An Altogether soul-shaking novel! Reminds you of Doctor Zhivago and Anna Karenina.

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This is a story set in Russia during a time of change due to invasion from without and Revolution within. Many characters are just trying to stay alive. The plight of individuals during the chaotic period beginning in 1917 was often tenuous. Violence and influences from the groups working to control the country changed as the people fled from the Nazis, the Reds or the Whites. It meant that far too often life was short, too short, particularly if one was aligned with the wrong one.

Early in the novel the reader meets Anna Petrovna who falls in love with an officer in the Hussars. They marry but when he leaves for battle he disappears. Anna only knows he is missing in action. She lives in the village of Yazyk which is occupied by a Czech legion. During the slippery years overlapping W.W.I. and the Revolution the the struggle intensifies between the Reds and the Whites. The Czechs are not part of either group. They just want to go home. Most people belong to a peaceful group of castrate Christians, who remove sexual body parts to become "angels". Individuals whirl to reach a state of religious ecstasy. Leader of the group is Balashov who the reader discovers is Anna's legal husband The lonely Anna seeks love and sex from men, adores her son and photography.

There are many layers in the novel The strange Czech captain Matula ignores orders for the group to return home to a newly formed Czechoslavia after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He prefers to stay in Yazyk to run a military dictatorship. Lieutenant Mutz is having an affair with Anna and is torn between a life with her or returning with his men to Czechoslovakia. If they stay in Yazyk he believes that they may be massacred by the Communists who want to annihilate the Legion for their involvement in a war atrocity. A film was even made about the event.

The strangest character is Samarin who views himself as "destruction" and is determined to "destroy all the corrupt and cruel functionaries" he can find. He is a liar, a story teller, a student and an escaped prisoner. In short, he is a man of many faces who kills to survive and to protect the latest image he creates. Yet he is able at times to show compassion when for example, Anna's son is shot during an escape attempt.

Since the author was a reporter based in Russia for ten years he understood much about the culture, the people, the country, and the politics. Such in-depth reporting enabled a rather accurate portrayal of Siberia. Life was filled with cruelty, deceit, murder and cannibalism. As I read the novel I kept wondering how the title was chosen. The love that between Anna Petrovna and her husband seemed too short for a title. One reviewer said that the book was about love - between people and for religion. Not sure I agree with that. However, I did see the phase mentioned in one spot in the book.

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Beautiful story, a matter of intense material from the soul. I loved the author, he writes with his heart. This is a thriller and beautifully done. A story of love gone wrong. I found myself wanting to drag it out, not wanting it to end. Siberia is such a lonely place and so beautiful it makes for an intimate read. Yes , when you are finished with this novel it will be a personal thing about how you feel about what you have read. I very much enjoyed my time spent with with "The People's Act of Love".

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