Four people swept up in the turmoil of the Russian Revolution experience the bitter struggles, courageous calls to arms, and passionate love--both personal and patriotic--that carry them through a time of staggering conflicts and changes
It's just so freakin' tedious. Everyone stands around talking about philosophy & occasionally making an innuendo, then they introduce each other to MORE people & expound on further philosophy. Zzzz. I've only been genuinely interested in two scenes -- one had cannibal peasants, while the other had wall sex. :P
Why do Russian-set novels (almost) always sound like this?? So stilted & herky-jerky. (And wtf is the use of a character index that doesn't have half the characters included?? Every time I look someone up, they're not in it. *glower*)
A very long novel about the early days of the Russian Revolution. Bit of a pot boiler, but good background to the revolution nevertheless. I did find the story of Anna wandered a bit - did we really need to know that she had a breakdown early on when she was going to be forcibly married to the old count? And it was a shame that I didn't really feel any emotion when the love of her life Alexei was killed.
A book of such high caliber shot down by the ignorant critics ( Just because they didn't like it to their taste) enraged me. I say ignore them.
Its worth reading. The plot is beautifully threaded, and the scenic beauty explained along with the emotions of each character is stunning. ( Also, not to mention - the backgrounds of the characters).
In my humble opinion this book is an absolute beauty and a masterpiece work of art. I completely loved it from start to finish. If you have social justice and human rights close at heart, you have that world-changing rebel spirit within you and you are a hopeless romantic, this book is for you. A very well done and thank you for the experience to Ms. Hanlon.