Those of my readers who have been following my adventures in reading books in French rather than in translation may be interested to learn that I reached an important milestone during my reading of Hubert Mingarelli's Quatre Soldats (Four Soldiers). This is the first time I've read in French something that didn't feel like a compromised version of the book. Previously, either I've spent so much time looking things up in the dictionary that it disrupted the flow of reading, or I felt that I was missing the big picture because I was only making sense at the sentence level. This time, however, the sparse simplicity of Mingerelli's prose made it possible for me enjoy reading the story much as I would have if I'd read the translation.

Quatre Soldats is the story of the bonds between a small company of Red Army soldiers near the Romanian border during the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). Baria, who narrates the story, recounts the way he met the others. Alone and dispirited, he meets Pavel when Pavel asks for some tea. Pavel is full of initiative, and always seems confident, but he suffers nightmares that derive from traumatic experiences during the winter. Because he is occasionally insubordinate, he's a bit of a loose cannon. Nevertheless he becomes the de facto leader of the group to whom the others mostly defer.

Jyabine, an Uzbek, is not very bright but he's solid and reliable and he provides muscle power: he has the strength to carry more than his fair share and he will do almost anything he's asked provided he can cadge a cigarette. They are all young and adrift from whatever families they had, but Sifra is the youngest, quiet and reserved, like a shadow in the background. Baria is the one who is most sensitive to the ebb and flow of suppressed emotion and it is he who invests time in trying to help Pavel. He ends Chapter One by recognising that his circumstances have changed: with these companions, he is no longer alone in the world.

They have survived a long and brutal winter, but now there is a lull before the spring offensive begins.

With patient, absorbing detail, Mingarelli builds up his portrait of these four men. Baria is proud of their accomplishments. Pavel's practical ideas mean that they have a oil lamp to brighten their evenings in their shelter so that they can play cards. He's rigged up their tent so that their rifles hang up high out of the way and don't get wet. They make off with some railway sleepers and set them up in front of the tent to block out the cold, and these serve as a congenial place to sit and smoke and play cards when there is nothing to do. They rib each other from time to time, but it is Kyabine who is mostly the butt of their teasing.

Their most treasured possession is a watch which opens up to show a portrait of a woman. They take it in turns to 'enjoy her company' at bedtime under the covers, but Sifra doesn't take a turn and is too naïve to understand what they are doing. (Baria thinks that Pavel is the only one who has ever actually slept with a woman). Mingarelli withholds a lot of information: he does not explain how they came to have this watch...

But we can guess. They go on foraging expeditions which involve looting from the local peasant farmers, escalating both in audacity and the effects on the victims, the very people for whose cause they are fighting. A farmer's offer of some elderly leeks triggers a demand for potatoes too. The next time they steal a pig, and then it's a horse that they don't have the skills to handle. But they're not entirely heartless...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/06/20/quatre-soldats-four-soldiers-2003-by-hubert-... ( )

An exceptional story of four uneducated soldiers on their way to defeat. Set in Eastern Europe WWII, these men suffer extreme hardship over a number of days. Their simple friendships are forged around a numbers of simple experiences.

Most of the novel is about their days “at rest” during a break of hostilities in mid winter. The four are grouped together and support each other physically and mentally. The simplicity of the four men, their limited life experiences, their innate kindness, evokes an interlude of quiet tranquility in the midst of the harsh reality of war.

There’s a dream-like quality and I read it at a time of personal distress. Yet it was soothing and a joy to read.

The interlude was bound to end. The men know this, as does the reader. The end is violent, sad and yet humanity manages to shine through. ( )

Despite the title, this is not a book about war, but about friendship. It tells the simple story of four men serving in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, but has almost no combat, nor deaths. It has nothing of the period, no discussion of politics, no history -- it could have been set anywhere, at any time. Because of that, it is a universal story, touching and on a very human scale. Highly recommended. ( )

Four Soldiers is a short book, perhaps novella length, that tells the tale of four young, illiterate Red Army soldiers—Pavel, Sifra, an Uzbek named Kyabine, and our narrator Benia— during one season of the Russian Civil War. The unit has set up camp somewhere near the Romanian border for the winter and the story follows the friendship of the four while they wait for the actual fighting. It’s a slow story, engrossing at times, amusing at others. The climax comes at the end when the four, now five, faces combat.

I very much enjoyed this book, there is a sense of authenticity about it. That said, I found Mingarelli’s more recent (and also short) book, [A Meal in Winter] much more powerful and prosaic. And I’ll be watching for his next. ( )

Foraging Minutiae or Four Characters in Search of a Diarist
Review of the Audible Audio audiobook edition narrated by Stefan Rudnicki of the 2018 English translation by Sam Taylor of the 2003 French language original
[2 star "It was OK" bumped to 3 star "Liked it" for the audio narration]

There were definitely some idyllic and lyrical passages in this tale of four soldiers who reluctantly accept a young recruit into their tent. They become more attached and obsessive when they decide that the youngster may be able to document their grim but occasionally joyful life in his habit of daily diary entries.

There is only the briefest of introductions about the Russian home towns of the four soldiers and their young charge and there is only the occasional use of firearms throughout the plot. This sets a stage that is almost timeless, where the soldiers could be in any army in any place at any time.

Before the child soldier is introduced there is an over-wintering period in a temporary hut which the soldiers build themselves. Although the squad is subject to occasional orders about foraging and eat collectively at an army kitchen, they most often seem to be acting without any supervision or command. Brief references are made to this being the Third Army on the side of the Reds in the Russian Civil War (1917-22) and that they are fighting on the Romanian Front, but there is little actual army action except for a retreat at the front end and an engagement at the back end.

My expectations may have been at a bit too high for this novella, based on its previous French literary award Prix Medici (2003) and its current long-listed nomination for the 2019 International Booker Prize. With that knowledge and the synopsis I started to imagine something along the lines of Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood. I had to come down to earth a bit on that and just accept it as a tale of four everymen trying to establish their own microcosm of peaceful existence within a grim war-torn world with the desire to have someone who would document it to prove that it ever existed.

The vocal performance by veteran narrator Stefan Rudnicki was excellent throughout and would give this another star for a 3 rating. There was an Eastern European/Russian accent added for effect but which was not overdone. The slower witted giant Uzbek named Kyabine was given a deeper bass voice but I didn't detect any personalisations for the other soldiers. ( )