Reading the Russians - the Anna Karenina Fix by Viv Groskop

Viv Groskop is an author, columnist, playwright, broadcaster and comedian. She become obsessed in her teens by all things Russian after reading Anna Karenina and believing the name Groskop was of Russian origin. This led her to two Russian degrees and to living and working in Russia. Eventually she discovered her family originated from Poland and her name means “Fat-head” but this has not diminished her love of Russia and its literature.

The Anna Karenina Fix is a lively, witty overview of the Russian classics and sets out to show they are not deep, difficult and intimidating but can be enjoyed by everyone. The 11 short chapters feature 10 of the great Russian authors, Turgenev, Pasternak, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky etc with her hero Tolstoy starting and finishing the book with chapters on Anna Karenina and War & Peace.

The chapter titles give a flavour of Viv Groskop’s light-hearted style. Chapter four for example is titled: 

“How to Survive Unrequited Love” – A month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev – (Or: Don’t fall in love with your best friend’s wife).

The introduction deals with the vexed issue of Russian names, including the exasperating problem of diminutives. How do you keep up when Alexandra is referred to as “Sasha”? Her own name Viv, became “Vivka” (Little Viv) which was misheard by her Russian landlady as “Veepka” (Little VIP) which in turn mutated to “Vipulenka” (Dearest Teeny, Tiny Little VIP).

The book is a vibrant mixture of humour, insight and anecdote, with incidents from her own life in Russia thrown into the mix. It is a very enjoyable, page-turning read and at the end of it you will have had the door flung open on what for too many of us is the closed world of Russian literature. She makes clear in her introduction that the book is not intended to be an academic thesis, but instead:

“It's an exploration of the answers these writers found to life's questions big and small and it's a love letter to some favourite books which at one point helped me to find my identity and buoyed me up when I lost it again.”

Until a few years ago One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch was the only Russian novel I’d read – see chapter 8 in The Anna Karenina Fix. Written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1962 the novel is set in a labour camp in Stalin’s Russia. Despite the harrowing setting, the story is full of humanity and wisdom, and is often included in lists of the world’s great novels. At just 209 pages it is an easy place to dip your toe in the water of the Russian classics.

Three things propelled me deeper: the first was a visit to St Petersburg where my daughter, Anna was doing a prelim course in Russian prior to studying for a year at the university in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia – she always wanted to live where there was plenty of snow! Surrounded by all things Russian made me want to get to know the country through its literature. The second was our book group choice of First Love by Turgenev which was a short, easy read and prompted me go on to read his Fathers and Sons. The third was the BBC adaption of War & Peace in January 2016. I’d had a three-volume edition of the novel sitting on my shelves for years and knew if I watched it on TV I’d probably never read it. So, I decided it was now or never and finished it in 20 days. It was such a marvellous read that I went on and read Anna Karenina too.

If you’ve been put off reading the Russians then Viv Groskop will hopefully inspire you to give them a go and if nothing else you will have read a very stimulating introduction to some great literature. As the Telegraph review states; “Explored with dancing wit, affection and brilliance. Passionate, hilarious, joyful”.