Historical fiction is an inexact science, one reason “Anton,” by Denver-based author Dale Eisler, is such an im pressive achievement.
Eisler uses a friendship forged in the fires of the Bolshevik Revolution to illustrate a grim chapter in history.
That “Anton” transcends its own genre is obvious after the first few chapters. And while Eisler’s storytelling command falters near the end, the bond between the main characters lingers right through the final sentence.
Anton is a young Germanic boy living in Russia at the cusp of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution. Eisler briefs the reader on the culture clashes between the country’s German immigrants and existing population, a friction that dates back decades. Even those with little knowledge of the historical record will quickly get up to speed on the timeline in play.
Early on, the boy suffers the loss of his father and older brother at the hands of communist thugs. The double blow is compounded by governmental forces that impound most of the family’s food supply to distribute to others. Anton’s family, and everyone around them, live in constant hunger.
But the youngster always has his friendship with Kaza, a neighbor boy with a foul stutter, to fall back upon. The duo hide out together, stare up at the clouds and find solace in their unshakable bond.
Change swirls all around the boys; each realizes their carefree days won’t be returning soon. The Bolsheviks tighten their grip on the country while a rising player in the political hierarchy, Leon Trotsky, angles for power.
Anton matures over a compressed time period. He’s a child who loves to frolic with his friends, but he understands those kinds of games are distractions, nothing more.
Eisler juggles the various story elements with a sure hand. We get historical snapshots intertwined with Anton’s daily life, the broader political picture contrasted against a few Russian rebels desperate to break free from the authoritarian rule.
The book’s power comes in the quiet passages, the moments when Anton describes how he processed the many horrors in his young life. Eisler uses restraint and quiet observations to show Anton’s grief, describing the physical sensations these events impart on him — and how they never fade with time.
The families decimated by the revolution also boast a quiet strength and an ability to survive that stands in contrast with the government killers on the loose.
Eisler weakens the novel by getting on a soap box in the final passages. After 200 or so pages of showing us the horrors of the era’s communist system, he falls back on ham-fisted lecturing to spell out those facts one more time.
“Anton” is less successful at getting beneath the skin of the Bolsheviks, here depicted in relentlessly brutal terms. And the book’s final pages can’t measure up to its brilliant beginning; they feel more rushed than fully realized. It’s as if the story’s ending was never in doubt and the author felt no need to flesh it out.
The epilogue more than makes amends. Some will see it as needlessly maudlin, but the beauty that comes before it earns the right to hammer away at our tear ducts.
“Anton” is the story of an enduring friendship, one that enthralls even without the historical references on furious display.
Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance writer.
FICTION
Anton, by Dale Eisler, $22.95
