Share This Review
It appeared that this bloodlust and affinity for violence seeped across the world, and it was not only Russia who was affected by the slow takeover of the government by terrorists. In the early 1900’s, the entire world was on the brink of change. It was unclear at times whether or not that change would be for the good or the bad, as the scale often seemed to wax and wane between the two in equal measure, but as the events in Russia began to escalate, so tipped the scales in favor of a devastating war, the involved the entire world. International affairs were in their infancy, and as such were difficult to navigate to say the very least. Unimaginable decisions demanded to be made in order to save all involved, and the source of that salvation fell into the hands of a very complex and unexpected candidate: Stephen Morrison.
In his trilogy, Moryak, Lee Mandel follows the lifetime of the very unconventional life of Stephen Morrison, at least which is what he is called throughout most of the book for the reader. Throughout his life, Morrison had to adapt into the identity of many different people, all whom were not assumed identities, but just different representations of who he housed within himself to serve the task he was presented with at that particular season in time. Born in Perm Russia, Lev Kambotchnik and his father, Rabbi Kamnotchnik, immigrated to the United States. Eleven year old Lev was delighted by this opportunity, as he felt in his heart that he was destined for a greater life than that of a persecuted Jew, relegated to live in poverty as a result of the pogroms that the Russian autocracy enforced.
However, upon his arrival he soon discovered that things were not going to be all that different than there were back in Russia. The geography may have changed, but the anti-Semitism had not. Lev spent his entire adolescence physically fighting off other boys of his age who persecuted him for his difference in religion, and emotionally fighting with his father over his desire to be different, to be a real American. He felt that the immigrated Russian Jews partially brought abuse upon themselves, because they refused to infuse themselves into the culture of America and insisted upon standing out in a unseemly way. This forced much dissention between Lev and his Rabbi father, and culminated in Lev leaving the Lower East Side where the Russians were placed by immigration and adopted by Caleb Morrison, United States Senator.
Upon his adoption, Lev Kambotchnik became Stephen Morrison, but remained a Jew. Now being of a family of influence he was afforded many opportunities, the likes of which he had only dreamed of. The climax of these dreams was attending Annapolis, the United States Naval academy, where he would act out his passion of becoming a seaman. Morrison quickly became one to watch, and soared through the ranks, gaining opportunity after opportunity. However these promotions did not come easily. He suffered great abuse and persecution for his Judaism, and the anger that had planted its seed in him during his teenage years on the Lower East Side only grew. The anger in his eyes and the fury in his heart were noticeable by all, and it drove him to become a man of great influence so that one day he would not only earn their respect, but earn the right to be seen as an American.
Shortly after Morrison had been promoted to office of aide to the Naval Secretary, Theodore Roosevelt was about to begin negotiations with Japan and Russia over a peace treaty. However, through the top office holders in Russia the news that the current Tsar was poison to Russia was revealed, and would sabotage the peace treaties out of ignorance and pride. Russia implored Roosevelt to intervene by sending an agent along with an agent provided by the British Government to capture the Tsar so that they could place a suitable candidate in the seat of Tsar and keep the country of Russia intact. But this need required a very special individual, one who could speak fluent Russian, pass for a native, understand the political climate, and be able to perform the tasks at hand with stealth and ruthlessness. It soon became apparent to Roosevelt though the naval channels that Morrison was the man for the job.
Under the cover story that Morrison was embarking to England to study the construction of a new, groundbreaking battleship, he accepted the treacherous assignment given to him by the president of the united states himself. The one stipulation was that, were he to be caught, the United States government would not save him. They would claim he was a rouge agent acting of his own accord in order to save face on the International front. Morrison knew these risks going in, but he did not believe that they would actually play out.
Indeed, events did take place that lead to the capture of Morrison while in Russia on his mission, titled Double Eagle and was under an alias as to not reveal his identity of himself and his affiliation to the United States. After a series of events during his capture, he escaped his sentence of death and instead was sent to the labor camps in the place of another prisoner, a revolutionary who had led a mutiny upon one of the Russian Naval ships. During his time on Solovetsky Island, the anger and hatred only flourished within him. Soon he became so ruthless that he overthrew the current head of the Vors, the leader of the criminals of the Island, by way of killing anyone who threatened the political prisoners in any way. His violence even brought fear into the hearts of even the most hardened criminals. Soon he morphed into yet another identity. Now he was Moryak, A revolutionary and a cold blooded murderer.
Watching the same central character become so many different combinations of himself was quite an interesting concept to be. Nothing about him really changed in his core. He always remained the same person, his quirks and speech and fundamentals always remained, but because he always lived his life in such extreme circumstances and was shifted around into so many different roles, none of which lacked importance and dependence from others different portions of him were brought to the forefront, no matter how severe they were. Understanding this concept is tantamount to understanding the book. The trilogy blocks itself into the three persons of Morrison, the first being Morrison, the second Lev who turns into Morrison, and the third where the last transformation into Moryak takes place. It is obvious that you are not reading about three separate people, but you must understand that they are not simply three detached identities of the same person. Morrison lies beneath them all it simply depends on his calling as to which he can act out at any given moment. He is who he has to be. Which when you doubt his honor, only reminds you that at his core, Morrison is a man of valor.
Mandel does an excellent job of painting portraits of worlds gone by. His detail is immaculate and in depth that there is nothing left to try and figure out. The story is very fast paced and you must be able to keep up with the switch of continent and inner story line, but he does a good job of steering you in the right direction. Because of how quickly this book was paced and how wide of a location the book spread, sometimes it was difficult to realize where you were and who was speaking. There are many, many supporting characters in this book that all serve the main plot, but sometimes it was very confusing attempting to remember who was who. This especially happens when dealing with the Russian. Many of the names were so similar that it was very hard to know who was talking to who and to recall what each character’s arc was on their own as the confusion lent to blending them all together.
Because of the book’s length, I also feel that there were some very common redundancies that could have been left out. There was many times that I felt I was reading the same description of Morrison’s eyes and the anger that they held over and over again, simply from a different mouth. Perhaps if the descriptions had varied in inflection or had used other descriptive words I would not have felt this way, but as they felt verbatim, I felt I was just being told information I had already been provided on many occasions.
That being said I feel that Mandel did an excellent job capturing the seriousness and importance of the times in which Morrison lived. I gleaned a lot of information from this book. Even though it is a fictional novel, much of the historical content is accurate and that is something that I very much enjoyed and appreciated. I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. This is one of the best historical fiction books that I have ever read, and I hope that Mandel continues to write and bring more relevance and marketability to the history of not only our nation, but of the nations who have so greatly contributed to our history.
***
Buy "Moryak" on Amazon
Buy "Moryak" on Barnes and Noble
