun the unthinkable 900 day siege of Leningrad.
The story is told through these recollections of Marina, now an old woman, as early Alzheimer’s has already started to erase memories from her current life more than 50 years later.
Without giving too much away, this book provides an in-depth perspective of the WWII Siege of Leningrad, highlighting the strength and resilience of human nature. It blends art and life by showcasing the Hermitage and its art in a powerful and provocative way. And the author takes us through the ravages of Alzheimer’s, a cruel disease she treats with dignity and respect.
I absolutely loved this book. Five cups of tea!
Karen’s Bottom Line: This Book Made Me…
Weep for those dealing with the reality of having loved ones suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease. I’ve heard this sickness called “the long goodbye”. I felt the frustration Marina’s family experienced longing for some sort of breakthrough understanding where their loved one had gone. I imagined them wanting just a glimpse of the person they remembered.
Feel motivated to learn more about the relationship between Germany and Russia during World War II, and to understand in what way that shaped how the countries and their relationships with one another have evolved through the years.
Get inspired to visit St. Petersburg, walk the streets Marina walked, and imagine what it must have been like during the war.
Want to learn more about the paintings Marina brought so eloquently to life and stand before them myself at the Hermitage.
Appreciate what unthinkable suffering, challenges, and horrors others manage to live through with such resourcefulness, compassion, determination, bravery, and honor.
Have a desire to make my own Memory Palace.
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WATCH: Documentary on Nazi art theft in WWII: ‘The Rape of Europa’