The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years By Chingiz Aitmatov: Book Review

Holly Nasello
Aug 26
3 min read

Is The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years worth reading? I read Aitmatov’s novel and came away with very mixed feelings.

the day lasts more than a hundred years by chingiz aitmatov

Note: Prices were correct at the time of writing.

The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years - Book By Chingiz Aitmatov

KEY TAKEAWAY:

The science fiction storyline hooked me early, but it faded so quickly that I spent much of the book waiting for something that never really came.

FIRST IMPRESSION:

Early on, the book seemed to be setting up two very different stories. I had no idea where Aitmatov was going with them, but I was completely willing to follow along.

TWO STORIES:

One storyline begins with the death of a respected elder at an incredibly remote Soviet railway junction. Yedigei, his close friend, takes responsibility for bringing the body to a distant cemetery that holds deep meaning for the local community. The second storyline involves a joint U.S. and Soviet space program, and I really don't want to say much more about that because it would spoil too much.

EARLY PROMISE:

At first, I loved the odd pairing. The funeral procession reminded me a little of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, which also centers on transporting a body for burial, although Faulkner manages to fit an astonishing amount into that journey, including more humor than you might expect. At the same time, the space storyline was exactly the sort of science fiction I tend to enjoy, straightforward, politically relevant, and not obsessed with showing off futuristic gadgets. I couldn't see how the two stories would eventually meet, but that didn't bother me. I was hooked.

PLOT CONNECTION:

I suppose you could make an argument that the two storylines connect if you were a high school student who had been assigned an essay and really needed to come up with 150 words for the teacher. Beyond that, though, I never felt that they truly came together in any meaningful way. There is a small connection near the very end, but for me it was far too slight to justify everything that had been set up earlier.

SCIENCE FICTION:

I also realized fairly quickly that this wasn't really a two-plot novel at all. The science fiction storyline gradually disappears, then finally gets a rather disappointing sendoff near the end. That bothered me because it had been one of the things that pulled me into the book in the first place. I kept expecting it to return in a substantial way, and it never really did.

YEDIGEI'S STORY:

What remains is essentially the story of Yedigei and life around that isolated railway junction, with the funeral journey serving as a way to move through his memories and experiences. There are also older regional folk stories woven into the novel. Some of that material was interesting, especially given the Soviet setting and everything connected to life under Stalin.

SLOW PACING:

The problem was that the book simply felt much longer than the material could support. There were sections I enjoyed, but there were also stretches where I felt the story was dragging badly. I never expected to spend quite so much time reading about the misbehavior of a particularly rambunctious camel, for example.