Soviet Union, 1973: There is perhaps no greater honor for a young girl than to be chosen for the famed USSR gymnastics program. When eight-year-old Anya is selected, her family is thrilled. What is left of her family, that is. Years ago, her mother disappeared without a trace, leaving Anya’s father devastated and their lives dark and quiet in the bitter cold of Siberia. Anya’s only confidant is her neighbor, an older woman who survived unspeakable horrors during her ten years imprisoned in a Gulag camp—and who, unbeknownst to Anya, was also her mother’s confidant and might hold the key to her disappearance.
I admittedly know very little about Russian history and often find it inaccessible and overwhelming. So I appreciate when a book like Rae Meadows' Winterland comes along because it makes learning about the Russian people and culture both entertaining and educational, while also presenting the story in such a way that makes it easy to absorb and comprehend.
Winterland is a tour de force that completely wrapped me up in storytelling goodness. It follows the USSR's gold-winning 1970s & 80s gymnastics program through the eyes of Anya, a young girl selected to compete for the motherland at the precocious and tender age of eight. Anya cares nothing for winning gold for her country - she just wants to learn some new tricks - but over time, she will grow to know the crucial role she plays in promoting Soviet pride and securing honor for her country ... but at what cost to her mental and physical health, as well as that of her teammates?
Intermixed with Anya's story of rising in the ranks of USSR gymnastics is a bleak, harrowing tale of oppression and loss. Narratives from Anya's elderly neighbor who spent time in the Gulag labor camps are interspersed throughout this novel, as well as glimpses of Anya's mother's life before she mysteriously went missing under suspicious circumstances. Also told is the story of Anya's father, who is his doing his duty for the communist government, trying to be a good Soviet by not looking too closely at all of the ways he and his fellow comrades are exploited and repressed. While these vignettes do take us away from the central story of Anya's gymnastics career, they provide incredible insight into the daily lives of the USSR citizens and help paint an atmospherically ominous portrait of life in the motherland.
The 1970s and 80s were a time when Soviet gymnasts dominated the world stage, unlike today when Americans have the spotlight. The USSR was unstoppable, but behind all of that glittery gold hanging around these young girls' necks was a story of abuse and self-sacrifice. The USSR used up and spit out its gymnasts, caring for nothing except winning gold. Forcing its girls to tumble through debilitating injuries and hit incredibly risky maneuvers, the USSR gymnasts were merely pawns and unfortunate victims in a much larger game of power and pride.
While Anya's story is fictionalized, Meadows based the stories of her teammates on the real-life gymnasts who competed for the USSR at that time. Most notably is Elena Mukhina, a Soviet gymnast poised to dominate the world, winning competition after competition, and doing things no one dared try, including the Thomas Salto, an incredibly daring tumbling pass taken from men's gymnastics. Elena snapped her spine doing the Salto after she was forced to perform it after a series of other injuries that left her in a weakened state. The result? She was a quadriplegic for the rest of her life and the USSR kept the details of her injury hush-hush so as not to bring shame and scrutiny upon the Soviets.
With real-life tales of horror such as Mukhina's, it is no surprise that Winterland is an absorbing, yet distressing look into Soviet gymnastics program. Yet despite its dark and depressing overtones, Winterland is still a story of hope. Anya, the spirited little girl at the center of this novel, has heart and tries to be true to herself and those she loves despite her crushing circumstances. This book is incredible and is well-worth a read by anyone who is gymnastics-obsessed or interested in the oppressive state of life in the USSR. Available as an eBook in cloudLibrary.
- Brooke, Public Relations Librarian