Rating: 
Summary: This Book was O.K.
Review: Archangel started out as good novel, but the author couldn't keep it up. There was too much down time and not enough action or mystery. The book overall is not very exciting. And the ending was rushed and incomplete. The author could have expanded more and made a better story. I felt as though he didn't have courage enough to finish the story. This book fell short of my expectations and I would not recommend on the fact that the ending will disappoint any reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun historical thriller
Review: Archangel, by Robert Harris, focuses on a notebook left behind by the evil Joseph Stalin. Historian Kelso and reporter O'Brien and Stalin-loving Manammatov want this notebook. This novel is better than Fatherland, which asked what would life be like if Germany won WWII. Kelso is told a story about the night Stalin died by a former guard of Stalins. This sets Kelso on a quest to find an infamous notebook that Stalin carried with him during all the final days. While set in modern Russia, the novel is filled with segments of history on Stalin which enlighten us about the type of person he was as well as in a way set up the ending. The conclusion of the novel happens a-matter-of-factly, with no great surprise or relevation on the part of the author. This is a good novel with the writing somewhat shifty making me wonder if I missed something. But there is nothin hidden in this novel of a few characters on the quest for a long-buried secret. The premise of the secret is somewhat foolish yet still entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: A fun historical thriller
Review: Archangel, by Robert Harris, focuses on a notebook left behind by the evil Joseph Stalin. Historian Kelso and reporter O'Brien and Stalin-loving Manammatov want this notebook. This novel is better than Fatherland, which asked what would life be like if Germany won WWII. Kelso is told a story about the night Stalin died by a former guard of Stalins. This sets Kelso on a quest to find an infamous notebook that Stalin carried with him during all the final days. While set in modern Russia, the novel is filled with segments of history on Stalin which enlighten us about the type of person he was as well as in a way set up the ending. The conclusion of the novel happens a-matter-of-factly, with no great surprise or relevation on the part of the author. This is a good novel with the writing somewhat shifty making me wonder if I missed something. But there is nothin hidden in this novel of a few characters on the quest for a long-buried secret. The premise of the secret is somewhat foolish yet still entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Can Fluke Kelso Uncover Josef Stalin's Secret?
Review: I have not read either ENIGMA or FATHERLAND, the author's two previous books; thus I can offer no comparisons of this novel to those highly praised volumes of historical fiction. However, this suspenseful, action filled historical thriller indicatives the impressive breadth of his storytelling abilities. ARCHANGEL is a very thoughtful, well constructed book which I highly recommend for readers who appreciate complex plots and are willing to allow the author the time necessary to provide the background details required to create an aura of realism. If the reader accepts the premise on which this novel is based, the historical speculations at the crux of the story all logically follow and there is sufficient character development to bring the main actors to life.
The book begins with a relatively brief prologue, entitled "Rapava's Story", in which Papu Rapava, one of Josef Stalin's bodyguards at the time of his death in 1953, relates a story regarding the existence of a secret personal notebook of Stalin covered in a black oilskin which had never been discovered subsequent to his death. The fascinated listener is Fluke Kelso, an historian who had never lived up to the early promise displayed by his book exhibiting the courage to critize Commmunism and the horrors perpetuated by Stalin's regime during a period "when every other useful idiot in academia was screching for detente". Part One of the story then takes place in Moscow, and is centered around a mid-1990's symposium which Kelso is attending with other Sovietologists to discuss the historical archives of Communism being cataloged and released by the Russian government following the break up of the Soviet Union. The complicated nature of that period, the introduction to freedom so foreign to the Russian poplace, the promise of economic change and the inevitable corrution which accompanied such change, and the political crosscurrents (especially the yearning of the Stalinists for a return to the "order" of the past) all are wonderfully captured and form the backstory for this intriguing tale. In this section the reader is also introduced to three of the key supporting characters in this alternative history. First, Zanaida Rapava, Papu's estranged daughter and a thoroughly moden Russian woman. Second, Vladimir Mamantov, a Commmunist party member who Kelso first met after he led a failed coup against Prsident Gorbachev. Last, O'Brian, a reporter for a satellite television news service who won't let go of what he believes could be the biggest story of his career.
The notebook eventually points to the fact that the answer to the mystery of Stalin's obsession lies in the city of ARCHANGEL in northern Russia. Thus, the action in the second and concluding part of the story builds to a climax in this remote, frozen area bordering on the arctic circle. While by this time some readers might have guessed the central element of the plot and the secret of the notebook, the eventual outcome is impossible to deduce until the very last page. Meanwhile, we are treated to wonderful details of the desolation of this area of Russia and fascinating insights into the character of Stalin.
This book includes wonderful historical detail, and Beria, Malenkov and other figures of the period are cleverly interwoven into the fabric of the story. In addition, the detailed touches add to the realism of the story, such as Zinaida's refusal to "trust the banks, either-- thieving alchemists, the lot of them, who would take your precious dollars and conjure them into rubles, turn gold into base metal". The mood of the city of Moscow and a Russia in transition are captured very well, and this setting provides the perfect backdrop for Fluke Kelso's search for personal and professional vindication through the dicovery of "something true and big and defintive -- a piece of history that would explain why things had happened as they did". Finally, in some ways this section is about Kelso's realization of how many elements of the story have in some way been touched by the power of love in its many manifestations.
I highly recommend this book, and only want to provide a few minor caveats. First, as you might expect there is a reasonable amount of violence and torture which is occasionally described in some detail althogh never gratuituosly; there is also a great deal of profanity which revolves around the almost continual use of one particular expression. My only substantive criticism is that the conclusion, while totally satisfactory in keeping with the remainder of the story, is in some ways so shocking and abrupt that unless the author is planning a sequel, he should have written a prologue to bring closure to his readers regarding the few questions which remain unanswered, especially regarding its impact upon Kelso.
Tucker Andersen
Rating:
Summary: Very strong, but not quite Fatherland
Review: I was very eager to read Archangel, both on the strength of its premise and on the basis of Harris' prior work. His earlier novel Fatherland is a true classic that manages to be both suspenseful, dramatic and intellectually provocative. Archangel is a strong work of fiction, but it is not on the same level as Fatherland. Still it is worth recommending in its own right. Where Archangel succeeds is in atmosphere. There is something profoundly and distinctly haunting about Stalin's legacy, and Harris manages to evoke the ghost of the "man of steel" quite well. We are treated to vivid depictions of Moscow and the forested Russian North. Harris does pose a number of troubling points about Russia and Stalin's legacy - what does it mean that a considerable fraction of the Russian public celebrate the life of this monster? Archangel follows the adventures of a struggling British academic, Fluke Kelso, as he pursues Stalin's lost journal. The plot has not nearly as many twists as Fatherland, and the degree of suspense is somewhat less. The tone is, on the whole, far more mysterious. Noone should pick this up expecting a work with a lot of violent action. I'm not certain how I come down about the book's ending. It seems to fit the novel, and yet I was somehow expecting a bit Archangel is a very good novel with a strong sense of history and setting, well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: A fast paced novel that looks into the soul of russia
Review: In his latest novel, Harris truly makes an admirable attempt to illustrate the deep and lasting effect Communism marooned upon modern day Russian society. Archangel accurately and in great detail isolates the true origins of Communist thought and cleverly incorporates it in a successful and fast paced plot of a modern day mystery.
Harris takes the reader on a journey into the heart of Russia, modern day Moscow, and then for a look into its soul, the far north. The reader follows an unlikely set of characters as they attempt to solve a decade old mystery involving the private writings of J.V. Stalin.
Although the novel is generally well written, the characters come off as stereotypical. They include a pesky, obnoxious reporter, a geeky, eccentric professor, and a street hooker attending law school.
The authors descriptive abilities are outstanding, and combined with thorough research, leave the reader just short of standing along side the characters every step of the way.
What personally amazed me the most was the author's ability to make historical figures come to life. The lives and personalities of Stalin and his Politburo jump out at the reader, leaving a lasting impression.
The plot, although rich in detail and historical fact, at times seems to travel off into absurd or unrealistic, which in my opinion simply makes it that much funner to read.
A great book for history buffs, mystery lovers, and all other Harris fans.
Rating:
Summary: Clever Soviet thriller blends fact and fiction re Stalin
Review: It's clear that former BBC correspondent Harris either knows or has researched a great deal about Russia: from the life and deeds, many horrible enough to compare to Hitler, of Joseph Stalin, to the modern day "replacement nation" that forms the former Soviet Union. When Fluke Kelso, a Brit historian specializing in Stalin travels to Moscow to attend a minor conference, he gets a tip that encourages him to hunt for the oft rumored lost notebooks in which Stalin supposedly detailed his everyday endeavors. Soon a suspenseful race against the modern day secret police, hardly above brutality themselves given the prize at stake, leads Kelso on a wild chase to find either the notebooks, or could it be, Stalin's lover or her offspring. The tipster's daughter eventually gets involved, much against her wishes, and contributes a great deal to the dazzlingly ironic ending to an incredibly chilling and thrilling story line. Harris demonstrates not merely a command of his subject matter but a knack for writing action scenes that keeps the pages turning quickly. On half a dozen occasions, we found our leading characters twisting into new scenarios just when we felt that neither they nor we could stand any more tension and suspense. Once you get by the strange place and person names, and can keep the roster of characters straight, Archangel becomes a highly entertaining, satisfying story sure to please almost any reader, let alone those with a bent for historical fiction. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Revival of Stalinism
Review: Robert Harris adroitly weaves together historical fact and a healthy dose of fiction to create a perculiar sequence of events that compose the backbone of "Archangel". British Russian history professor and Stalin expert Christopher "Fluke" Kelso is attending a symposium in Moscow with fellow academicians. Kelso, in his room at the Ukraina hotel is listening to a story being told to him by an elderly Russian septagenarian Papu Rapava. Rapava was once an army lieutenant and driver to the Chief of Secret Police and member of Stalin's inner circle, Lavrenty Beria. Beria was summoned to Stalin's residence to learn that his boss, the general secretary had been felled by a debilitating stroke. While lying on the floor semi comatose, Beria pilfered a key around Stalin's neck and opened his safe. He seized a black oilskin writing book which contained the murderous and suspicious despot's most personal correspondence. Beria with the help of Rapava buried the book in a secret location. Beria had soon been executed in a power struggle for the reins of leadership in the Soviet government. Rapava was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the Siberian gulag. The book remained hidden. Rapava's tale motivated Kelso to search for the legendary book. Using Rapava's daughter Zinaida, a part time hooker, part time law student, Kelso against the wishes of varied Russian agencies schemed to recover the prized book. Harris did a nice descriptive job in his depictation of present day Russia, stuck between the old ways of Communism and the bleak incomplete democracy that exists today.
Rating:
Summary: Another gem for Harris
Review: Robert Harris doesn't just give you mysteries, he tweaks the genre by adding his own "what if" historical twists. This latest is a gem. It begins somewhat slowly then the pace picks up until it reaches high speed in the frozen wastes of northern Russia. His protagonist is far from the usual adventurer; he's Fluke Kelso, a cynical, down on his luck academic attending a symposium in present day Moscow. The notorious Joe Stalin is, in a sense, the villain. Soon after he arrives in Russia Kelso is presented with evidence of secret papers of Stalin. From there he investigates a decades-old mystery. Along the way he meets unusual characters including a scholarly prostitute, an over-eager reporter and some scary old-guard Russians. The plot is more than a simple mystery. Harris challenges you to imagine what will happen to the new Russia and what some of the forces were that shaped the old Soviet Union. His characters, realistic descriptions of the Russian landscape in winter and the imaginative plot will keep you reading until the last sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Is Stalinism Really Dead?
Review: The search for Stalin's secret notebook brings a British historian, who is definitely not politically correct, to a modern-day Russia struggling to come to terms with its Capitalistic reforms. There the historian finds something more shocking than even he could have imagined hidden away in a far-flung northern outpost of Russia. Perhaps Stalinism is not dead after all. This tightly-written novel will keep you on the edge of your seat right up to the end of the book; I highly recommend it.
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