BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: The Life of a Young Pole in Russia, 1939-46

by K.S. Karol ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1986

On the opening page of this account of life in the Soviet Union during WW II, the author admits, ""my. . .memory. . .sometimes lets me down."" While it is true there are occasional moments when a name of a date seems to elude him, Karol's problem is rather that his memory is all too cluttered with details that have little to do with his story's main thread. As a result, Between Two Worlds ends up a rambling, disjointed, frequently confusing narrative instead of the exciting insider's view of a little-known period of recent history it might have been. Karol, the son of a Russian Jewish father and an unconventional Polish woman lawyer, was conscripted from his home in Lodz to serve in the Polish army when Hitler's troops swept across the border in September, 1939. He was 15. Almost immediately wounded, yet determined to continue the fight against fascism, Karol headed east into Russia in search of distant relatives. Lacking papers, he was interned by the Communists and deported to Western Siberia. Ever resourceful, he escaped and made his way via Moscow to Rostov-on-the-Don, his father's birthplace. There he enlisted in the Red Army. Wounded yet again, he was mysteriously taken into custody by the NKVD and incarcerated for more than a year, only to be released without explanation. Backin Rostov, he enrolled in the university and labored in a factory until the war's end when he returned to Poland. Eventually, he migrated to Paris, where he now lives. Plenty of material here for a rousing tale of military adventures, youthful ingenuity and daring, bureaucratic repression, one would think. Unfortunately, in Karol's telling, the narrative is clogged with pointless anecdotes about all-night drinking bouts with army buddies, clandestine couplings in unlikely settings with willing Russian nurses, interminable recitals of black market scams. Subsidiary characters remain resolutely indistinguishable; locales are sketchily delineated; the time frame veers back and forth in dizzying arcs. The situation is not helped by McArdle's studied and lifeless translation. A disappointing reminiscence, gray as a gulag.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION