Born Under a Lucky Star: Recollections of a Red Army Soldier on the Eastern Front of World War II

wimpy: Well written, insightful, definitely worth reading

Canada on Apr 20, 2023

myers-fred-peg: Altho his descriptions of events is sometimes confusing, this book is well worth reading. It's amazing anyone survived the front lines in WW2, in any theater.

United States on Dec 18, 2022

Amazon Customer: Of course a translation from Russian to English will have errors but the story comes across as honest and unbiased. I believe it showed the reality of his life and I am not here to judge any errors. He was a far braver man than me.

Australia on Sep 30, 2022

Peter kelly: The book gave a different view to the struggle that the ordinary Russian soldier endured in WW2. My heart went out to all involved .

United Kingdom on Sep 21, 2022

Brian: The story itself is amazing and something kind of rare in the west. You don’t often get to heard about Soviet views on the war in the US so this is a good story.

That being said it’s a strange book to follow it doesn’t read like a diary like most autobiographies. It jumps around a lot and the author jumps from the war to present day then back to the war. Random things are mentioned but not really explained, people who are seem important are just gone. The author seems to jump around in time and doesn’t really talk about battles or action it’s mostly walking.

In all I wouldn’t pay full price for the book as it’s alittle rough to get into but it is a good story

United States on Aug 27, 2022

Bernie Bernbaum: The writer of these stories, Ivan, should purchase lottery tickets. He's one of the luckiest people alive. But in war, only the survivors get to tell their stories.
There wasn't a lot "new" in the story. It's well known that the Soviet Union was wasteful with their soldiers, especially the soldiers from the far eastern part of Russia.
The stories don't really take you through the war - they're just snapshots of his service, and they take place in a variety of locations.
There are books that describe the life of German soldiers on the Eastern front, and I would recommend reading one or more of those to get a feeling for how horrible it was on that front.
It's not admitted very often in the west, but it was the Soviet Union that defeated Germany. They destroyed over 150 German divisions on that front. The Soviet Union suffered about 25 million soldiers and civilians killed in that war, about 13% of their population. About 8.7 million were soldiers and the rest were civilians who died as a result of the war.
The United States lost about 420,000 soldiers and civilians in WWII, less than 1% of our population.

United States on Apr 30, 2022

Irish shopper: This is a first hand account from one soviet soldier on his experiences and those of his comrades on the Eastern Front in WW2. it's a no frills and no propaganda account. He doesn't credit senior commanders with the victories and is honest about the deficiencies of tactics, supplies and leadership. He details examples where losses among ordinary Red Army soldiers was the result of carelessness and ineptitude. Above all he relates the strength, unbelievable capacity to absorb hardships and the determination of the ordinary Red Army soldier to defeat the Germans. But not as a mindless horde as often portrayed. Rather he describes the mix of the good the bad and the ugly characters that exist in every army in warfare. above all he comes across as a thinking caring and ordinary person caught up in a terrible war with few options but to try and survive. he is also extremely lucky and this is demonstrated throughout the book. this is an important book and very well worth reading form a historical point of view but it si also an enjoyable and interesting book. couldn't leave it down .

United Kingdom on Aug 06, 2021

fuzzy logic: You could call it sloppy writing but that is probably because it was put together from the dairy and/or journal of this soldier. The ghost writer could have cleaned it up a bit but regardless it is book worth reading because of the apparent authenticity of it. It is too bizarre , in parts, to be a novel that someone would try to fabricate. If you have a combat background you'll find this a unique read. And if you don't you're still likely to enjoy it if this type of story interests you. This was a terrible war as Germany invaded Russia and this story will give you a good idea of what it was really like for a typical teen age Russian soldier who had no idea of what he was getting into. He was certainly born under a lucky star.

United States on Jun 22, 2021

Tyger7406: First off I have always been fascinated with Mother Russia. This book was a real page turner and the only thing I regret was that I could not have met Mr. Ivan in real life. We live in a country (America) which is now polarized with so many so called social issues, people declaiming that things are "unfair" or that they are discriminated because of race or whatever. To all these people I give the following advice" READ THIS BOOK. Under Soviet communisis the author teaches us how brutal life can be. They did not care if you were a woman with children ... they would take your last chicken and dump you out to live in a swamp!! In the freezing Russian winter with no shelter. Mr. Ivan is truly a remarkable and brave person who is a true hero, like so many others to Russia. If only I could be more like him! Today I received some disappointing, "unfair" news at work just as I was finishing the book . I felt ashamed of myself.... like Mr. Ivan says " If you are not hungry and you can walk you are a lucky person indeed!" Thank you Mr. Ivan for your life... I only wish I could be more like you!

United States on Jun 17, 2021

M. Pain: I really enjoyed this book. Written by an (extra)ordinary man about his wartime experiences on the Eastern front as a young man. Apart from the experiences in battle theere is a rare first hand glimpse of life in the Soviet Union for ordinary farming people: that anyone survived such hardships is a testament to the human spirit to overcome cruelties visited upon them. The account by the grandson of Ivan reminded me of my father and his stories of the war as he said anyone who survived frontline service was just lucky, also he enjoyed life too and was cheerul to the last
Read it.

United Kingdom on May 22, 2021