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The Madonnas of Leningrad A Novel Debra Dean Books

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The Madonnas of Leningrad A Novel Debra Dean Books

This is a thoughtful exploration of an elderly woman with dementia. Her story is told through frequent flashbacks she has of growing up in WW II Leningrad. The story makes one think, how well do we really know our own parents, who had a history before we were born, who were once young and vibrant and full of hope. What do we really know of their stories, especially the immigrants, many of who fled horrible situations before coming to this country. The story touches on the adult children coping with the demands of caring for their mother while watching her slip away into her own world. You feel kind of bad for them because as the book unfolds it becomes apparent that they never really knew their parents well. As one brother remarked to his sister, "You know how Mom and Dad are. They always played their hands close to their chest." Sad for them, because Marina was an interesting woman who lived a fascinating life.


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The Madonnas of Leningrad A Novel Debra Dean Books Reviews

Because I had been to St. Petersburg and the Hermitage, and because I watched a close relative literally lose herself to dementia, this book spoke to me in a very deep way. I understood utterly when on the eve of a family wedding and asked whether she was ready for the big day the next day, Marina replies, “Tomorrow comes, ready or not,” and you know she is doing her best to cover up that she has no memory of the coming event but invents a response sure to please and not offend. (And that is how it works at least in the beginning before aphasia sets in). Marina gets lost trying to find a bathroom. She is leaving this life but what stays real in her imagination are the splendid portraits of the madonnas which hung in the great museum in what was then Leningrad. She cannot remember a single detail about today, but she knows the location and colors of, say, Raphael’s Conestible and the Holy Family. I found myself accessing Wikipedia so I could see what Marina could see in her mind’s eye. When the nearly 400 rooms in the museum are empty because the treasures are hidden to protect them from destruction or capture, Marina can guide a person through the spaces remembering details of what once was there. We may not like the czars and their pograms, but it is hard not to like the vast and splendid collection of paintings held in their Treasure House. When Debra Dean visited the Hermitage, she wondered whether in fact the museum was the greatest in the world, and the director modesty responded that he didn’t know, but then he immodestly added that it was second to none. The empty frames on walls remind Americans of the heist at the Isabella Steward Garnder museum in Boston; art lovers will both lament and appreciate how art lingers long. And, I understood so much better my relative’s post-war memories which changed them in various ways. And I thought about how blue was the most common color for Mary’s cloaks because blue, made from lapis lazuli, was the most precious and expensive color. That is a metaphor for this book—to use an overworked word, it is a gem. It might be classed as a novel, but it felt real to me.
I appreciated this eloquent tour of the Hermitage by someone able to describle every work of art in there during the Seige of Leningrad with such detail. Marina took me there to see each one vividly, personally. The author must surely be an artist herself. What I'd have liked a little more of, though, would be to know more about Marina herself, how she got to America, her later-life story in general. She jumps from young woman to elderly Alzheimers victim with no details between. I like books that teach me things I didn't know before. This one made me do research on that terrible time in that place, and left me wondering what eventually became of the masterpieces she suggests Stalin sold--and wonder if he really did. Very much appreciated it.
What an odd book? The main character lives most of her days in WWII St. Petersburg, during the shelling of the city. Her current life in Seattle doesn't bear much reality for her. Instead, she wanders the rooms of the Hermitage, remembering paintings and sculptures, and the boy who loved her. She remembers and relives the deprivation, the lack of everything...food, heat, water, showers, family. As her children and husband struggle with her apparent absence from the mundane Now, she struggles with the past, reliving those momentous, historical times. Instead of being a sorrowful look at an Alzheimers patient, we see the richness and enormity of this life lived again. It's a dreamy novel where the sharp edges of time and reality fade and in and out.
I loved this book! For a first book, Debra Dean wrote an excellent novel. Our Book Club seems to have been drawn to books about Russia and its Revolution. We made a trip to our city's Museum of Russian Art, and heard a presentation on the Siege of Leningrad. We had read the excellent book, "A Gentleman of Moscow." So we were more than ready to read of characters (though imaginary) who worked in the Hermitage. Without being maudlin, Dean covers the horrors of life in wartime. Her character Marina gives vivid descriptions of the amazing works of art in the Hermitage, and creates pictures of them in her mind, so as not to forget them.... My mother was found to have Alzheimer's Disease when she was 50 years old. She had been a near-concert pianist, excellent seamstress, took ballet lessons, and was a voracious reader. My father labeled our cabinets so she could find the spices, the cups... He learned how to put some makeup on Mom, though she was already beautiful. This truly is a cruel disease, and it was so painful to watch her lose so many memories. Dean covered Marina's descent into Alzheimer's with dignity and respect.
This is a thoughtful exploration of an elderly woman with dementia. Her story is told through frequent flashbacks she has of growing up in WW II Leningrad. The story makes one think, how well do we really know our own parents, who had a history before we were born, who were once young and vibrant and full of hope. What do we really know of their stories, especially the immigrants, many of who fled horrible situations before coming to this country. The story touches on the adult children coping with the demands of caring for their mother while watching her slip away into her own world. You feel kind of bad for them because as the book unfolds it becomes apparent that they never really knew their parents well. As one brother remarked to his sister, "You know how Mom and Dad are. They always played their hands close to their chest." Sad for them, because Marina was an interesting woman who lived a fascinating life.