Of War and Revolution: A Review of Open Fire

The daughter of an army officer, 17-year-old Katya has dropped out of school to work in a munitions factory to aid Russia’s losing effort in World War I. In summer 1917, demonstrations against the tsar have led to his abdication and a provisional government led by Alexander Kerensky. The Bolsheviks have made inroads among enlisted men at the front who are refusing to fight. Maria Bochkareva, the commander of the Women’s Battalion of Death, shows up at the factory to recruit, saying that brave fighting women will shame the male soldiers into doing their duty. When Katya’s own brother deserts, her own shame and desire for her father’s approval leads her to enlist. Her best friend, Masha, signs up as well. As they endure a speeded-up basic training and the perils of war, Katya and Masha become close to their platoon mates – women who have become warriors for a variety of reasons, from a better life for their families to paving the way to women’s suffrage and complete equality.

Lough’s third YA novel, her first work of historical fiction, is fast-paced and gripping. Right away readers see the danger Katya is in: first with explosive chemicals and then with poison gas, at the factory and again on the streets where anti-government protestors face off against armed soldiers. Her university classmate Sergei supports the Bolsheviks, and even though she’s at first a monarchist following her father’s lead, she comes to question a regime that amasses scarce food and wealth for itself while everyone else suffers. Lough creates full and memorable secondary characters who have their own reasons for joining Bockkareva’s battalion and reflect the complex political and social turmoil of that place and time. A military veteran herself, she describes basic training and trench warfare in vivid detail, placing readers in the midst of Belarusan forests exploding with gunfire and grenades. Scenes in distant Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) portray life that seems untouched by war but on the cusp of revolution. Lough’s first person narrative is eloquent and thoughtful in its consideration of the costs and impact of war; as Katya muses, “There are worthy wars fought badly and unworthy ones fought well, and all of them are hell. They may save nations or break them, but they always take more than they give back.”

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