Gorsky

by Vesna Goldsworthy

London dances to the tune of Gorsky’s billions. The most enigmatic of oligarchs, Gorsky has been led to the city by his love for Natalia, whom he first knew in Russia. That she is now married to an Englishman is an inconvenient detail.

Gorsky desires and gets the best of everything. His mansion by the Thames is set to make Buckingham Palace look like an ungainly box by a roundabout. At its heart will be a grand library, denoting taste and breeding. Now he just needs the books.

When Gorsky’s armour-plated car halts in front of a down-at-heel bookshop, the startled young man behind the till receives the commission of a lifetime. The bookseller suddenly gains privileged access to the wealthy and the beautiful; a world filled with delectable books but fraught with danger...

Genres: Fiction, Retellings, Russia, Contemporary, Books About Books, Literary Fiction, London

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

BABT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qg5p7

Description: When the enigmatic Russian billionaire Roman Gorsky enters a quiet Chelsea Mews bookshop, Nick - himself an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia - has no idea of the impact this man will have on his work and private life. He only knows that he has been handed the best commission of his life - to create a private library of unparalleled scope and almost priceless worth.

But what lies behind Gorsky's desire to create this masterpiece, in a land far from his birth, as he endeavours to put down roots in this new city he calls home?

1: A fabulously wealthy Russian visits a struggling Chelsea bookshop with a proposal.

2: Natalia and Tom Summerscale are a golden couple who live an opulent life in Chelsea. When Nick is called upon to deliver an art book for Natalia to their home, The Laurels, he enters a world where everything appears to be perfect.

3: Nick's rented home abuts an enormous construction site for a 'private palace' in Chelsea. The owner of this massive undertaking and edifice is his employer, the elusive Roman Gorsky.

After his visit to The Laurels, Nick bumps into Tom Summerscale and they have lunch together. Tom invites Nick to visit his accountant with him.

4: The parallels with The Great Gatsby begin to emerge. Roman Gorsky has asked Nick to furnish the library of his mansion under construction with books of untold value and priceless editions of Russian classics. He also wants a section of art books which will impress a connoisseur.

The bookseller of modest means finds himself drawn into a world of endless wealth. He also begins to spend time with the voracious former Bulgarian gymnast, Gery.

5: Nick Kimović is rewarded for his efforts in the antiquarian book auctions with a holiday of unsurpassed luxury on Gorsky's private island. The other guests are an eclectic array of Russian gangsters and English financiers.

On his return he meets Gery, who has something to tell him.

6: As Nick gets drawn in to the world of the Russian community in London he begins to learn that its richest and most elusive member, Gorsky, is driven by one thing alone - his passion for Natalia Summerscale.

But although Gorsky met Natalia when she was not much more than a child in Russia, she is now married to a wealthy Englishman. A fact that Gorsky is determined to overlook.

7: Natalia and Tom Summerscale are a golden couple who live an opulent life in Chelsea.

When Nick is called upon to deliver an art book for Natalia to their home, The Laurels, he enters a world where everything appears to be perfect. But he soon discovers that Natalia is the woman for whom Gorsky is building his lavish palace, opposite The Laurels, with every intention that she should leave her husband and renew her ten year old promise to him.

Tom Summerscale is growing increasingly jealous, and Natalia seems to be waiting before she makes her move.

8: On a sweltering May afternoon, Nick and Gorsky are invited to join the Summerscales, and Gery, at their rooftop pool. The shock of discovering the physical resemblance - identically misshapen little toes between Gorsky and Natalia Summerscale's ten year old daughter Daisy leaves Nick stunned.

Tom Summerscale, already embroiled in an affair himself, is clearly furious. Finally cards are placed on the table in a bar in Notting Hill. But the drama has only just begun to come to a head.

9: With the discovery of Janice Allaoui's body in his Covent Garden flat, Tom Summerscale is arrested. Nick remains convinced of his innocence, as does Natalia who feels she needs to stand by her husband.

Gorsky has moved into his new house but is left waiting and wondering if Natalia and his daughter will ever join him there.

10: Our narrator, Nick, looks back on the events of that summer in London and recalls the aftermath of Gorsky's murder, and how the person who killed him was eventually caught.

□ □ □ □ □ □ □

Nicholas Kimović, the fab narator, refers to Roman Gorsky as The Great Gorsky, and you would be right to make the mental connection to The Great Gatsby. Goldsworthy offers up this contemporary re-imagining and it is palatable yet ultimately forgettable. 2.5*

The current state of oligarchs in the London property market

[Maria Roxana · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Întreaga lui viață pare să fi fost condusă de dorința de a captura și îmblânzi tot ce îi plăcea ei, să recreeze lumea din visele ei astfel încât ea să nu-și mai dorească nimic altceva decât pe el."

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

As gorgeous and decadent as one might expect from a modern retelling of Fitzgerald's enduring classic 'The Great Gatsby'.

Goldsworthy recasts Gatsby as the aloof and charming Gorsky, a Russian oligarch who throws outrageous sums of money at an ailing bookseller requesting that he furnish the most lavish of libraries with rare and titivating tomes to impress the one and only object of his affections, another man's beautiful and ethereal Russian wife.

All of Gatsby's original characters get a contemporary overhaul, and it works surprisingly well, I would go so far as saying that Natalia is much more tolerable than the original character she is modelled upon, the shallow and cold Miss Daisy.

The similarities to Gatsby continue throughout, expensive cars, big parties, the seedy and intimidating facet of extraordinary wealth that breeds an army of wannabes and soulless creatures, and most importantly the tragic love story of two people who can't escape a fate fuelled by money and endless tragedy.

From beginning to end it is deliberately obvious that we are reading a story that has already been told, Goldsworthy brings Gatsby into 21st century London and does so with an engaging and likeable narrator alongside dreamy, alluring prose dripping in diamonds and caviar. There is far more to Gorsky than its references to Gatsby, the author tackles issues surrounding race, society, the British identity and the ever changing face of the world's most wealthy people. There is a lot of insight compressed into the novel's page count and it sits well in the story being told.

Overall a truly wonderful read, made even more captivating through my love of Gatsby.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An updated version of The Great Gatsby set amongst contemporary London’s über-rich Russians. Narrator Nicholas Kimović is a Serbian bookseller in London. Roman Gorsky, a Russian oligarch who may have earned his billions through oil or weapons, is building himself a mansion and wants Nick to create the best private library in Europe. Comparisons with Gatsby come early and often. The novel is wise about the implications of class and immigration status.

However, Gorsky as a whole doesn’t work as well as some updated classics, such as The Innocents by Francesca Segal (The Age of Innocence). It updates the setting, yes, but doesn’t add much to one’s understanding of Gatsby. In a sense, Goldsworthy’s literary debt is too obvious. As it is, this is most like Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan or Capital by John Lanchester: a somewhat vapid exposé of the lifestyles of the super-rich.

[I initially misread the title and so was confused about what the book would be about: I saw “Gorky” and thought it would be historical fiction, a fictionalized biography of the nineteenth-century Russian writer.]

(See my full review at Nudge.)

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cam atât de complexă este:

,,«Amorul» nostru era bogat în șmecherii și sărac în simțire: am rămas doi oameni care se masturbau împreună.'' (pag. 78)

Autoarei chiar i-a reușit această imitație a romanului Marele Gatsby, căci e la fel de anostă ca originalul.

,,Întreaga lui viață pare să fi fost condusă de dorința de a captura și îmblânzi tot ce îi plăcea ei, să recreeze lumea din visele ei astfel încât ea să nu-și mai dorească nimic altceva decât pe el." (pag. 189)

,,Când tu plângi, lumea își pierde sensul.'' (pag. 192)

[J.C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a bit unfair to review this as I only listened to it on the BBC Radio 4 "Book at Bedtime", but for what it's worth I would say it's easy to listen to and probably to read, but it's really just a poor relation of "The Great Gatsby" (which, of course, is magnificent). Amazingly, the classy BBC programme, "Endeavour", also copied "The Great Gatsby" once, letting itself down, I think, in the process.
If this novel hadn't been such a straight imitation I'd have liked it more, but I also think the end of the plot was very weak. I suppose the characters would have come across better in the novel itself but it all fell a bit flat for me. Even the names were copied - Gorsky, Nick, Tom, Daisy . . . I didn't mind listening to it while I was working in the kitchen, but certainly wouldn't bother with the book.

[Juniper · Rating 2 out of 5]

so... a funny thing happened on the way to reading this book: going into the novel, i did not know it was a retelling of The Great Gatsby. well it could be argued that, yes, i can be bit thick at times, i tend to keep myself in a bit of a bubble when it comes to knowing the plots of new novels that i have not yet had a chance to read. i read a very little ways into gorsky and went "WHY AM I READING A BOOK ABOUT CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN GATSBY IN ENGLAND?" a few hours later, i received an email from a dear friend, "Did you know Gorsky was a retelling of Gatsby?" i guess, in some ways, it helped knowing this was completely intentional. and yet... sigh.

the book was already on my radar, then it was longlisted for the bailey's women's prize in fiction. so it was bumped up my TBR list. i will admit,though, that i am kind of scratching my head over it being in contention for the award. i am not really sure what this retelling brings to the table? while the original had certain amounts of charm, thanks to the setting and time, the updated edition did not benefit in this regard. the contemporary extravagances and lifestyles only served to irritate, rather than illuminate, and it was all very surface. too, i think there was a bit of a sense or feeling of innocence within fitzgerald's original which was lost in goldsworthy's.

if you don't know, Hogarth Shakespeare Project is presently at work publishing modern retellings of shakespeare's plays. so far, i have read The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold, by Jeanette Winterson, and loved it a lot - this was a far more creative and engaging project (than Gorky). on deck, i have Shylock Is My Name, by Howard Jacobson and Vinegar Girl, by Anne Tyler. i was really hesitant about this project when i first learned about it. i don't know... i think perhaps i don't quite understand the urge or need to take on a classic work of literature and modernize it. i mean... i know it happens all the time, across entertainment mediums (and, i have enjoyed some of them). i also understand completely loving and admiring novels and writers, and being inspired by certain works. but that doesn't mean it's always a good idea to take any of them on and rework them. (and, really, not much was reworked in Gorsky. this is truly a 'retelling' versus and 'inspired by' situation.)

i am just rambling at this point. my thoughts are a bit confused over this book, so i am not making much sense here. i guess i would have been more receptive had the writing been stronger, or the characters better developed. perhaps if you have never read Gatsby, you will find Gorsky enjoyable.

[Kate Vane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorsky is a playful reimagining of The Great Gatsby set in contemporary London, where the merely very rich are gradually being superseded by the super-rich. The narrator is Nikola Kimovic, a Serbian exile and bibliophile working in a dowdy, unprofitable bookshop. Both the shop and his customers are propped up precariously and provisionally by old money.

Gorsky comes into his life, a wealthy Russian oligarch who made his money in mysterious circumstances. He wants to create the perfect library for his new Chelsea home. He offers Nikola an infinite budget to complete the task, along with temporary access to the wealth and glamour of his world. Nikola soon realises that the library is part of Gorsky’s plan to win Natalia, a married Russian who he is not a little infatuated with himself.

Nikola is a wonderful character. I love his voice – his too-precise grammar, his dry observations, his melancholic humour. He is both outsider and intimate observer. He isolates himself, in a temporary home, aloof from the Serbian ex-pat community. Even his doctorate is on an unfashionable English author. However, his education, history and linguistic background mean he can communicate across the chasm of economic difference with Gorsky, Natalia and the cosmopolitan clique that surrounds them.

The plot isn’t the most interesting thing about this book, but then that is true of Gatsby as well. It is a great satire on the bizarre world of the super-rich, showing how lives and cities and whole cultures bend to accommodate wealth, but still some things cannot be owned. It is also a love story about books.
-
I received an ARC via Netgalley.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
A fabulously wealthy Russian visits a struggling Chelsea bookshop with a proposal.

When the enigmatic Russian billionaire Roman Gorsky enters a quiet Chelsea Mews bookshop, Nick - himself an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia - has no idea of the impact this man will have on his work and private life. He only knows that he has been handed the best commission of his life - to create a private library of unparalleled scope and almost priceless worth.

But what lies behind Gorsky's desire to create this masterpiece, in a land far from his birth, as he endeavours to put down roots in this new city he calls home?

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters

[Pavle Živković · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lepo promišljeno napisano delo koje bismo mogli da podvedemo pod "lako štivo". I to bez ikakve želje da omalovažim Vesnin rad, mislim da je veoma teško napisati knjigu koja će biti stilski pristupačna većoj populaciji, a opet da nije banalna. Takođe, susrećemo se i sa veoma zanimljivim zapletom i likovima.

[Sabrina Cabarcos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a post modern lit class - it's Gatsby but in contemporary london and Russian oligarchs. Quick read not my favorite but I had to write an essay on it and that exercise made me think really deeply about the social status/ minority of this novel's narrator vs. Nick from the original

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting retelling of The Great Gatsby but with a Russian oligarch, Gorsky, and a London bookseller. An enjoyable story and cleverly retold in a modern context.

[Julie Hoegh - Editor at Bookstoker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t resist the gorgeous cover of Vesna Goldsworthy’s Gorsky and the promise of a contemporary Great Gatsby-esque story, featuring Russian billionaires in London. Goldsworthy unashamedly follows the storyline of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great classic (one of my absolute favourites so I was a bit wary…), but it works! It works because of Goldsworthy’s beautiful writing, her succinct take on extreme wealth and our fascination with Russian oligarchs. If this book doesn’t turn into one of this summer’s big beach reads I’ll eat my hat…

Our narrator is Nikola Kimović or Nick, a Serbian exile, working in a quirky bookshop at the heart of London’s Chelsea. Russian billionaire Roman Gorsky commissions Nick to build ‘the best private library in Europe’ for his palatial new home, just a few streets away. It’s all about creating the illusion of old money, knowledge and power, of course, and Nick, intrigued and in need of cash, agrees.

Another of Nick’s regular clients is stunningly beautiful Natalia, a Russian married to wealthy English banker Tom Summerscale and an avid consumer of art books. Natalia and Gorsky know each other from rougher times back in Volgograd when Gorsky was a mere mortal and Natalia only nineteen.

Gorsky has been unhappily in love ever since, while Natalia has married and had a child, Daisy (yes, there are plenty of nods to The Great Gatsby here.) We’re set for a devastating love triangle. If you’ve read Fitzgerald’s story you’ll have an idea of what happens next, if you haven’t, I don’t want to spoil if for you other than to say that it’s worth the ride.

Thus Nick becomes the key-whole through which we peek in on the existence of the super rich. And exhilarating it is! Goldsworthy excels with her sensory writing, it’s almost as if it’s us walking on the deep white silk carpet, past the eccentric pieces of modern art, under the Chihuly chandeliers surrounded by the smells of mimosas and expensive leather.

Gorky himself is a mysterious, ‘chiselled’ creature whose wealth can be seen as well as heard in an understated sort of way.

'His money did not shout. It whispered in the rustle of whitest Egyptian cotton, finest cashmere and softest calfskin, and in the ticking of the most precise platinum watch mechanism ever made.'

Goldsworthy is spot on in her descriptions of wealth, the Russian as well as the English kind.

'Natalia’s wealth wasn’t in itself attractive. There seemed to be just too much of it; it was the kind of money that not only begets money but demands its own space, its own share of your life. It was the kind of money that takes over and becomes a full-time occupation.'

No, Nick prefers the kind of wealth his English bookshop owner boss Christopher Fynch is in possession of.

'…the sort of money that cascaded down the generations and seeped through ramshackle businesses and holes in month-eaten dinner jackets until everyone forgot where it came; the sort of money that wasn’t even affluence so much as a sense of entitlement.'

Goldsworthy has the advantage of an outsider’s view (she moved from Belgrade to London at the age of 25) of both the Russians and the English and, even, London itself, a city she astutely describes as having ‘unmoored itself from its nation’.

Gorsky is a delicious read, of the kind you gulp down in a couple of days. Although Goldsworthy comments on wealth and, in particular, the way in which it has transformed London, make no mistake, this is pure entertainment.

Visit http://bookstoker.com/ for more reviews

[Andrei Cioată · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Cândva, în timp, pierdusem și ultimul atom de invidie pe care am simțit-o față de el. Era mult prea strălucit pentru a fi atât de bogat și mult prea bogat pentru a fi fericit.”

„Trupul se poate supune sufletului. Te poți naște bărbat, dar să devii femeie, poți să-ți tatuezi și să-ți perforezi pielea, să-ți schimbi culoarea părului și forma dinților și a nasului, poți să-ți mărești sau să-ți micșorezi sânii, să îți armonizezi aparența cu orice vrei tu să fii. Singurul lucru nepermis este să fii nefericit, mai ales dacă ești imigrant. Nefericirea este o formă de nerecunoștință, un abuz la adresa ospitalității.”

„Se trezesc sevele. Noaptea, auzi vulpile urbane urlând ca niște bebeluși abandonați, clic-clacul tocurilor înalte pe trotuar, sunetul telefoanelor mobile și vocile saturate de râs alcoolizat și dorință carnală.”

„Gorsky îți construia o casă ceva mai jos de noi și datoria noastră era să ne asigurăm că, în ziua în care ar fi fost gata să se mute, casa avea ce mai bună bibliotecă din Londra. Cea mai bună bibliotecă privată din Europa. Nu doar o bibliotecă obișnuită, ci una făcută pe măsura unui gentleman-intelectual rus, interesat de artă, literatură și călătorii, cu o aplecare spre limbile europene; una care ar fi trebuit să arate de parcă însuși Gorsky ar fi cumpărat toate cărțile acelea și le-ar fi citit de-a lungul multor ani sau - dacă nu - că avea cele mai serioase intenții să le citească.”

„- În orașul ăsta te obișnuiești cu banii, adăugă, dar banii lui Gorsky sunt dincolo de orice vis de înavuțire. Nimeni nu știe exact cum i-a făcut.”

„(...) dar, să fiu cinstit, ori de câte ori intram în lumea lui Gorsky îmi pierdeam reperele, ca și cum banii ar fi creat propria lor cameră de decompresiune în care legile gravitației încetau să se mai aplice.”

[Eric Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a bold enterprise to take a novel as renowned and loved as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and recast it in modern day London with Russian and Balkan characters. This is what Vesna Goldsworthy has done with her novel “Gorsky” but this isn’t merely an intellectual exercise. Rather, it’s a clever way of taking Fitzgerald’s critique of a certain milieu of 1920s American society based around decadence, social change and wild aspirations and overlaying it upon modern English society to see what close parallels can be made. Goldsworthy uses the same arrangement of characters to create a fated love story played out amidst the most outrageous excesses of capitalism. In doing so she creates an engaging and fascinating view of London today.

Read my full review of Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy on LonesomeReader

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but with reservations. It is well written, quite fast paced, appeals to booky people, and has the bonus of a Gatsby connection. All good stuff really, but the actual story I was not so sure about. I guess it was too obvious that the super rich (in this case Russians in modern London) still try to get away with things, and live careless, extravagant lifestyles, but I found that a bit dull. All that conspicuous consumption left a sour taste in my mouth, and I didn't really care about anyone, even Nikky, the lowly Serbian bookseller and narrator of the story. Should I have cared? I don't know.

[Piego di Libri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ecco la ricetta. Prendete Il grande Gatsby. Ambientatelo a Londra ai giorni nostri. Trasformate il ricco personaggio di Fitzgerald in un magnate russo...
http://www.piegodilibri.it/recensioni...

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ci sono cose che è impossibile dimenticare, azioni che non si possono disfare. Non si può mandare indietro l'orologio..."
"Si vede che non sei uno scienziato, Nikolai. Certo che si può"

[Gillian van der Drift · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but velvety read, reminiscent of Fitzgerald. I really enjoyed this classy book.

[Andreea Mihut · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Russian oligarch, London, a love story, books, a Serbian refugee - the secret ingredients for a new interpretation of the Great Gatsby.
Nicola (Nick) enters the world of luxury and fame of the wealthy Russians when he gets a proposal from Roman Gorsky, a well known oligarch to create a private library for his new residence, a library that would make a woman love him.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gatsby, set in London with a Russian oligarch as the tormented protagonist. I did not know that going in, but the tone and storyline are so similar it’s kind of an eerie experience. Nick is Nickolai/Nikita, the golfer Jordan is now a Bulgarian gymnast. There is even a Daisy.

[Miles Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a rework of Gatsby so I knew what was coming but it was compelling and I enjoyed the storytelling.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featuring a bookseller with a casual regard for due diligence.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge Gatsby fanatic, I enjoyed this book right from the jump. I love to see different takes on classic works, improvements or experimental additions. This book was beautifully written and rich with culture. I loved the factor of Gorsky's Judaism and the Anti Semitic prejudices he faced, rather than the Gatsby issue of Old vs. New money. It was a stronger plot motive. However, I think part of being a Gatsby fanatic is why this book fell flat for me. I doubt it was any issue of the book itself, but I found myself at arms length with the characters. The deaths didn't hurt, perhaps because I saw them coming. Natalia and Gorsky's relationship felt incredibly unconvincing to me, in the sense that she rejects him and he falls for her rejection (not to mention a 12 year age gap). I liked the ending with Tom going to prision, and the formatting of that, but stabbing Gorsky (though I enjoyed the italics formatting for the CCTV recounting) felt anticlimactic. Nick as a narrator was good, but oddly seemed to engage with emotionless sex for a majority of the text. A lot of the wording and implications led me to believe Goldsworthy would take the opportunity to make Nick explicitly Bisexual or Gay. This was unfortunately not the case. In addition, maybe the more modern setting was why certain scenes of his slight transphobia didn't sit well with me. In the long run, I did enjoy this book and the writing was very well done, it just felt somewhat detached and wasn't a favorite of mine.

[charlottebibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'Gorsky' follows Serbian-born, London-based bookseller Nikola (Nick) Kimovic, who is commissioned by billionaire Russian Gorsky to build him the best private library for his lavish new home. Nick, for need of money and love of art, agrees.
Nick has another regular client, Russian Natalia, whom he plies with art history books for her collection. Natalia is married to wealthy Englishman Tom Summerscale, with whom she has a daughter, Daisy.
It later transpires that Gorsky and Natalia were old friends in Russia, when Gorsky holds an event in Nick's bookshop with the implicit intent of bumping into Natalia.
The book revolves around money - old money, new money - and how relationships are formed when money is involved. It is also political as it considers the wealth of the English, Russians, and Europeans in general, and how the two are intricately tied together.
This book is filled with themes including prostitution, adultery, and latterly, murder - all of which largely revolve around money and politics. The characters were interesting - particularly Nick, Gorsky and Gery (Natalia's friend and personal trainer) - and, having not personally read 'The Great Gatsby', I was shocked at the direction the novel took.
All in all I was pleasantly surprised. It was an interesting read from beginning to end, although I felt that the pace towards the end increased too quickly, and as a result the conclusion was rushed.

[Charlie Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

London is home to millions. Brick and mortar sell for dizzying amounts and that’s before you’ve begun to fill it with the finest furniture, antiques, art and staff. Gorsky has billions. No one knows how or what he does. He is an enigma. One day, Gorsky commissions a bookseller by the name of Nikola Kimović to fill his library. What follows is a tale of wealth, luxury and lost love.

Many have compared it to The Great Gatsby, and rightly so. Not just in plot but in style. A story of beautiful people beautifully told by our narrator Nick. He looks up to Gorsky as if he were a god. Gorsky loves the unobtainable Natalia, every decision he makes is for her. Nick is caught up in their world of excess. Naturally, money does not buy you happiness as the novel takes some dramatic turns towards the end.

I adored this novel, like Gatsby, it says a lot about our culture at the moment. Fitzgerald tore apart the America around him, Goldsworthy examines our London. Nick loves our London; he doesn’t see the grime or the decay, he sees it in all its glory and irony. The money that oozes from it. The workers with their own hopes and dreams that cater to the millionaire, billionaires and trillionaires every need. This is a tale of how the other half live.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorsky is creating an amazing property in London. No expense is spared and he wants the very best of everything. When he decides that he needs a stunning library- he approaches Nikola who works in a local bookstore. He then has a wonderful time trying to find the wonderful first editions and rare books.

It is set against a very wealthy world and shows us what money can buy with parties, events, properties. Gorsky is determined to get an old love back- even though she's married.

Although I enjoyed the writing style I didn't really engage with any of the characters. It was nice to escape into the opulence and I would LOVE to visit that library and curl up in the armchair with on of the rare editions!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like retellings and this is a situation and setting I could imagine would work with the original story., so I picked it up from the library out of interest. The narrator is Nikola, a Serbian who has become a book seller in a fledgling shop in London. He meets Roman Gorsky when he comes into his store to purchase and locate books for his new library to impress Natalia, a girl who he loved back in Russia.

Like The Great Gatsby it suffers a bit on story and at times the author seems to sometimes realise this as well and pad with description that's not really necessary in creating the atmosphere. Still it's a pleasant and quick enough read.

[Stephanie Sorrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

For most of the book, I'd have given it 3, but the end pushed it upwards. It's beautifully written, but the problem with a book whose narrator is someone to whom things happen, who spends most of his time in detached observation, is that the reader feels the same detachment. For three quarters of the book, I couldn't care one way or the other for the characters, and it was only in the last quarter that the plot and the lullingly melancholy style came together to be really engaging.

[4cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Russian billionaire helps an ailing London bookstore in his quest to reconnect with a lost love. Basically this is a retelling of The Great Gatsby. Although I really enjoyed this, I am confused as to how you are allowed to rewrite the same novel under another title?? If you know Gatsby you will know Gorsky. Easy to read, the action is moved from New York to London. Immense wealth does not bring happiness, it attracts greed, shallowness and malice.