Thursday 22 March 2012

Novel Review

The novel I read was called "The Valley of Adventure" by Enid Blyton. It is an adventure book (as the title suggests).  The book doesn't say which time period it was written in. But, I guess it was either in the late 40s to the 50s. The entire series follows four adventurous tweens and teens. As where ever they go, they seem to have a massive adventure. Even when in one of the latter books of the series they promise their Mother that they'd wouldn't go for any more adventures.

This book is the four: Jack, Dinah, Philip and Lucy-Ann, going to visit their uncle Bill in Scotland. Uncle Bill wants to fly them to his bungalow in his new plane. But there is a mix up up at the aerodrome. Because Bill was a policeman, he'd been called to help catch a couple of crooks who robed a museum. There was a small shot-out. The four were frightened and got on to the wrong plane. It just so happened that the plane they got on to was that of the crooks! So they realised that pretty quickly. Over hearing the pilots, they crammed them selves into some crates at the back of the plane. Because the pilots were going to drop their crates into a valley. The survived the fall because the crates had parachutes. That's how they ended up having an adventure in a valley.

I'd rate this book 7/10 because the over all story line was good. The description of the environment was some-what realistic. The only down side to all of this is because of the language they use. Its not bad. But, is what I call "proper English." And I'm not use to it. Nor are a lot people. Most would be quite irritated. There were also some funny parts to it. Mainly when Philip tries to scare his sister Dinah with all sorts of bugs:)

Sunday 11 March 2012

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the dictator of the former U.S.S.R (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) from 19 July 1941 – 25 February 1946. He was still in office until his death in March of 19 1953. He led the Soviet war against the Nazis in 1941-1945. He was one of the many Bolchevic revolutionaries that brought the end of the ruling of the Russian royal family in 1917.

Starlin was born on 18 December 1978 in Gori in the Russian Empire in what is now Georgia. He contracted smallpox at the age of 7 which left his face permanently scared. He attended Church school where he and the other Georgian children were forced to speak Russian. At the age of 12, two horsing accidents left his left arm damaged. When he was sixteen he got a scholarship into a Georgian Orthodox seminary; but was kicked out after rebelling against the imperial and religious orders.

When Stalin became the  dictator in 1941. He succeeded Vyacheslav Molotov, the man in which the Finish named their Molotov cocktail. After all, he was the one to blame or the Russo-Finish war of 1940.
Stalin formed a military alliance with Adolf Hitler. He and Stalin (was the premier, not quite leader of the U.S.S.R. yet) together invade Poland. But in the summer of 1941, Hitler breaks their alliance and invades the Soviet Union, on failing to invade Britain. After a bitter struggle, the Soviets push the Nazis back to Germany.

During his regime, Stalin has been suggested to have killed more people than Hitler. The exact figure is unknown. But it lies any ware between 10-60 million. The main cause of all these deaths is that Stalin had anybody who opposed or didn't support the communist party sent to the Siberian salt mines in the far east. Or if you were lucky, you'd be stood against a brick wall and shot by the K.G.B.(Soviet Secret Service).

The salt mines meant the same thing to the Soviets that Auschwitz meant to the Jews of the time. They were truly horrible places. It was cold. Temperatures rarely exceeding 10C. There were no toilets. If you had to use the "little opposer to the communist party's room", the only option is to dig a hole and dump. The food was much less than adequate. Sickness was common. The workers were over-worked. Added to that, the trip to the salt mines wasn't any better. They would be crumbed into boxcars for days at a time. There wars no food or water.

If the salt mines weren't bad enough, Stalin heavily persecuted the Soviets living in the South U.S.S.R. The countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kirghistan, were all looked down upon because they looked more Asian than European. Their protesting along with other Soviet states led Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall and let the Soviet Union fragment, in 1989.

Stalin's regime finally came to an end when he succumb to  atherosclerosis due to his heavy smoking. He suffered at least 10 heart attacks before finally having a stroke on March 5th 1953.

 

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
                      Numerous documentaries over the years.