Having already read several books for WIT, I hadn’t necessarily intended to pick up another one. However, the best laid plans… Earlier in the year, I took part in a Twitter readalong of Olga Zilberbourg’s “Like Water and Other Stories” which was co-ordinated by the lovely Reem (Paper Pills) @ReemK10. She’s indefatigable when it comes to organising these events and when she announced one for this book, I had to join in. The work is questions is “Klotsvog” by Margarita Khemlin, translated by Lisa C. Hayden, and it turned out to be a powerful read.
“Klotsvog” was issued in 2019 by the Russian Library imprint of Columbia University Press, and I was lucky enough to win it in a Twitter giveaway by the lovely @Rustransdark group at the University of Exeter. It arrived just as the first lockdown took hold, and somehow, I hadn’t got round to picking it up; however this was the perfect time to do so, and as always, having reading buddies really enhanced the experience. I confess, however, that I got to a point when I couldn’t stick to the ten or so pages a day and made my way to the end of the book – and was left a bit stunned and breathless. Let me try to explain why…
As a direct person, I myself never drop any hints and don’t welcome it when others drop them in my direction.
The book is narrated by Maya Abramovna Klotsvog, who introduces herself in the first paragraph with the statement that her name is not important: “what’s important is how somebody made life’s journey…”. Born of a Jewish family in 1930, her memories of her early life are given fairly briefly; having been evacuated during the ‘Great Patriotic War’ with her mother, they survived the conflict (although her father did not) and Maya manages some schooling and then finds a job in bank. This does not go so well, so she enrolls in evening classes – which is where things go wrong and Maya starts on her winding path through life. An affair with a married teacher leads to pregnancy; searching for a way to deal with this, she marries an older man, convincing him of his paternity. Her son Mishenka is born; she moves on to another husband, palming her son off on relatives; then there is a daughter, and another man. All of Maya’s life seems to consist of scheming, manipulating other people and constantly trying to improve her lot, find a nicer home and control what happens around her. However, none of this brings her happiness – in fact, in the end all she will find is heartache, and also that it’s impossible to deny what you are.
…my child will never speak Jewish. That’s for his own benefit. And don’t pretend you don’t understand. Jewish words cost you nothing. But oh, they could cost him so much. They could bring him death.
On first look, Maya Klotsvog is a shocking and awful person. Her narrative is focused entirely on her own needs, her own feelings and what she’s had to do to survive – she in fact seems proud of it. There are constant self-justifications, regular betrayals, twisting of facts and what seems like a total misreading of the reality around her. She describes herself as a teacher, even though she’s never really taught a class; however, her constant interference in the education of her children, where she describes herself as talking to the teachers ‘pedagogue to pedagogue’, make you cringe at her insensitivity and lack of self-awareness. She is, perhaps, the ultimate unreliable narrator because she has no idea how other people perceive her.
What she also fails to recognise is the effect she has on other people. Everyone close to her is eventually pushed away, and even those who love her can’t stay near her. Her hardness and lack of warmth are quite stunning, and although I felt sympathy for most of the adults who encountered her, it was the children who I felt suffered most at first. Manipulated, abandoned, shuffled from pillar to post, lied to – what a life.
And yet… “Klotsvog” is a subtle and nuanced piece of writing, and as I read I recognised that Maya is someone who desperately needs to control the people and surroundings she encounters on a daily basis, as the wider picture is out of her control. She’s almost OCD in her need to have things exactly as she wants them, and I suspect that her whole life is entirely driven by fear; having made it through the war and with knowledge of the Holocaust, Klotsvog is aware that she is vulnerable as a Jew in the Soviet Union, and her ghastly behaviour throughout the book comes from a need to survive. The book never spells out the horrors of the Nazi ‘final solution’, but it’s there under the surface and in little references which slip into the narrative. As Lara Vapnyar points out in her introduction, Stalin had his own plan for something similar; Jewish people were not safe in the Soviet Union, and as time moves on and Klotsvog grows older, anti-semitism seems to be becoming more prevalent. It’s hard to like Maya as a character initially, and her behaviour is reprehensible, but I came to understand her and in the end pity her.
…she’s scared. She’s scared because she ended up Jewish. All children are afraid of the dark. And Jewishness is akin to the dark for children if they don’t engage with it.
Because, as a character, she certainly makes the bed in which she ends up lying. Her behaviour not only alienates all those around her, it also enables the creation of one of the most disturbing child characters I’ve ever come across. I don’t want to reveal too much about this plot strand for those who might read the book, but let’s just say that considering the kind of children in Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four” might give you the idea. I found this whole element absolutely chilling and I still haven’t recovered from the horror of it. Maya’s reaction to this child is not always rational, and definitely exacerbates things – but still, nobody really deserves that.
I started reading Klotsvog close on the heels of Petrushevskaya’s “The Girl from the Metropol Hotel” and there were a surprising amount of resonances between the two stories, as both narrators were outcasts and outsiders, whether because of their political history or Jewish heritage. However, although both stories are told in mostly measured prose, the Sovietspeak and repeated phrases which creep into Maya’s language perhaps reflects the constraints under which she lived all those years. What could be seen as a book length exercise in self-justification certainly goes much deeper than that.
“Klotsvog” is translated by the always excellent Lisa C. Hayden, who brings her expertise and knowledge of the Soviet world to the book with marvellous results. Her friendship with the late author also adds a poignant edge, and Vapnyar’s introduction is also a emotional one. This really is a work which brings forth all kinds of feelings.
Well, I could go on and on about this book, and there is so much more which could be said, but I’ll stop here. Suffice to say, “Klotsvog” is a powerful and unforgettable book, Maya is a monstrous yet ultimately tragic creation; this was a wonderful book with which to round off #WITMonth and thanks so much to Reem for organising the readalong which nudged me into picking up the book!
Aug 28, 2021 @ 15:13:03
I can’t imagine how anyone short of a saint could have emerged from Maya’s background morally or intellectually unscathed; this doesn’t (of course) excuse her behavior but does explain it. Subtle of the author, to show how awful events so frequently make awful people and that suffering doesn’t necessarily ennoble.
I love unreliable narrators and its sounds like Maya carries this device to the nth degree! Did the novel contain any black humor to lighten the tragedy? That “pedagogue to pedagogue” conversation could have been quite funny . . . .
Aug 28, 2021 @ 15:26:23
No, I don’t think ‘excuse’ is what you’re expected to do – instead, I think it’s understanding that’s needed. She has a vile time though it doesn’t get laid on with a trowel – you’re often reading behind the lines – but the world she lives in *is* ghastly. As for humour, there is some dryness in the narration, yes – but unfortunately you’re also often squirming at the same time. It’s not an unenjoyable book though – but so paintful in places and you do feel for the children…
Aug 28, 2021 @ 17:56:32
This was a book I started last spring and then had to put aside – wrong timing. But it’s one that will get picked up again, Maya’s story and fierce will to survive especially in the place and time she lived in are too intriguing not to. Though I’m kind of dreading finding out about the children…
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:51:22
I think timing would definitely be important with this one – Maya’s an unforgettably and driven character. As for the children, as I said in another comment there’s nothing graphic, but it’s the emotional warping that’s the thing…
Aug 28, 2021 @ 20:23:18
You get across the power in this character study really well, and its placement in a known period and political situation seem to give it a near biographical feel. But I’m now intrigued about the children…
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:50:28
Well, nothing graphically awful happens to them – but I guess they represent how a system and indeed bad parenting can warp people and their relationships. There’s an awful lot going on beneath the surface in this book…
Aug 28, 2021 @ 21:28:04
Gosh, I can see why this one stopped you in your tracks so to speak. It certainly sounds disturbing in some ways. I suppose it’s difficult for us to imagine what effect growing up as she did might have. Great review.
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:49:30
It’s a powerful book, yet incredibly readable – so brilliantly written. And yes, you’re right – her past is responsible for so much of her later behaviour.
Aug 28, 2021 @ 22:19:01
another wonderful review — thank you! being a survivor is a full-time job….
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:48:55
Thank you! It definitely is, if my recent reads are anything to go by…
Aug 29, 2021 @ 02:03:42
Your reviews are an invaluable guide. Thank-you.
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:48:34
Very kind – most welcome! 😀
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:55:25
Amazing review & ( sigh!) I am off to buy this one. I have not been very experimental with unreliable or disturbing narrators; the need to “like” or at the very least understand the character is important for my enjoyment. But I do realise this is limiting and art like life consists of many kind. So I will try another attempt at a different narrative.
Aug 29, 2021 @ 15:58:09
Ermmm, sorry… I think you may well end up understanding the narrator, even if her behaviour is reprehensible. Her setting and circumstances and background explain a lot, and the regime she lives under would unsettle anyone…
Aug 29, 2021 @ 17:01:22
Yeah… that’s how I titled my review of this as well! This is probably the best example of an unreliable narrator I’ve ever read. Okay, so it is a bit obvious, but it does make its point. I really enjoyed this, no matter how much I disliked her.
Aug 29, 2021 @ 17:19:33
It’s surprising how enjoyable this book was despite the subject matter and the narrator – it certainly was a window on what it was like to live through that time and regime as a Jewish woman.
Aug 30, 2021 @ 09:49:52
Sounds like a powerful read, and also had the best translator possible by the sounds of it. Fab cover, too.
Aug 30, 2021 @ 12:12:36
It really is – quite unforgettable. And the perfect translator!
Sep 03, 2021 @ 08:32:18
This sounds such a tough read and so immensely powerful. Your review reminded me of a documentary I watched a few years back about the children of Holocaust survivors – this sounds similar in themes. It was a tough watch.
Sep 03, 2021 @ 10:50:21
It’s hard in its subject matter although not in the way it’s written. But they’re not times I would wish to have lived through even without having Jewish heritage – with it, it seemed to be a constant balancing act…
Sep 09, 2021 @ 19:20:51
Doesn’t it seem that, the more one reads in translation, the more that one wants to read in translation? Here you are nearing the end of the month, and thinking perhaps you’d shift to another sort of reading, but there are so many other enticing reads within reach.
Sep 09, 2021 @ 19:34:51
Very much so – having read all these lovely WIT books I still have many others lined up!!!
Dec 31, 2021 @ 07:02:14
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Aug 08, 2022 @ 03:18:03
I’ve read it too, what a remarkable novel! Thank you for recommending it… my review is here: https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/08/08/klotsvog-by-margarita-khemlin-translated-by-lisa-c-hayden/
Aug 08, 2022 @ 20:37:32
Ah, I’m so glad you loved it Lisa – what a great writer she was!