heritage's review against another edition
3.0
During the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, a Militia chief is investigating a seemingly simple heart attack of a State Security officer. But events take a turn when it's discovered the dead man was reviewing the chief's very first investigation at the start of his career 40 years ago.
This is book five in Steinhauer's Yalta Boulevard Sequence, and, like the others, it takes place in his fictional, Eastern European country which he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania". Even if you read the other novels out of sequence, which I don't really recommend, this one must be read last because of spoilers and poignancy. It provides a nice conclusion for all the other characters in the previous novels, even if the story itself is rushed and unsatisfying.
And, that's the problem. I think Steinhauer was getting tired of his little world that he had created and was feeling restless and wanted to move on to something else. It shows in the plot, which seems complicated at first, but quickly descends into run-of-the-mill thriller territory. It's a little sad that the author who gave us Ferenc Kolyeszar's story in The Confession and the enigmatic Brano Sev, especially in 36 Yalta Boulevard, couldn't carry the momentum through to the return of Emil Brod in this novel. For all the tragedy and thematic elements that this story could have delved into, it stays safely in generic territory.
If you've read the first four books, I'd still suggest you read this one, but I think he topped out with the second book.
This is book five in Steinhauer's Yalta Boulevard Sequence, and, like the others, it takes place in his fictional, Eastern European country which he describes as "the intersection of Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania". Even if you read the other novels out of sequence, which I don't really recommend, this one must be read last because of spoilers and poignancy. It provides a nice conclusion for all the other characters in the previous novels, even if the story itself is rushed and unsatisfying.
And, that's the problem. I think Steinhauer was getting tired of his little world that he had created and was feeling restless and wanted to move on to something else. It shows in the plot, which seems complicated at first, but quickly descends into run-of-the-mill thriller territory. It's a little sad that the author who gave us Ferenc Kolyeszar's story in The Confession and the enigmatic Brano Sev, especially in 36 Yalta Boulevard, couldn't carry the momentum through to the return of Emil Brod in this novel. For all the tragedy and thematic elements that this story could have delved into, it stays safely in generic territory.
If you've read the first four books, I'd still suggest you read this one, but I think he topped out with the second book.
speesh's review against another edition
4.0
What had confused me more than once while reading this and others in the series, is whether the three of them are set in a fictional East European country, or I’ve just missed - or been too stupid to put two and two together, it’s possible - which Eastern European country he’s actually set them in. I began piecing clues together like this - The country is, west of Ukraine. It was overrun by the Germans at the start of WWII. "Early on in the occupation, the Germans had enlisted the help of malcontents from our Ukrainian population. These young men had been promised that, once the war was won, the eastern half of our country (including the capital) would be returned to the Ukraine…” What can be confusing, when trying to figure out what’s going on, is that the previous two books in this series, had their names changed for the publication outside the USA (if I’m right). So it is a relief to stop having to berate myself that I really should be able to place the people and places. A quick visit to Olen Steinhauer's website and it seems that the novels these reviews were mentioning, '36 Yalta Boulevard' and 'Liberation Movements', I do actually have. It's just I have them as 'The Vienna Assignment' and 'The Istanbul Variations' as they were published in the UK. So, I'm not going mad. Quite. Yet. Still, a name like Brano Sev should stick in the memory, I guess. Even if you think it’s a kind of drain cleaner.
Really, anyone who’s been alive in 1988 (apart from me, obviously), is surely going to be reading this and say ‘Romania!' and the collapse of their version of Communism. Then the pursuit and trial of the husband and wife leaders, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.
So, 'Victory Square' seems to be the final in his series of novels about Brano Sev, Emil Brod and the like. 'Victory Square' completes the cycle/circle (or square!), by taking Brod back to looking into, or at least having to deal with the after-effects, of one of his earliest cases. Back in the days where uncertainty about the right of his leaders to lead wasn’t filling the air and the whole system he knows nothing else of but, is collapsing around his ears. Steinhauer writes the character of Emil Brod really well indeed, writing subtly, but convincingly, the role of a man, thinking he’s too old for this shit, going through the last few days before his retirement. Reaching the end of his (working) life, but facing up to that with the end of the system that sustained him the whole of the life he can remember, means he is in effect going to have to start again, as if his previous life never happened. Imagine that. Add in finding your name on a list of people who are quite clearly being swept away by the new revolutionary broom. Weighty stuff, but made light work by Olen S. There’s a weary bleakness you get, almost without noticing how he’s doing it. Also, the character of Gavra Noukas, another member of the old regime, but younger and maybe even smarter than Brod (though not Sev), having his world rocked to its foundations by being forced to be an part of the trial of the leaders they once revered. He realises he’s being set up, but can’t get out of it, even though he’s not really forced into it. It’s happening almost without him knowing what is happening. I got a distinct impression of how they might be doing this whilst also feeling like they were detached from it all, looking at themselves doing it, because their real selves surely wouldn’t dare. Then, at one point, to put it into perspective for us, Emil Brod says "...I didn't think about the hypocrisy of the people who had arranged and run the trial." Hypocrisy because they took part, often willingly in the excesses and crimes they're now putting the two leaders on trial for. They seem absolved, just because they are doing the accusing. Gavka seems tormented by this hypocrisy too. But more because he can't find any innocent victims anywhere amongst the accusers. 'Who am I to cast the first stone?' Is probably why he has such a hard time at the trial. He had no choice while the regime was functioning and he has no choice now it’s falling apart. It is, as Brod puts it, for many people it is the “end of everything”, but, there are also other forces and other people behind it all (as is always the case) with other reasons for setting it all in motion and profiting from regime change. And the roots of all that, go back, as said to the early days of Brod’s working life and Brano Sev’s subtle machinations.
This isn’t a spy novel, in the traditional sense. It’s more - and also less - than that. More interesting than just an examination of, or an allegory of, the collapse of Communism and a lot less action than a le Carre, or 'Bond' or (certainly) ‘Bourne’. I think it’s quite possible that different readers will get a lot of different things from the same book. By focussing in on the seemingly mundane, the stark reality and forcedly dull dreams of the people, he is of course, illuminating the big problems and faults in the system that has otherwise provided everything the people need. Except the people who have decided what the people need, aren’t the ‘people' themselves. A person in a Olen Steinhauer novel, might appear to be dull and lead a dull life, but they dream of being a free dull person in the west and deciding just how dull their life is, for themselves.
Thought provoking and interesting, with many hours of after-contemplation. Always the sign of a really good book, I find.
Really, anyone who’s been alive in 1988 (apart from me, obviously), is surely going to be reading this and say ‘Romania!' and the collapse of their version of Communism. Then the pursuit and trial of the husband and wife leaders, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.
So, 'Victory Square' seems to be the final in his series of novels about Brano Sev, Emil Brod and the like. 'Victory Square' completes the cycle/circle (or square!), by taking Brod back to looking into, or at least having to deal with the after-effects, of one of his earliest cases. Back in the days where uncertainty about the right of his leaders to lead wasn’t filling the air and the whole system he knows nothing else of but, is collapsing around his ears. Steinhauer writes the character of Emil Brod really well indeed, writing subtly, but convincingly, the role of a man, thinking he’s too old for this shit, going through the last few days before his retirement. Reaching the end of his (working) life, but facing up to that with the end of the system that sustained him the whole of the life he can remember, means he is in effect going to have to start again, as if his previous life never happened. Imagine that. Add in finding your name on a list of people who are quite clearly being swept away by the new revolutionary broom. Weighty stuff, but made light work by Olen S. There’s a weary bleakness you get, almost without noticing how he’s doing it. Also, the character of Gavra Noukas, another member of the old regime, but younger and maybe even smarter than Brod (though not Sev), having his world rocked to its foundations by being forced to be an part of the trial of the leaders they once revered. He realises he’s being set up, but can’t get out of it, even though he’s not really forced into it. It’s happening almost without him knowing what is happening. I got a distinct impression of how they might be doing this whilst also feeling like they were detached from it all, looking at themselves doing it, because their real selves surely wouldn’t dare. Then, at one point, to put it into perspective for us, Emil Brod says "...I didn't think about the hypocrisy of the people who had arranged and run the trial." Hypocrisy because they took part, often willingly in the excesses and crimes they're now putting the two leaders on trial for. They seem absolved, just because they are doing the accusing. Gavka seems tormented by this hypocrisy too. But more because he can't find any innocent victims anywhere amongst the accusers. 'Who am I to cast the first stone?' Is probably why he has such a hard time at the trial. He had no choice while the regime was functioning and he has no choice now it’s falling apart. It is, as Brod puts it, for many people it is the “end of everything”, but, there are also other forces and other people behind it all (as is always the case) with other reasons for setting it all in motion and profiting from regime change. And the roots of all that, go back, as said to the early days of Brod’s working life and Brano Sev’s subtle machinations.
This isn’t a spy novel, in the traditional sense. It’s more - and also less - than that. More interesting than just an examination of, or an allegory of, the collapse of Communism and a lot less action than a le Carre, or 'Bond' or (certainly) ‘Bourne’. I think it’s quite possible that different readers will get a lot of different things from the same book. By focussing in on the seemingly mundane, the stark reality and forcedly dull dreams of the people, he is of course, illuminating the big problems and faults in the system that has otherwise provided everything the people need. Except the people who have decided what the people need, aren’t the ‘people' themselves. A person in a Olen Steinhauer novel, might appear to be dull and lead a dull life, but they dream of being a free dull person in the west and deciding just how dull their life is, for themselves.
Thought provoking and interesting, with many hours of after-contemplation. Always the sign of a really good book, I find.
margardenlady's review against another edition
4.0
Emil Brod has his past flashing before his eyes as a revolution rages in his fictitious eastern bloc country. This novel is full of intrigue and communist politics - well played out over the resolution of a string of murders.
darwin8u's review
4.0
In Steinhauer's 'almost brilliant' conclusion to his Yalta Boulevard Sequence([b:Bridge of Sighs|1242480|The Bridge of Sighs A Novel|Olen Steinhauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317063975s/1242480.jpg|1231172], [b:The Confession|1199993|The Confession|Olen Steinhauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316636952s/1199993.jpg|1188123], [b:36 Yalta Boulevard|1244048|36 Yalta Boulevard|Olen Steinhauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316728584s/1244048.jpg|1232754], [b:Liberation Movements|604555|Liberation Movements|Olen Steinhauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316728557s/604555.jpg|591115], & [b:Victory Square|1244051|Victory Square|Olen Steinhauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311991849s/1244051.jpg|1232757]), Steinhauer examines the collapse of the moral and social order (both for a nation and individuals) when a former Eastern Block nation finally rejects its totalitarian regime and leader. 'Victory Square' is stronger and more graceful in its first half, but still manages to close out the series well.
Taken together, the five Yalta Boulevard novels are brilliant in their ability to communicate the narrative arc of East European totalitarianism in both the brutality, but also in the humanity of those individuals seeking to support and destroy its order. If you are going to read one of these novels, invest the time to read them all. While I could arm-chair quarterback my little issues with each novel, the series is definitely worth it. For me, it was similar to how I felt watching the entire HBO series 'the Wire'.
Each Yalta Blvd novel gave a unique perspective that together painted an amazing picture of a place, time and people. Even Steinhauer's conceit of using a fake country seems, in the end, to have been well played. It allowed his novels to grab interesting pieces of Hungarian, Romanian, Yugoslavian history and blend as needed. It is amazing how much good fiction can teach us.
Taken together, the five Yalta Boulevard novels are brilliant in their ability to communicate the narrative arc of East European totalitarianism in both the brutality, but also in the humanity of those individuals seeking to support and destroy its order. If you are going to read one of these novels, invest the time to read them all. While I could arm-chair quarterback my little issues with each novel, the series is definitely worth it. For me, it was similar to how I felt watching the entire HBO series 'the Wire'.
Each Yalta Blvd novel gave a unique perspective that together painted an amazing picture of a place, time and people. Even Steinhauer's conceit of using a fake country seems, in the end, to have been well played. It allowed his novels to grab interesting pieces of Hungarian, Romanian, Yugoslavian history and blend as needed. It is amazing how much good fiction can teach us.
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