At only 150 pages (2 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook) I would label Eastbound as a novella.
Aliocha, a young conscript in current day Russia, is on the Trans-Siberian train heading east to his compulsory military service location. He is passing the long journey in as much isolation as possible, filled with dread and misery. In his desire to escape the train to gain his freedom, he crosses paths with Helene, a French passenger on her own journey of escape. Despite no common language, the two of them create a partnership toward a more hopeful future.
The pacing slowed periodically but this reader wanted to find out if Aliocha would escape his military service. Maylis de Kerangal‘s writing was beautiful (well, really, the translation by Jessica Moore was beautiful, at least) and the brevity of the story was appropriate. It was just a small slice of life for these two characters. Aliocha’s escape was certainly the most urgent. Helene’s desire to travel away didn’t make complete sense since de Kerangal gave only the barest explanation.
I do feel that it could have been made into a full-length novel with more character background but appreciated that de Kerangal did not artificially inflate the storyline. Even with the sketchy character backgrounds provided, I cared enough about the characters to appreciate their story.
The audiobook was narrated by Jennifer Pickens and she did a fine job with the characters’ internal musings and narrations. But it really wasn’t a very challenging story and she employed no accents which would have made it better. I’ll give her a B+.
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