My Childhood

by Maxim Gorky, Maxime Gorki, Maksim Gorky

Book Overview

Coloured by poverty and horrifying brutality, Gorky's childhood equipped him to understand - in a way denied to a Tolstoy or a Turgenev - the life of the ordinary Russian. After his father, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140441786
• Release Date: August 1966
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Brutal realism...highly entertaining and a good read

This is the 1st past of the trilogy of Maxim Gorky's autobiography. This is a really good and entertaining book, but contains at times morbid and depressing subject material, especially the unbelievable cruelty of some of the characters. There are some light moments though and if you enjoy realism and a brutal peek at what life was like in early 20th century Russian life for poor folks and enjoy Dostoevsky, you will like this book.I personally think that Gorky belongs at the top of elite Russian writers.

an unforgettable book

This book is by far the best in Gorky's autobiographical trilogy.I found this to be a fascinating book. I could not imagine a childhood more different from mine than Maxim Gorky's. His was a life of grinding poverty, cruelty and sadness intermingled with the love and goodness of his grandmother. Yet out of the cold ashes a great writer emerged. Remarkable.The writing is vivid and draws you right into the scene and events. This is a powerful book. I was still thinking about Maxim's life long after the book was finished and put away.

How did he do it?

I bought this book on friday and finished it on sunday. It takes you deep into 19th century Russia and the semi-feudal nightmare of Gorky's childhood and it does so with pace and vitality. There are few judgements; about the brutality,horror and poverty inflicted on an intelligent suffering child who became grew up to be great. This is no Hollywood, bad guys get what they deserve happy read this is a true story and it is life. A must for any lover of Russian literature.

Please accept this revised version and replace the old one

Probably because of his being labeled a "revolutionary writer" of the Russian Communist Revolution -- though his aversion to the mass killings conducted by the Bolsheviks led him to eventually commit suicide -- Maxim Gorky has remained an obscure name to the American readers. Fewer still have read or heard of his autobiographical trilogy: My Childhood, My Apprenticeship and My Universities. Those who haven't read his books have missed out on the classic literary production at its best. Comparable to Dickens's David Copperfield, Gorky's My Childhood is a powerful work of a child's journey in life in the wake of his father's death against the backdrop of the tumultuous 19th century Russia. With depictions so beautifully vivid and forceful, it recounts the touching relationship between the unforgettable grandmother and the child Gorky who is put into custody at his grandparents's home. The image of his multi-faceted grandfather, who can be fiercely brutal and childishly tender will leave an indelible memory to the reader. For an author like Gorky who has received no more than two years of formal education, and whose poverty-stricken childhood formed his life-long compassion for the undog, his My Childhood is imbellished with nostalgic reminiscenes of lower class people whose qualities of integrity and dignity shine through the pages. There are the half-blind Gergory who works at the grandfather's dye factory and who is taunted by his co-workers before finally succumbing to total blindness to become a down and out beggar, the foolhardy and rough captain of the ship who enjoys a good night's reading from Gorky and shares generous tears at the depiction of the death of a national hero in the book, and Gorky's little orphaned friends who live out of garbage cans dreaming of a utopian neverland ... these characters help generate greatest impact upon the readers of today where child poverty is as rampant as the epidemic AIDS. The seemingly hermetic world of the grandparents's house leads us into a panoramic view of humnan conditions and conflicts. The grandmother, being the consumate incarnation of good, beauty and truth, a simple woman who knows how to make people laugh, provokes the reader to reexamine one's own selfish nature. Rarely in literary characterization can we experience in such conviction in the character of the grandmother the genuine beauty of optimism in the direst situations, the honesty in a world of deceit, the unselfishness and total sacrifice around treachery and hatred, and fighting spirit in defense of values and dignity. This book and the other two in the trilogy written a century ago will guarantee an unforgettably cathartic reading. It is every bit as relevent to readers of our age as Internet for Dummies. Well, without enriching ourselves from the past literary treasure, aren't we all going to become dummies!?

A "Childhood" unlike any other, a treasure you can't miss

It's probably because of his being labeled as a "revolutionary writer" of the Russian Communist Revolution -- though his aversion to the mass killings conducted by the Communists led him to eventually commit suiside -- Maxim Gorky has been a rather obscure name to the American readers. Fewer even have read or head of his autobiographical trilogy: The Childhood, My Apprenticeship and My Universities. To these people I say you have missed the classic human literary production at its best. Comparable to such classics as Dickens's David Copperfield, Gorky's The Childhood is a powerful work of a child's journey in life in the wake of his father's death against the backdrop of the tumultuous 19th century Russia. With depictions so beautifully vivid and forceful, it recounts the touching relationship between the unforgettable grandmother and the "I" who is put into custody at his grandparents home. The image of his multi-faceted grandfather, who can be brutally fierce and childishly tender at the same time will leave an indelible memory to any reader for the rest of his life. For an author like Gorky who has received no more than two years of formal education, and whose poverty-stricken childhood formed his life-long compassion for the underdog, The Childhood is imbellished with nostalgic reminiscences of lower class people whose qualities of integraty and dignity shine through the pages. There are the half-blind dye factory worker Gregory who finally succumbs to total blindness as a down and out begger, the foolhardy and rough captain on the ship who enjoys a good night's reading from Gorky and shares generous tears at the depiction of death of a national hero, and Gorky's little orphaned friends who live out of garbage cans dreaming of a utopian netherland create greatest impact upon the readers of today where child poverty is as rampant as the epidemic AIDS. The seemingly hermetic world of the grandparents' house leads us into a panoramic view of human conditions and conflicts. The grandmother, being the consumate reincarnation of good, beauty and truth, a simple woman who knows how to make people laugh, provokes the reader to reexamine one's own selfish nature. Rarely in literary characterization can we experience in such conviction in the character of the grandmother the genuine beauty of optimism in the direst situations, the honesty in a world of deceit, the unselfishness and total sacrifice around treachery and hatred, and fighting spirit in defense of values and dignity. This book and the other two in the trilogy written a century ago will guarantee an unforgettable cathartic reading. It is every bit as relevent to readers of our age as Internet for Dummies. Well, without enriching ourselves from the past treasures, aren't we all going to become dummies!?