James Meek’s sweeping novel was difficult to follow until I found the book’s rhythm. Unfortunately, it was page 80 before this happened for me. However, once I got into it, I was unable to put this glorious piece of literature down. The long, sweeping sentence structure is as meandering as the borders of Siberia, where the story unfolds. The female protagonist, Anna Petrovna, is different from the other people in the remote town of Yazyk. She has discovered photography and sets out to document the rise of the communist movement. The year is 1919. The Tsar and his family are dead, and the Bolsheviks have risen to power. Marxism is the talk of the intellectual community and is debated among the workers. Anna’s ability to capture the faces of the people makes us think about the line between idealism and realism. In Yazyk, the people only want peace. The tension starts to rise when an escaped prisoner and loyal Marxist, Samarin, stumbles into town. A character index would have been helpful in keeping all of the people straight. Still, I find The People’s Act of Love to be a true piece of literary brilliance.

What a narrative!!

The prose is lean but the overall effect is a belter of story told with gust and brio!

Highly recommended.

Absolutely one of the most breathtaking novels I have read in a long time. I was walking down the street today, and I kept on thinking about how marvellously James Meek constructed this novel. There were actually tears welling up in my eyes, and that’s not something that happens to me on a daily basis. In the train I was studying a friendlylooking woman, puzzled by the question if I would still like her if I knew she was a cannibal. This is a masterpiece that talks about love, lust and the gruesome sides of being human in a way that leaves you pondering about it even more than you do usually. Read it.