Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

(1868-1946) was a Russian and Soviet writer and a political activist. If magical realism is to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, socialist realism is to Maxim Gorky. His surname means "bitter" because he grew up as an orphan and began writing the bitter truth about the Tsarist regime that he was displeased with. At the time of this book's writing he was already highly associate with Lenin and Bogdanov's Bolshevik's wing of the party. This book was first released in 1907 two weeks after the Revolution of 1905 that was called the "Bloody Sunday." That incident when several peasants and workers perished was one of the key events that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 when that Tsar was fatally removed from his office.

Having stated this short summary from Wiki, Mother is like a propaganda material for the Marxists during that time. However, this is not a cold non-fiction simply enumerating the dreams and aspirations of the revolutionary forces and probably singing hosanna to its leaders like Marx, Lenin or Stalin. Rather, it is a heartfelt and moving story of a simple aging mother Pelagueya Vlasova that is caught in the midst of a changing already awakened nation. Reading this is like being there in action witnessing how a group of student was persecuted and had to hide themselves before coming out to fight for what they believed in. The mother becomes an eyewitness in all these young people's struggles for equality and freedom by being the delivery woman for the subversive books and documents. Her transformation from being a battered wife at the start of the novel to a highly involved mother for an honorable cause was one of the extraordinary character development that I've so far encountered in my four years of voracious reading.

The richness of the experience in reading the book can be felt especially at the beginning and the end of the novel. The middle bulk is somewhat boring because the pacing is slowed down to introduce and probably to develop the other characters, the rebel-students. The mother waiting for news about Pavel her son is heartbreaking at first but becomes uncomfortably dragging due to repetitions of same events: students having a meeting, books are being delivered by the mother, authorities find out, students are arrested, mother is waiting for news about his son, etc. The ending, however, is engaging because their efforts paid off, (view spoiler)[ they are victorious, the mother gets his son back and the rebel-students are singing triumphant songs. (hide spoiler)] The writing is somewhat plain maybe because Gorky's target audience was the proletariat so he has to make it plain. But I really like his style of having lines, not just slogans, spoken anonymously by however is in the scene. It's like being there listening to sounds of people's voices and not minding who is speaking because it does not really matter. All of the people are saying the same things because they are doing a collective action and thus having a collective voice. That literary style was effectively used in this book.

There are many beautiful quotes in this book but my favorite is this: "A young heart is always nearer to the truth."

Overall, reading this book is a great emotional experience. It is a novel of strength and power, a tribute to the dignity of the individual. It is highly recommended for readers who like to know more about the history of Russia and wonder what kind of writer Maxim Gorky was.