A classic was once defined as a book you remember starting to read but you never stop reading and re-reading. This is such a book.

The book is the autobiography of the Russian sniper Ludmilla Pavlichenko. Pavlichenko was exceptional in many regards, not least for her ability to kill hundreds of Fascists during the Second World War. Her skill in marksmanship was a natural in born ability, but her military training and understanding given to her in her youth by her father created a very acute observer of the start of Fascist Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. The level of detail is only matched by Pvlichenko's ability to write with precision and clarity. On this level the book opens to the reader the sense of being caught up and thrown into the cataclysm which occurred. The gradual sense of the immensity of what occurred and the level of sacrifice the situation demanded is given with a compassionate regard and at the same time professional military detail. There is no other book I can think of that is remarkable in this sense to this degree.

Then there is her ability to speak English which gave her the chance to become deep friends with Eleanor Roosevelt when on a tour of the USA to promote a second front in the war. This odd friendship forms most of the second half of the book. From the depths of war torn hell to sitting half naked on a bed sewing alterations on pajamas with Eleanor Roosevelt you probably will not find a more bizarre combination in a biography.

Quite apart form all that it is very well written. I would have to say this is one of the top five books I've read in my fifty years of life. This book is a masterpiece of literature. To such a life the literary quality should be exceptional and it is. This is a book you want to read over and over.