Want to Understand History? You Have to See It All at Once

A Parable about Time for our Time. Reviewing ‘A History of the Island’ by Eugene Vodolazkin

Every novel has a setting, the particular time and place the primary action occurs. Eugene Vodolazkin has always played with time in his novels. Interlacing timelines and other tricks of chronology propel his narratives forward or wink from the edges. I reviewed one of those here last year, Brisbane.

In his newest, however, time is the place. For A Hist…