The People's Act of Love: A Novel

The story is compelling and ultimately believable even though it is a little too surreal at times.

"The People's Act of Love" by James Meek is a thrilling and surprising page-turner, situated in Siberia in 1919. Since the plot of the story is compact and full of surprises, I will not spoil the story by describing it, but instead I will give an impression of the book's atmosphere.Through the eyes of several people present in a small town in the wilderness of Siberia, we see all the chaos and cynicism as well as dreams and aspirations of the time reflected. The characters, among which we find a mysterious cannibal, a Cavalry officer who becomes a member of a bizarre sect, a Jewish officer in the Czechoslovak Legion, and a woman with a gift for photography, may not be immediately likable, but they are certain to make a strong impression on the reader. Meek weaves the story of the meeting and eventual clash of all these characters together very well, making excellent use of evocative flashbacks, letters and monologues to create narrative tension, while maintaining at the same time a high pace of action.The storyline is generally violent and cynical, as fits those times, and the brutal backdrop of Siberia in winter during times of shortage only serves to heighten the tension. After the various characters find themselves in Siberia, the Czechslovak Legion's presence in the area, an interesting yet historically real adventure tale, becomes the pivot around which all the events unfold. The bitterness of the cold as well as the people and their ideals portrays this crossing in Russia's history very well, and Meek has done a good job keeping the storyline actually exciting with constant surprises and plot twists. Although some of the praise on the cover must surely be taken as hyperbole, this is certainly an intriguing and riveting book, and well worth picking up to read on a lonely winter night.NB: My review applies to the Dutch translation of this book only, as I have not read the English original. I see no reason to assume there are material differences between the two though.

*The People's Act of Love* is an extremely meaty novel, written with care and elegance. Amazingly, for a novel that touches on (among other things) a sect of castrates, a premediated act of cannibalism, and the motivations of a revolutionary bomb-thrower, its tone is restrained, precise, lucid. It's this tone of normality (as one critic has called it) that makes the unbelievable events described in this novel so believable, and that keep the reader turning page after page, eager to dive into the author's world.What kind of world does Meek create, then? Most of the novel is set in a small town in the Siberian outback, as the Russian Revolution sweeps from Petrograd in the west to Vladivostok in the east. The revolution hasn't quite made it to this small town, which sits in a kind of political and spiritual limbo: the Czech Legion (having been contracted by the Tsar) is the presiding authority, even though at the moment the Tsar is gone; meanwhile the town's residents, who are involved in a secret mystical sect that demands castration from the men, keep their distance from the political events of the day. Disrupting this fragile equilibrium is the arrival of an escaped convict: the spell-binding and brilliant Samarin, a man who is equal parts fantasist, visionary, revolutionary, and murderer. With Samarin, Meek has created a gripping, indelible figure, one who magnetizes the whole of the novel: we shudder as we follow the trajectory of his mind, and yet we can't help but feel shivers of excitement, too, as he takes us where no sane person would ever hope to go.In all, a beautifully-written, beautifully-troubling novel.

This book gets giddy reviews from establishment critics, but I found it so tedious that I quit less than halfway through. I give it two stars for the fact that it's well-written, and three stars because a chapter on Anna Petrovna is exceptionally good. But as a novel, for me, it joins the ranks of highly regarded and boring stories by Joseph McElroy and David Foster Wallace. Your mileage of course may vary.

This was a great read with much information of this period in Russian History. The information on the castrates was much appreciated as well as the author’s notations on his acquiring of such historical knowledge. Well written.

The kelp forest at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a beautiful slice of the natural world. Everything the viewer sees comes from the bay outside. The only difference is that life in the tank is far more dense than it would be in a natural setting. The People’s Act of Love by James Meek is like that. In a Siberian village he has placed cultists, revolutionaries, mystics, a lost regiment, a widow, and a cannibal. They are all true to life but the space is smaller. As they collide beyond the edge of civilization it forms the Russian civil war in miniature. The rage and hopes and disillusionment of revolution is there on an intimate stage and like an aquarium it is beautiful and alive.

I am not an expert but I read a lot and mostly novels. It's rare to find one that books me quickly and then keeps me spellbound through to the end but The People's Act of Love did exactly that! I felt the story deeply through the eyes of every character and the story line was unique, suspenseful, and Intriguing. I will recommend this book to everyone i know!

This is a book about idealism. The characters tend to suffer from either a surfeit or a lack of the stuff. The prose style is somewhat over-wrought. It is a style that lends itself more to South America than Siberia. Meeks has a habit of keeping some scenes surreal by holding back a piece of information until a later moment. I found the device somewhat tiring after a while. Once things coalesce, however, the story becomes powerful and moving.

The novel is set in 1919 in Siberia. We are approaching the end of the Civil War and the triumph of the Revolution. The Reds are closing in on the remnants of a Czech division who from 1914 have fought from one side of Russia to the other. They now occupy a village inhabited by members of an extreme religious sect. The setting is almost surreal. The story is carried by a small group of characters - the sadistic Czech captain Matula, his idealistic lieutenant Mutz, the leader of the sect, Balashov, a mysterious revolutionary Samarin and the leader of the Red force, Bondarenko. Each in their own way espouses a philosophy while owning that circumstances do not allow of pure acts of virtue, even by and for the People. Everybody hurts. These themes have been managed in fiction before, as James Meek relates in an appendix. What gives his book some thing special is the other main character - Anna, exiled in this outpost with her son. For Anna the questions posed are not of a metaphysical interest, but about her survival and security. The men relate to her and her need, not least for love, in very different ways. She is a fantastic character, a real heroine. Notwithstanding the seriousness of these themes James Meek has also written a very good story.

Bought this second hand for book club. It may have won a prize in the nineties but it was a dire dismal story which I abandoned after a few chapters.

Well written, and provided imaginings to eliminate life in post-WW1 revolutionary Russia. Sadly, I found myself feeling happy that I was reaching the end of the book.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this book, but was soon grabbed by the characters and their stories.There is something about Russia - perhaps the seemingly-endless vastness of the country - that lends itself to extremes, and the main characters in this book exhibit extreme beliefs and behaviour. Nevertheless, the writer is generous to them (in the tradition of Tolstoy), allowing the reader to exercise judgement as to the rights and wrongs.Beautifully written, intriguingly plotted and thoroughly satisfying.

This is one of the best books I have ever read, and I have read a LOT of books. I have a paperback copy and I have sent many a copy to friends, and now I have a Kindle copy that I can take wherever I go. It is a bit like your favourite album, just knowing you have it is important, even if you don't listen to it that often. Unbelievably well-written and gripping, for lovers of Russian history and just about anyone who appreciates a well-crafted book.