If you have been following my blog, you know I have been posting on the Baltic countries. We’ve traveled from Sweden to Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and next on the horizon is Lithuania. It has been an eye opening adventure and following along historically, one of those “I had no idea!” times, on the way of the world………   I am glad that I have had the opportunity to see so many countries and see how people live and to learn about what they have lived through. I know what I have learned here, is not the full story…….how could it be in the scant amount of time we spend in each country? But, the slightest insights, here and there, have been enough for me. I wanted to know what happened to cause the strife in these countries…….how that proceeded, what events took place. And, who thought it was a good idea and why! My friend, Jo, over at Invitation to the Garden,  suggested reading, The Revolution of Marina M, by Janet Fitch, for a starter, into the history of the Russian Revolution. So, that is where I will begin today……..

What I liked about the book……….the storyline……..and the different characters, all representing their place in the future of Russia. From the rich to the poor, the talented and the peasants, the leaders and followers, and the shakers and movers, no one was left out. I liked that ……..the story gave perspective on how the revolution affected so many different people and why. The story was told through Marina and Marina certainly got around! I just wanted Marina to settle down and slow down for a while, but then how would I come in contact with so many different lives? It was all woven together to get a big picture……..Gripping…….. and I wanted to know what was happening next…….the best thing about a book, I think………..

What I didn’t care for, but that is just me………..the poetry. I do not like poetry…..although the book was not exactly poetry, (I’d call it poetry, sort of) but there was too much of it for me. I skipped over a lot of it, because I just wanted to get on with the bones of the book. But, I think some of the characters called for a poetic feel and take on things….and maybe Marina too, to show how they idolized a movement and world that really does not exist. Will it ever? And, it revealed that by trying to make a better world for some of the people, it was a terrible let down to discover, life just got worse.

Then, there was Part II………life with Marina had to go on, she wasn’t finished yet. Chimes of a Lost Cathedral starts in the very turbulent situation Marina found herself in………and it goes on and on…….by this time I wanted Marina to get her act together……but I think people, especially Marina, who is young……just didn’t know what to do or what was coming next and just floundered…….They had been through so much and nothing was working to make their lives better…….I think that’s the situation they found themselves in ……What was it all for? What did the Revolution accomplish? Were their lives better? I think not. I didn’t go into detail of these books, because I want you to read it and come to your own conclusions. But after visiting these countries and reading these books, I definitely have my own thoughts and conclusions on the Revolution………..

PS  Now to let you know I wrote this post back in early March! Then I forgot about it and soooooooooo many things have changed over the last few months and my routine, especially my writing routine, had gone to Hell! I have been busy with other things and today when I decided to pick up the adventures, where I left off, I found this post! After I read it again, these books brought on new meanings to me………I could see how everything could quickly go to “Hell in a Hand Basket”! Just look at the way we are living today! Would anyone have believed our society could look like this in so short a time?  Will books be written about it and folks ask how could the world have changed so quickly? Hindsight is such a wonderful thing……. People will look back and analyze everything to death, but it doesn’t really tell you how the folks felt or what they were living through or the things they were being told to get them in the situation they were in. My life today makes the reading of these “Revolution” books, that much more insightful, because I am closer to “getting it” and “living it! What a world we’re living in now and if we could follow along in the lives of many people today, would it look much different to what the Russian Revolution was like? Chaos, change of routine, closures, censorship, lack of schooling, food shortages, no jobs and loss of freedoms……….looks in many respects like the same thing! But, trying to keep a perspective……..

I’ll be back to the Baltics with more insight tomorrow! See you there!