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5.0 out of 5 stars
Courageous Warrior, Jan 6 2004
The action takes place in the middle of the 19th century. Then, as now, the Russian army was engaged in a major, and exhausting, offensive in the Caucasus, in the area now known as Chechnya. The hero, Hadji Murad is a Chechen war lord and freedom fighter, who wants to liberate his people from oppression by the Russians. But he first needs to defeat Imam Shamil a Chechen leader, who controls a part of the country, and has imprisoned Hadji Murad's wife and son. In the attempt to do this, he enlists the support of the Russians by defecting to them. Murad informs the Russians that he won't be able to assist them unless he gets their support in getting his family safely back from Shamils grip. Who are (naturally) suspicious of him, but willing to use him as a way of extending their control of the area. Some of them incline to do so, but others fear he might be just spying on them. The action drags on, with no resolution arrived at, until Murad makes his final dash. The narrators eye become a film camera, meticulously recording the movement of characters, creating the terrain capturing sounds and images in motion, coaxing the reader into following each move around each bend. The world Tolstoy describes has an air of brilliancy about it. He has the ability to portray the most mundane scenes and ordinary gestures as if they have just been discovered by him. In the text Hadji Murad moves from Chechen village to the Russian military posts, from ballroom and houses to the woods and open fields, all the scenes arise magically. On the while it was a fun read and very descriptive in details.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent story., Sep 25 2003
Even though this was published shortly after Tolstoy's death in 1910 and with the Chechen war still raging today it is easy to imagine the events that unfold before Hadji Murad occurring recently. Tolstoy's flavorful writing is such that you can almost smell the smoke of the cigarettes and burning wood from the forts and aouls. I will not go over what this book is about since so many other reviews have already done a fine job, but one thing I would like to mention is the excellent introduction by Azar Nafisi. Azar Nafisi, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, outlines and provides a compact analysis of Hadji Murad as well as some historical information. It is worth reading the introduction before AND after you finish Hadji Murad.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Between a rock and a hard place, April 15 2003
This is the partially fictionalized account of the last days of Hadji Murad, a renowned and feared Chechen -more precisely, Avar- warrior in 1851-52. Feared by the ruthless Imam Shamil, ruler of Chechens and other Caucasians, Murad is forced to defect yet again to the Russians, who recieve him warmly but suspiciously (he has switched sides before). Murad keeps telling the Russians he won't be of much help unless they support him in getting his family safe and back from the cruel Shamil. Some of them incline to do so, but others fear he might be just spying on them. The action drags on, with no resolution arrived at, until Murad makes his final dash.As literature, the story is incredibly well written; as background information on the origins of the still-going-on Chechen war, it is priceless. Tolstoi show here his very literary genius: in only 125 pages, he conveys a portrait of many characters, each and every one with his/her own full personality. It is marvelous how Tolstoi can give a whole personality to even the minor characters in a short work. The depictions of landscapes and circumstances are also masterful, and you can really feel the cold wind and see the wooded mountains of that magnetic and troublesome corner, neither fully European nor Asian. It is, then, the story of a real man who got caught between the despised Russians and the murderous Chechen leader, really a tragic figure in the sense that he has to make decisiones in front of certain death for him and for his family, whom he deeply loves. Great literature tends to be that which posts credible and appealing characters in limit-situations, and this is clearly one of the best. Refreshing to read an action-packed, well-written, historically interesting story with compelling characters.
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