Thursday, August 6, 2015

Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith

Year 1956 is a time in Soviet Union's history that changed everything. In essence, one person, Nikita Khrushchev transformed Soviet Union from a purely evil terror State into conventional autocratic state.    

This novel by Tom Rob Smith focuses on fictional life of a former NKVD (soviet secret police) officer turned policeman Leo Demidov caught in the real life events during transformative period of 1956. It is brutally honest novel about conditions in which people lived under Stalin's regime. These events were kept so secret (prison uprising, revenge killings) that absolute majority of Soviet citizens had no idea about it. The novel provides some accurate elements of what happens in a country when state sponsored total control on its citizens is suddenly lost.

I did not know about this author until the new movie came out this year based on his novel "Child 44". However, my attention was caught by "the secret speech". My father, who was historian by education and history teacher at one point, frequently used to mention that Nikita Khrushchev played the most important role in Soviet History.

posted by David Usharauli   

No comments:

Post a Comment