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Moscow Trilogy #1
Sashenka
Winter, 1916: In St Petersburg, Russia on the brink of revolution. Outside the Smolny Institute for Noble Young Ladies, an English governess is waiting for her young charge to be released from school. But so are the Tsar’s secret police… Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and her dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her part in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction. Twenty years on, Sashenka has a powerful husband with whom she has two children. Around her people are disappearing, but her own family is safe. But she's about to embark on a forbidden love affair which will have devastating consequences. Sashenka's story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalin's private archives and uncovers a heart-breaking tale of passion and betrayal, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism - and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice.
640 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
463 people are currently reading
8098 people want to read
About the author
Simon Sebag Montefiore
63 books3,190 followersSimon Sebag Montefiore is the author of the global bestsellers 'The Romanovs' and 'Jerusalem: the Biography,' 'Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar' and Young Stalin and the novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter and "Red Sky at Noon." His books are published in 48 languages and are worldwide bestsellers. He has won prizes in both non-fiction and fiction. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD).
'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself.
Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-...
"A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard
"Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times
"Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times
"The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman
“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out
“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books
"Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National
"Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph
" "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer
“Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian
“Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of
'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself.
Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-...
"A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard
"Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times
"Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times
"The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman
“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out
“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books
"Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National
"Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph
" "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer
“Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian
“Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 646 reviews
October 16, 2008
The background research is impressive but to me Sashenka herself feels like a man's creation of a woman - not totally convincing.
October 9, 2011
This is an outstanding work from a serious scholar of Russian history. I'll be interested to try one of his nonfiction books. The author's knowledge of period details, mindsets, and customs really makes this novel stand out. There are so many fascinating little extras.
My summaries of the sections are deliberately vague, as I think it's essential to be in the dark about where the story is going for best enjoyment. All three of the parts are very nicely tied in with each other by the end of the novel.
Part I: 1916--Sashenka Zeitlin is a willful and reckless 16-year-old. Her father is wealthy and influential, so the family is allowed to live in St. Petersburg rather than in the Pale of Settlement with the other Jews. Sashenka rejects the excesses and debauchery of her Tsarist parents and becomes a Bolshevik spy.
Part II: 1939 Moscow--Sashenka is now married to a Party leader and has two small children. She has remained a loyal Party member for over 20 years and still supports Stalin and the Soviet system. Just when they think the purging and "The Terror" is over, the arrests and disappearances start up again. This time, Sashenka fears that she and her husband may be targeted.
Part III: 1994 Moscow and London--Katinka, a young historian, is hired in London by Roza Getman to find out what happened to Roza's family in Russia during the years of Stalin's Terror. In the course of her research, Katinka stumbles upon Sashenka's story. This part of the book was what sealed the deal for me on the five-star rating. I could not stop reading. It's a great mystery with the clock running down and old-timers trying to keep their secrets safe.
Overall very well written and engaging. There is some awkwardness here and there where it's clear the author hasn't quite made that transition from nonfiction writer to novelist, but nothing glaring. Mostly just places where the thoughts or dialogue don't sound true to the way normal people think and speak. It doesn't detract from the story. It just stands out now and then.
My summaries of the sections are deliberately vague, as I think it's essential to be in the dark about where the story is going for best enjoyment. All three of the parts are very nicely tied in with each other by the end of the novel.
Part I: 1916--Sashenka Zeitlin is a willful and reckless 16-year-old. Her father is wealthy and influential, so the family is allowed to live in St. Petersburg rather than in the Pale of Settlement with the other Jews. Sashenka rejects the excesses and debauchery of her Tsarist parents and becomes a Bolshevik spy.
Part II: 1939 Moscow--Sashenka is now married to a Party leader and has two small children. She has remained a loyal Party member for over 20 years and still supports Stalin and the Soviet system. Just when they think the purging and "The Terror" is over, the arrests and disappearances start up again. This time, Sashenka fears that she and her husband may be targeted.
Part III: 1994 Moscow and London--Katinka, a young historian, is hired in London by Roza Getman to find out what happened to Roza's family in Russia during the years of Stalin's Terror. In the course of her research, Katinka stumbles upon Sashenka's story. This part of the book was what sealed the deal for me on the five-star rating. I could not stop reading. It's a great mystery with the clock running down and old-timers trying to keep their secrets safe.
Overall very well written and engaging. There is some awkwardness here and there where it's clear the author hasn't quite made that transition from nonfiction writer to novelist, but nothing glaring. Mostly just places where the thoughts or dialogue don't sound true to the way normal people think and speak. It doesn't detract from the story. It just stands out now and then.
June 19, 2016
O carte remarcabilă ce descrie viaţa cutremurătoare a mai multe persoane, jertfe a unor jocuri politice din perioada Leninistă şi Stalinistă.Autorul, Simon Sebag Montefiore prin cartea sa a descris minuţios soarta oamenilor vinovaţi şi nevinovaţi, dar cu preponderenţă a celor nevinovaţi care au fost multilaţi şi cruzi bătuţi de cei din KGB.Saşenka, Ivan Paliţîn şi copii lor au fost cei care au avut o soartă cutremurătoare.Roza (Volia, cunoscută sub numele de alint Fulguleţ) şi doctorul Valentin Vinski (Carlo, cunoscut sub numele de alint Iepuraş) au avut o soartă crudă fiind lipsiţi de părinţi lor şi de dreptul de a copilări împreună.Au avut o copilărie zbuciumată, lipsită de dragostea părintească al Saşenkăi şi a lui Ivan Paliţîn.
July 25, 2014
I am setting this one aside 30-odd pages in for two main reasons:
1) Pacing within scenes seems off and characters not quite believable.
2) Holy male gaze, Batman! Literally the first thing we learn about the (16-year-old) protagonist is her breast size. They are, in case you wanted to know (I didn't), "the fullest breasts in her class." As we are told from her own POV. Meanwhile her governess is off ogling the headmistress, or so I presume by the fact that when the author writes from said governess's POV, the headmistress's "bosom" is her only physical characteristic described.
With such a beginning, it seems just that this book was shortlisted for a bad sex award, though not based on those particular passages.
Okay, guys, here's a rule of thumb for writing from a female point-of-view: consider how often and in how much detail you would describe a male character's penis, from his own POV or that of another man. Write no more than that about your female characters' breasts when your POV is female.
Also, check out this article on "omniscient breasts", because it is really good.
1) Pacing within scenes seems off and characters not quite believable.
2) Holy male gaze, Batman! Literally the first thing we learn about the (16-year-old) protagonist is her breast size. They are, in case you wanted to know (I didn't), "the fullest breasts in her class." As we are told from her own POV. Meanwhile her governess is off ogling the headmistress, or so I presume by the fact that when the author writes from said governess's POV, the headmistress's "bosom" is her only physical characteristic described.
With such a beginning, it seems just that this book was shortlisted for a bad sex award, though not based on those particular passages.
Okay, guys, here's a rule of thumb for writing from a female point-of-view: consider how often and in how much detail you would describe a male character's penis, from his own POV or that of another man. Write no more than that about your female characters' breasts when your POV is female.
Also, check out this article on "omniscient breasts", because it is really good.
October 18, 2014
I've always been obsessed with Russian history, in particular the events leading to the 1917 revolution that murdered the Tsar, his family, as well as countless others, setting the stage for Stalin and decades of untold horrors, which remained shrouded in secrecy and encoded dossiers until the collapse of the USSR.
In Simon Montefiore's sweeping novel, SASHENKA, we get an all-encompassing view of these pivotal, blood-soaked events through the eyes of the titular character - a wealthy Jewish girl who forsakes her well-heeled, unraveling family to join the ardent Bolshevik movement, only to discover years later that the egalitarian freedom she has upheld so completely will exact a tragic price.
Mr Montefiore is a master of his setting. He brings to detailed life the opulent, decadent months preceding Rasputin's murder and the fall of the Tsar, revealing an underworld of intrigue, corruption, and blind hedonism, even as the empire crumbles. His depictions, in particular, of Sashenka's idealistic father and promiscuous mother, as well as her bombastic writer-uncle, Gideon, and steeped-in-Bolshevik-intrigue maternal uncle, Mendel, who recruits her to the cause, personify the complexity of a society teetering on the verge of annihilation. Many of the secondary characters who follow are equally well drawn, as is the politically-charged, terror-infused reign of Stalin himself, who makes a brief yet memorable appearance.
The novel challenges somewhat in the portrayal of Sashenka, whose stoicism, unyielding devotion to the cause, and apparent trust in the treachery all around her can frustrate at moments, until she embarks on a forbidden affair that will be her doom. But she is rendered true to life: a Communist woman like so many in Russia during this period, who believes wholeheartedly in Stalin's rule and the sacrifices it requires. Her fate haunts us as she comes to grips with the horrifying truth, forced into a soul-rending choice that will reverberate into 1984, when, after the end of Communism, a young Russian historian is hired to discover the lost origins of an oligarch's aging mother.
Sashenka is one of those novels that are impossible to forget: the story is illuminating, heartbreaking, yet never pedantic. It grips the reader and pulls us into a world rarely explored in historical fiction, one that certainly deserves more novels in this vein.
In Simon Montefiore's sweeping novel, SASHENKA, we get an all-encompassing view of these pivotal, blood-soaked events through the eyes of the titular character - a wealthy Jewish girl who forsakes her well-heeled, unraveling family to join the ardent Bolshevik movement, only to discover years later that the egalitarian freedom she has upheld so completely will exact a tragic price.
Mr Montefiore is a master of his setting. He brings to detailed life the opulent, decadent months preceding Rasputin's murder and the fall of the Tsar, revealing an underworld of intrigue, corruption, and blind hedonism, even as the empire crumbles. His depictions, in particular, of Sashenka's idealistic father and promiscuous mother, as well as her bombastic writer-uncle, Gideon, and steeped-in-Bolshevik-intrigue maternal uncle, Mendel, who recruits her to the cause, personify the complexity of a society teetering on the verge of annihilation. Many of the secondary characters who follow are equally well drawn, as is the politically-charged, terror-infused reign of Stalin himself, who makes a brief yet memorable appearance.
The novel challenges somewhat in the portrayal of Sashenka, whose stoicism, unyielding devotion to the cause, and apparent trust in the treachery all around her can frustrate at moments, until she embarks on a forbidden affair that will be her doom. But she is rendered true to life: a Communist woman like so many in Russia during this period, who believes wholeheartedly in Stalin's rule and the sacrifices it requires. Her fate haunts us as she comes to grips with the horrifying truth, forced into a soul-rending choice that will reverberate into 1984, when, after the end of Communism, a young Russian historian is hired to discover the lost origins of an oligarch's aging mother.
Sashenka is one of those novels that are impossible to forget: the story is illuminating, heartbreaking, yet never pedantic. It grips the reader and pulls us into a world rarely explored in historical fiction, one that certainly deserves more novels in this vein.
July 28, 2022
یکی از بهتریننننننن کتابهای زندگی من شد ساشنکا...
حتما بخونیدش حتما..
تاریخ همیشه دردناکه و چقدرر این کتاب با قلبم بازی کرد و چقدررررر زیبا بود
حتما بخونیدش حتما..
تاریخ همیشه دردناکه و چقدرر این کتاب با قلبم بازی کرد و چقدررررر زیبا بود
December 16, 2020
O carte de neratat. Povestea m-a tulburat maxim.
November 2, 2015
Foarte buna cartea, subiect, constructie narativa, personaje bine conturate, actiune si suspans cu iz detectivistic.
September 20, 2018
After Doctor Zhivago, this is the second novel I’ve read about 20th century Russia. It is an entertaining and gripping story with many dramatic twists in the plot (some leaning on overdramatic). The novel has all the trimmings of a satisfactory historical novel like rich descriptions of Russian cities and countryside, settings and characters, blending fictional with real.
The plot line follows the life of a fictional female protagonist named Sashenka, from around the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution which marked the end of Tsarist rule, through the Stalinist era, with the plot setting extending right up to the 1990s. Part One describes her life as a pampered teenager born to a wealthy Jewish family and her venturesome pursuit of ideals as a young Communist on the brink of cataclysmic regime change. Part Two sees her as a mature and beautiful wife of a powerful Russian secret agent working for the NKVD who reports directly to Stalin, and tells how she gets sucked into a political scandal and bloodbath through a moral faux pas, and how that implicates people close to her. In the ensuing ordeal she and her two beloved children (one girl and one boy) are forced apart. In Part Three, the story is told in rear mirror view through a young female historian Katinka’s POV when she has been asked to help a sixty-year-old Jewish mother of a Russian oligarch who lives in London to find her birth parents and her missing brother. As Katinka delves deeper into forbidden Russian archives, she discovers shocking truths.
I found some parts of the novel to be affecting and heartrending, although other parts tend a bit towards the melodrama to the point of hard-to-believe. Overall, as much as it is an entertaining read, it does come across as fluffy and lacking in depth. Plus my personal preference in historical novels is for major characters to be real historical characters.
It’s a good thing that the author recommends The Whisperers by Orlando Figes for further reading, which gives factual accounts of how the repressive Stalinist regime brutally impacted on the lives of ordinary Russian people. I’ve added it to my TBR list.
I’m giving the novel 3.4 stars, rounded down.
The plot line follows the life of a fictional female protagonist named Sashenka, from around the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution which marked the end of Tsarist rule, through the Stalinist era, with the plot setting extending right up to the 1990s. Part One describes her life as a pampered teenager born to a wealthy Jewish family and her venturesome pursuit of ideals as a young Communist on the brink of cataclysmic regime change. Part Two sees her as a mature and beautiful wife of a powerful Russian secret agent working for the NKVD who reports directly to Stalin, and tells how she gets sucked into a political scandal and bloodbath through a moral faux pas, and how that implicates people close to her. In the ensuing ordeal she and her two beloved children (one girl and one boy) are forced apart. In Part Three, the story is told in rear mirror view through a young female historian Katinka’s POV when she has been asked to help a sixty-year-old Jewish mother of a Russian oligarch who lives in London to find her birth parents and her missing brother. As Katinka delves deeper into forbidden Russian archives, she discovers shocking truths.
I found some parts of the novel to be affecting and heartrending, although other parts tend a bit towards the melodrama to the point of hard-to-believe. Overall, as much as it is an entertaining read, it does come across as fluffy and lacking in depth. Plus my personal preference in historical novels is for major characters to be real historical characters.
It’s a good thing that the author recommends The Whisperers by Orlando Figes for further reading, which gives factual accounts of how the repressive Stalinist regime brutally impacted on the lives of ordinary Russian people. I’ve added it to my TBR list.
I’m giving the novel 3.4 stars, rounded down.
November 11, 2011
It's totally unconvincing for a native Russian-speaker, ridiculous in parts. The book is so full of discrepansies and silly details the author got simply wrong! I was astounded to read in the Acknowledgements that he thanked his teacher of Russian who read the text for mistakes. Well, she did a poor job of it.
For all those readers who are interested in this period of Soviet history - revolution, stalin repressions, concentration camps, I would suggerst to read a truly amazing memoir of a survival - "Within the Whirlwind" by Evgenia Ginzburg. She was a journalist and a great person, ever the optimist, so book is easy to read despite the grisly topic. Honestly, one cannot imagine how one can endure what she describes, and still believe in humanity. But she does and her belief is contagious.
So, in short, "Sashenka" is a unconvincing fake, "Within the Whirlwind" is a real thing, also written beautifully.
For all those readers who are interested in this period of Soviet history - revolution, stalin repressions, concentration camps, I would suggerst to read a truly amazing memoir of a survival - "Within the Whirlwind" by Evgenia Ginzburg. She was a journalist and a great person, ever the optimist, so book is easy to read despite the grisly topic. Honestly, one cannot imagine how one can endure what she describes, and still believe in humanity. But she does and her belief is contagious.
So, in short, "Sashenka" is a unconvincing fake, "Within the Whirlwind" is a real thing, also written beautifully.
November 3, 2021
Nu dețin cuvintele necesare pentru a putea vorbi, așa cum trebuie, despre această carte.
M-a doborât!
M-a doborât!
October 15, 2022
در توصیف حال و هوای اتحاد جماهیر شوروی توی بازه ی ۱۹۱۶ تا ۱۹۴۰ عالی بود.
طرز فکر عُمال حکومت، راه و رسم سرکوب معترضین و سیاست های کثیف رده بالاهای حکومتی، واقعا خوب ترسیم و توصیف شده بود.
امیدوارم جلد دو و سه این مجموعه هم به همین خوبی باشه.
البته جلد سه کلا توی بازار نیست و نمیدونم از کجا باید بگیرمش :(
طرز فکر عُمال حکومت، راه و رسم سرکوب معترضین و سیاست های کثیف رده بالاهای حکومتی، واقعا خوب ترسیم و توصیف شده بود.
امیدوارم جلد دو و سه این مجموعه هم به همین خوبی باشه.
البته جلد سه کلا توی بازار نیست و نمیدونم از کجا باید بگیرمش :(
August 9, 2021
Očaravajuća priča koja prati sudbinu mlade djevojke Sašenjke koja daje život za revoluciju, politiku i marksističku ideologiju, koja je nakon nekoliko desetljeća vijernog služenja samelje u žrvnju vlastite diktature i represije.
Roman jako dobro i slikovito dočarava atmosferu Staljinističke vlasti, čiji smo samo malo dio, mi na Balkanu okusili.
Goli otok, Inforbiro, UDBA su samo blijeda kopija onih pravih represivnih modela koje nam je Majka Rusija dala u amanet.
Krivnja bez krivca, tjeranje na priznavanje nepočinjenog zločina, jedna riječ koja može da vas košta života, karijere, napretka, ubijanje miliona neistomišljenika da bi se stvorila imperija.
Misterije oko ovog historijskog razdoblja još uvijek su nerazjašnjene...
Mnogi likovi u romanu su historijske ličnosti, pa roman ima i dokumentarnu vrijednost.
Roman jako dobro i slikovito dočarava atmosferu Staljinističke vlasti, čiji smo samo malo dio, mi na Balkanu okusili.
Goli otok, Inforbiro, UDBA su samo blijeda kopija onih pravih represivnih modela koje nam je Majka Rusija dala u amanet.
Krivnja bez krivca, tjeranje na priznavanje nepočinjenog zločina, jedna riječ koja može da vas košta života, karijere, napretka, ubijanje miliona neistomišljenika da bi se stvorila imperija.
Misterije oko ovog historijskog razdoblja još uvijek su nerazjašnjene...
Mnogi likovi u romanu su historijske ličnosti, pa roman ima i dokumentarnu vrijednost.
December 7, 2014
If not for part three of this novel, this would have been a 1.5 star read. I don't want to give too much away (even using spoilers). Part three involves a young girl named Katinka who is hired by a woman to track down her biological parents who gave up their children in the days before Russia would officially enter into WWII. This plot would have been enough for an entire novel by itself. However, before the reader can get to the good stuff, they have to endure parts one and two. Part one describes the end of the Romanov dynasty and Russia's turn to Communism under the leadership of Lenin. The protagonist, Sashenka, is a spoiled teenage girl who revels in knowing how mad her parents would be if they ever knew she was sneaking out at night to join in Bolshevik shenanigans. Part two sees the spoiled girl as an wife and mother. She's still spoiled as the wife of a high ranking party member. Her family lives much better than most of Russia at the time and her primary job is to write articles for a magazine focusing on how to live life as an ideal Communist housewife. Eventually things go back for Sashenka and her family (as they did for so many people under Stalin) and the reader is left wondering what became of everyone.
Overall I felt this book was so disjointed. I didn't feel it was necessary to divide the book up in the manner it was written. I think a talented writer (Don't get me wrong, I see potential from this writer but this book just didn't deliver) would have created an intriguing, edge of your seat style thriller by melding the three separate parts into one narrative. I think the events of revolutionary Russia could have easily blended with Katinka's timeline and created a little more seamless story.
Overall I felt this book was so disjointed. I didn't feel it was necessary to divide the book up in the manner it was written. I think a talented writer (Don't get me wrong, I see potential from this writer but this book just didn't deliver) would have created an intriguing, edge of your seat style thriller by melding the three separate parts into one narrative. I think the events of revolutionary Russia could have easily blended with Katinka's timeline and created a little more seamless story.
January 19, 2022
Este o carte despre iubire, familie, dezamăgiri, pasiuni, minciuni, gelozie și tortură ce îmbină ficțiunea cu realitățile vremurilor.
În primele pagini nu prea te prinde, dar are avantajul că este împărțită în 3 părți și perioade diferite iar capitolele sunt scurte și merg parcurse repede. Abia ultimul capitol este cel mai interesant și cel mai alert, acolo toate lucrurile se leagă între ele și totul capătă sens.
Mă bucur tare mult că i-am dat o șansă și nu am abandonat-o! ❤️
În primele pagini nu prea te prinde, dar are avantajul că este împărțită în 3 părți și perioade diferite iar capitolele sunt scurte și merg parcurse repede. Abia ultimul capitol este cel mai interesant și cel mai alert, acolo toate lucrurile se leagă între ele și totul capătă sens.
Mă bucur tare mult că i-am dat o șansă și nu am abandonat-o! ❤️
January 12, 2016
Un must read.
May 17, 2017
Τι θα μπορούσα να πω για αυτό το βιβλίο; Η λέξη «συγκλονιστικό» είναι, πιστεύω, πολύ μέτρια και λίγη για να χαρακτηρίσει τα συναισθήματα που μου γέννησε η ιστορία της Σάσενκα.
Γεννήθηκα παθιασμένη, νομίζω, για την ιστορία της Ρωσίας, ειδικά για τις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα, για την τελευταία τσαρική οικογένεια, για τα γεγονότα που οδήγησαν στην εξορία τους, τη θανάτωσή τους και στο πολιτικό σκηνικό που ακολούθησε με ηγέτες το Λένιν και το Στάλιν. Γι’ αυτό το λόγο, αρχικά το βιβλίο ήταν ένα πραγματικό δώρο στα χέρια μου, το οποίο με μύησε ακόμα περισσότερο στη βαναυσότητα της εποχής.
Η Σάσενκα, μία έφηβη και αργότερα μία γυναίκα, που δε συμπαθούσα καθόλου για να είμαι ειλικρινής (και θεωρώ πως δεν κατάφερε να πείσει για γυναίκα μόνη της, αλλά φώναζε πως ήταν κύημα ενός ανδρικού μυαλού που την ήθελε γυναίκα), είναι πωρωμένη με την ιδεολογία της και έτοιμη ανά πάσα στιγμή να αποδείξει τη γενναιότητά της και να υπερασπιστεί τα πιστεύω της. Έτσι συλλαμβάνεται δύο φορές, για διαφορετικούς λόγους και έπειτα από τη δεύτερη φορά η τύχη της αγνοείται…
Ο συγγραφέας έκανε τόσο καλή δουλειά στο γράψιμο του βιβλίου του, έπειτα από δέκα χρόνια μελέτης της εποχής, που κάθε λέξη άφηνε ένα στίγμα μέσα μου. Οι σκηνές που εκτυλίσσονταν ήταν τόσο δυνατές, τόσο ρεαλιστικές, που ένιωθα την αγωνία και τον τρόμο σαν να διαδραματίζονταν μπροστά μου και, όταν τελικά έπρεπε να αφήσω το βιβλίο από τα χέρια μου, αισθανόμουν σαν κάποιος να με είχε σκουντήξει απότομα για να επιστρέψω στην πραγματικότητα.
Ένα βιβλίο που με συγκλόνισε, με γέμισε σκέψεις, αισθήματα, και που ακόμα και μέρες μετά το πέρας του συνεχίζει να υπάρχει με μεγάλη ένταση μέσα στο μυαλό μου. Ένα βιβλίο που ειλικρινά αξίζει να διαβαστεί… Η Σάσενκα ίσως είναι ένα φανταστικό πρόσωπο, μα η ιστορία της τόσο αληθινή για χιλιάδες άλλους ανθρώπους που έτυχε να ζήσουν τη συγκεκριμένη περίοδο, στη συγκεκριμένη χώρα… Ένα βιβλίο που θα σημαδέψει ανεξίτηλα κάθε αναγνώστη και θα συγκινήσει ακόμα και την πιο σκληρή καρδιά.
Διαβάστε και στο blog μου εδώ...
Γεννήθηκα παθιασμένη, νομίζω, για την ιστορία της Ρωσίας, ειδικά για τις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα, για την τελευταία τσαρική οικογένεια, για τα γεγονότα που οδήγησαν στην εξορία τους, τη θανάτωσή τους και στο πολιτικό σκηνικό που ακολούθησε με ηγέτες το Λένιν και το Στάλιν. Γι’ αυτό το λόγο, αρχικά το βιβλίο ήταν ένα πραγματικό δώρο στα χέρια μου, το οποίο με μύησε ακόμα περισσότερο στη βαναυσότητα της εποχής.
Η Σάσενκα, μία έφηβη και αργότερα μία γυναίκα, που δε συμπαθούσα καθόλου για να είμαι ειλικρινής (και θεωρώ πως δεν κατάφερε να πείσει για γυναίκα μόνη της, αλλά φώναζε πως ήταν κύημα ενός ανδρικού μυαλού που την ήθελε γυναίκα), είναι πωρωμένη με την ιδεολογία της και έτοιμη ανά πάσα στιγμή να αποδείξει τη γενναιότητά της και να υπερασπιστεί τα πιστεύω της. Έτσι συλλαμβάνεται δύο φορές, για διαφορετικούς λόγους και έπειτα από τη δεύτερη φορά η τύχη της αγνοείται…
Ο συγγραφέας έκανε τόσο καλή δουλειά στο γράψιμο του βιβλίου του, έπειτα από δέκα χρόνια μελέτης της εποχής, που κάθε λέξη άφηνε ένα στίγμα μέσα μου. Οι σκηνές που εκτυλίσσονταν ήταν τόσο δυνατές, τόσο ρεαλιστικές, που ένιωθα την αγωνία και τον τρόμο σαν να διαδραματίζονταν μπροστά μου και, όταν τελικά έπρεπε να αφήσω το βιβλίο από τα χέρια μου, αισθανόμουν σαν κάποιος να με είχε σκουντήξει απότομα για να επιστρέψω στην πραγματικότητα.
Ένα βιβλίο που με συγκλόνισε, με γέμισε σκέψεις, αισθήματα, και που ακόμα και μέρες μετά το πέρας του συνεχίζει να υπάρχει με μεγάλη ένταση μέσα στο μυαλό μου. Ένα βιβλίο που ειλικρινά αξίζει να διαβαστεί… Η Σάσενκα ίσως είναι ένα φανταστικό πρόσωπο, μα η ιστορία της τόσο αληθινή για χιλιάδες άλλους ανθρώπους που έτυχε να ζήσουν τη συγκεκριμένη περίοδο, στη συγκεκριμένη χώρα… Ένα βιβλίο που θα σημαδέψει ανεξίτηλα κάθε αναγνώστη και θα συγκινήσει ακόμα και την πιο σκληρή καρδιά.
Διαβάστε και στο blog μου εδώ...
August 11, 2018
Despre Sasenka e greu de povestit, pentru că e o carte care ajunge acolo, într-un cotlon din inima ta și te emoționează peste măsură. Sasenka e un personaj în parte real, în parte fictiv care zugrăvește istoria unei prăbușiri umane și secretele bine păstrate ale unei țări care și în zilele noastre inspiră o oarecare teamă. Când spui Rusia și te gândești la comunism parcă te trece un fior. Dacă ai și câteva cunoștințe despre istoria țării și mai citești și Sasenka o să ți se facă frică de-a binelea. Cartea mi-a readus în suflet sentimentul acela acut de neputință și de revoltă, pe care l-am mai experimentat citind cărți despre Coreea de Nord sau despre anumite state islamice. Sentimentul acela îngrozitor că nu mai ai nici scăpare, nici speranță și că indiferent ce ai face oricum pierzi enorm.
Cel mai sugestiv fragment mi s-a parut:
"Dar să știi că arhivele astea sunt cu totul altfel. Acolo unde există asemenea suferință există și un soi de sfințenie. Naziștii știau că fac rau și au ascuns orice dovadă; bolșevicii erau convinși că fac bine și au păstrat orice dovadă. Tu ești un istoric rus, un căutător al sufletelor pierdute, or in Rusia, spre deosebire de alte țări, adevărul nu este niciodată scris cu cerneală, ci cu sânge nevinovat. Arhivele astea sunt la fel de sacre precum Golgota. Printre foșnetele seci ale hârtiei auzi plânsete de copil, șuierături de locomotivă, ecoul pașilor care coboară în beci, un singur foc al revolverului Nagant, care descarcă cele șapte grame. Hârtia însăși miroase a sânge. "
Recenzia completa: http://momenteinviata.ro/sasenka-de-s...
Cel mai sugestiv fragment mi s-a parut:
"Dar să știi că arhivele astea sunt cu totul altfel. Acolo unde există asemenea suferință există și un soi de sfințenie. Naziștii știau că fac rau și au ascuns orice dovadă; bolșevicii erau convinși că fac bine și au păstrat orice dovadă. Tu ești un istoric rus, un căutător al sufletelor pierdute, or in Rusia, spre deosebire de alte țări, adevărul nu este niciodată scris cu cerneală, ci cu sânge nevinovat. Arhivele astea sunt la fel de sacre precum Golgota. Printre foșnetele seci ale hârtiei auzi plânsete de copil, șuierături de locomotivă, ecoul pașilor care coboară în beci, un singur foc al revolverului Nagant, care descarcă cele șapte grame. Hârtia însăși miroase a sânge. "
Recenzia completa: http://momenteinviata.ro/sasenka-de-s...
March 29, 2010
I ordered this book really looking forward to it. After all, it had a lot going for it that promised a good read -- Russian history, a young adult diving into political conspiracy, love stories, etc. Reading the cover flap had me all excited.
Reading the actual book, though, was a let down. The beginning of the book jumps every few pages to a different set of characters, almost all dialogue with very little description or action, not spending enough time with any of characters for me to really feel engaged. Each jump just left me feeling progressively more detached from the people and the story. Moving forward in the book, there just wasn't anything that grabbed me strongly enough to rectify this.
The actual plot of the book is incredibly interesting, and the historical backdrop add an excellent context -- but the execution just didn't work for me as a reader.
Reading the actual book, though, was a let down. The beginning of the book jumps every few pages to a different set of characters, almost all dialogue with very little description or action, not spending enough time with any of characters for me to really feel engaged. Each jump just left me feeling progressively more detached from the people and the story. Moving forward in the book, there just wasn't anything that grabbed me strongly enough to rectify this.
The actual plot of the book is incredibly interesting, and the historical backdrop add an excellent context -- but the execution just didn't work for me as a reader.
December 17, 2022
Sashenka é o primeiro volume de uma trilogia que começa com ascenção do comunismo na Rússia. Uma saga familiar, repleta de espionagem, com todos os ingredientes necessários para uma grande leitura.
Contudo, não me envolveu completamente, até à terceira parte, em que entra em cena uma personagem que vai tentar descobrir o que aconteceu à família sobre a qual estivemos a ler durante o resto do livro.
Nenhuma das personagens desta família é real, mas a história é baseada em factos recolhidos pelo autor, frutos da sua investigação. O que torna esta obra num relato impressionante do terror e opressão vividos na URSS.
Do autor já tinha lido Os Romanov (recomendo), que sendo uma obra de história pura e dura não foi de todo aborrecida graças à escrita simples e envolvente. Posto isto, já sabia que Sashenka não me ia desiludir.
Contudo, não me envolveu completamente, até à terceira parte, em que entra em cena uma personagem que vai tentar descobrir o que aconteceu à família sobre a qual estivemos a ler durante o resto do livro.
Nenhuma das personagens desta família é real, mas a história é baseada em factos recolhidos pelo autor, frutos da sua investigação. O que torna esta obra num relato impressionante do terror e opressão vividos na URSS.
Do autor já tinha lido Os Romanov (recomendo), que sendo uma obra de história pura e dura não foi de todo aborrecida graças à escrita simples e envolvente. Posto isto, já sabia que Sashenka não me ia desiludir.
February 1, 2016
I loved this book!
Only recently have I become interested in modern history, and more specifically the Russian Revolution, and this book definitely helped to deepen my interest.
'Sashenka' is very well researched, and is the author's first novel as Montefiore normally writes historical books. This was a GREAT debut! The latter part of the book, though not AS enjoyable as the first two parts is still fantastic and provides a look into post-Stalinist Russia. It is set in a different decade from the first two parts and doesn't contain the characters that we have come to love and hate, but has a good (though somewhat predictable) twist.
I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, it is fatastically researched while also having a great, fast-moving storyline.
Only recently have I become interested in modern history, and more specifically the Russian Revolution, and this book definitely helped to deepen my interest.
'Sashenka' is very well researched, and is the author's first novel as Montefiore normally writes historical books. This was a GREAT debut! The latter part of the book, though not AS enjoyable as the first two parts is still fantastic and provides a look into post-Stalinist Russia. It is set in a different decade from the first two parts and doesn't contain the characters that we have come to love and hate, but has a good (though somewhat predictable) twist.
I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, it is fatastically researched while also having a great, fast-moving storyline.
August 10, 2021
از بی نظیرترین کتابهایی که تا امروز خوانده ام
February 19, 2021
Născută la începutul secolului XX, elevă la Institutul Smolnîi, Alexandra Samilovna Zeitlin devine, în pofida tradițiilor țariste în care a fost crescută, o comunistă cu convingeri de nezdruncinat (naivitatea vremurilor). Astfel că în adolescență, arestată fiind, dă dovadă de curaj și rezistență.
"Sașenka" este o ficțiune istorică despre un paradis făgăduit și un infern primit în schimb. E cartea despre viața străbunilor noștri din fosta URSS, revoluții, bolșevici, destrămarea imperiului țarist, KGB. E despre deținuți și deportați politici, despre umilință, atrocitățile din timpul lui Stalin, familii destrămate. Dar și despre prietenie, iubire, nebunie, altruism, sânge rece și nervi de oțel.
Tot căutam un "nod în papură", dar nu l-am găsit. E o carte frumoasă. Aveam impresia că citesc o formă mai poetică a cărții "1984" de Orwell.
Recomand!
✅ "Noi toți păcătuim. Trupul păcătuiește în lumea aceasta. Dacă nu am avea opțiuni, bunătatea ar fi lipsită de sens. Sufletul este puntea între lumea aceasta și cea de dincolo. Dar totul face parte din lumea lui Dumnezeu."
✅ "În Rusia, era întotdeauna preferabil să lași trecutul în pace. Fiindcă aici, trecutul otrăvea întotdeauna prezentul."
✅ "Genul acesta de cercetare nu aduce roade, e un tărâm de pe care nu ai ce recolta. Or fi vremuri demult apuse, dar otrava lor e încă proaspătă și nefericirea de atunci dăinuiește. Nu, nu mai vreau să răscolesc morminte. E prea dureros."
✅ "Slavă cerului că în vremurile pe care le trăim acum nu mai avem nevoie de curaj, spuse ea. Trăim liberi în Rusia. Pentru prima oară în istoria țării noastre. Putem face ce vrem, putem spune ce vrem. Nimeni nu ne mai supraveghează – toate acestea s-au terminat.
— Dar până când? întrebă Maxi cu o gravitate care Katinkăi i se păru caraghioasă. Bucuria de a fi tânără și de a trăi o copleși [...]"
"Sașenka" este o ficțiune istorică despre un paradis făgăduit și un infern primit în schimb. E cartea despre viața străbunilor noștri din fosta URSS, revoluții, bolșevici, destrămarea imperiului țarist, KGB. E despre deținuți și deportați politici, despre umilință, atrocitățile din timpul lui Stalin, familii destrămate. Dar și despre prietenie, iubire, nebunie, altruism, sânge rece și nervi de oțel.
Tot căutam un "nod în papură", dar nu l-am găsit. E o carte frumoasă. Aveam impresia că citesc o formă mai poetică a cărții "1984" de Orwell.
Recomand!
✅ "Noi toți păcătuim. Trupul păcătuiește în lumea aceasta. Dacă nu am avea opțiuni, bunătatea ar fi lipsită de sens. Sufletul este puntea între lumea aceasta și cea de dincolo. Dar totul face parte din lumea lui Dumnezeu."
✅ "În Rusia, era întotdeauna preferabil să lași trecutul în pace. Fiindcă aici, trecutul otrăvea întotdeauna prezentul."
✅ "Genul acesta de cercetare nu aduce roade, e un tărâm de pe care nu ai ce recolta. Or fi vremuri demult apuse, dar otrava lor e încă proaspătă și nefericirea de atunci dăinuiește. Nu, nu mai vreau să răscolesc morminte. E prea dureros."
✅ "Slavă cerului că în vremurile pe care le trăim acum nu mai avem nevoie de curaj, spuse ea. Trăim liberi în Rusia. Pentru prima oară în istoria țării noastre. Putem face ce vrem, putem spune ce vrem. Nimeni nu ne mai supraveghează – toate acestea s-au terminat.
— Dar până când? întrebă Maxi cu o gravitate care Katinkăi i se păru caraghioasă. Bucuria de a fi tânără și de a trăi o copleși [...]"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2014
My freshmen year of college, after my first semester, I took a "Winter Term" one-month, concentrated course titled "The Russian Revolution through Literature" with 4 bright, upper-class history majors (I was not a history major). It was one of the best courses I ever took. We read Pasternak, Sholokov, and others and talked & wrote about them. Montefiore, primarily a historian who has written nonfiction works about the Stalinist era in Russian history, has clearly read those novels, too, with their broad sweep of history and land and their many characters (here, there's a 4-page "Cast of Characters" in the back) who meet up, then reconnect decades later and hundreds of miles away. He makes a valiant effort to imitate them, but doesn't quite rise to their level. Nor does it quite rise to the level of the many successful novels about life in Communist China. Nonetheless, I appreciated the way he made most of the characters sympathetic to the cause of the Revolution, even as they saw it destroy so many lives. It does, though, give a good feel for the time & place, and it's a moving story, sometimes too moving, too melodramatic, and he writes badly about sex. The last, moving section of the book, where a graduate history student tries to trace the lives of the characters whose story is told in the first two sections, doesn't seem to me to acknowledge the many dead ends that historical research must inevitably work through (this is odd, since the author is a historian who has worked in the archives he writes about here), though since the book is already 500 pages, maybe he thought to spare us those rabbit trails. There is one particularly striking passage here, though: "These are different archives [than the State Archives containing the 18th-century documents this historian is accustomed to working in]. Where there is such suffering, there's a kind of holiness. The Nazis knew they were doing wrong, so they hid everything; the Bolsheviks were convinced they were doing right, so they kept everything. Like it or not, you're a Russian historian, a searcher for lost souls, and in Russia the truth is always written not in ink, like in other places, but in innocent blood. These archives are as sacred as Golgotha. In the dry rustle of the files you can hear the crying of children, the shunting o trains, the echo of footsteps down to the cellars, the single shot of the Nagant pistol delivering the seven grams. The very paper smells of blood" (401).
December 22, 2008
I browsed several times this book - since I read the author's two well received books on Stalin - but until an online review captured my attention I did not think that I would read it since this is a book that combines superb characters, writing and period detail with some truly cheesy writing and passages that drone on, so a quick browse and even the short online excerpts available do not do it justice.
After finishing it I have to say that I truly did not expect to enjoy it and be moved by it as much as I was.
Split into 3 period pieces, 1916-17, 1939 and 1994 flashbacks after the archives are opened and the whole story can be told, the book coheres into a whole anchored by its main title character known as comrade Snowfox who attracts the admiration even of Stalin for her "Bolshevik" dedication to duty, a model both of young revolutionary repudiating her wealthy family background and new Soviet woman with kids, job, household to manage - with help of course - and rising dedicated revolutionary and NKVD torturer and killer husband -
Some people will be disappointed that the whole chain of tragic events of the book did not start from Stalin's paranoia, desire to get rid of old Bolsheviks or of Jewish ones for his coming rapprochement with Hitler, but from semi-mundane events that could happen in today's America leading maybe to a divorce or marital counseling, but in Soviet Russia they were potentially lethal not only for the principals involved, but for their children, parents, close relatives and friends.
And that is something that people who have been fortunate not to live under an evil totalitarian regime do not truly understand - how evil is banal there and pervades the smallest aspect of everyone's life and a misstep or even an accidental remark or encounter can lead to many lives wrecked and destroyed
April 1, 2017
Intuiam că o să-mi placă, dar dimensiunile mari m-au ținut departe o perioadă de timp. Iar când mi-am făcut curaj, am citit puțin câte puțin timp de mai bine de o lună. Dacă nu ar fi fost stilul autorului, probabil că aş fi abandonat-o în ciuda poveştii (n-ar fi prima). Am urât cartea asta pentru dimensiunile care nu îmi permiteau să o port în geantă și am iubit-o cu fiecare pagină citită. Pe final (ultimele 100 de pagini) eram sigură că e o carte bună și atât. Că am ales eu greşit momentul, că se citeşte uşor şi e antrenantă, dar nu suficient cât să mă sacrific să fac o noapte albă pentru ea. Finalul (și felul în care se leagă toate întâmplările şi personajele) m-au făcut să-mi dau seama că am în față una dintre cele mai bune cărți citite în 2017.
August 13, 2010
i stopped reading this - which is unusual for me. it came highly recommended but i did not enjoy it - the writing style was almost teenage level.
April 15, 2021
Sașenka este cartea care face parte din Trilogia Moscova și care m-a determinat să citesc o serie. Nu sunt fan serii, îmi este teamă de ele fără să am un motiv întemeiat, dar intenționez să schimb acest lucru. Simon Sebag Montefiore ne propune o lectură pe care cu greu aș putea să o clasez într-o categorie. Cartea are puțin din toate și acest lucru cred că reprezintă un avantaj, astfel este posibil să fie pe placul mai multor persoane. Suntem introduși într-o lume rusească în care vom descoperi o îmbinare de ficțiune istorică, dragoste și dramă. O poveste frumoasă, cu intrigi din lumea politică, o lectură care a avut o structură și anumite lipsuri care pe mine personal m-au deranjat, dar care per total m-a facut să îmi doresc să citesc și celelalte două romane.
Mai multe am scris pe blog.⬇️
https://cartoteka.ro/recenzie-sasenka...
Mai multe am scris pe blog.⬇️
https://cartoteka.ro/recenzie-sasenka...
September 18, 2018
Stopped reading after less than hundred pages, I just have a lot of it going on right now and this book really demands attention and time. I guess I’m gonna finish it next year.
update: I finished it this year! *woop woop*
This book gave me serious nightmares because I connected with Saschenka in part 2 and her suffering.
But that doesn't change the fact that I had difficulties with part 1 and 3, I had to skim through pages in order to finish it.
Even in part 2 it was hard to read about everything that happened to her and see that she still has faith in that regime, in Stalin.
All of them.
I hate that my hero, my favorite character (ever since I read One Night in Winter. Yeah, yeah, I did not know that that was book 2, ok?) - Satinov became such a grumpy old man, tightly holding on to his beliefs. Even after witnessing it all, all of its bad, nasty, ugly, bloody and degenerative sides.
“No, that’s not the style of these people,’ explained Maxy. ‘You shouldn’t think of these Bolsheviks as modern politicians. They were religious fanatics. Their Marxism was fanatical; their fervour was semi-Islamic; and they saw themselves as members of a secret military-religious order like the medieval Crusaders or the Knights Templar. They were ruthless, amoral and paranoid. They believed that millions would have to die to create their perfect world. Family, love and friendship were nothing compared to the holy grail. People died of gossip at Stalin’s court. For a man like Satinov, secrecy was everything.”
We'll see how's the book 3, but I suspect that One Night in Winter will remain my favorite.
update: I finished it this year! *woop woop*
This book gave me serious nightmares because I connected with Saschenka in part 2 and her suffering.
But that doesn't change the fact that I had difficulties with part 1 and 3, I had to skim through pages in order to finish it.
Even in part 2 it was hard to read about everything that happened to her and see that she still has faith in that regime, in Stalin.
All of them.
I hate that my hero, my favorite character (ever since I read One Night in Winter. Yeah, yeah, I did not know that that was book 2, ok?) - Satinov became such a grumpy old man, tightly holding on to his beliefs. Even after witnessing it all, all of its bad, nasty, ugly, bloody and degenerative sides.
“No, that’s not the style of these people,’ explained Maxy. ‘You shouldn’t think of these Bolsheviks as modern politicians. They were religious fanatics. Their Marxism was fanatical; their fervour was semi-Islamic; and they saw themselves as members of a secret military-religious order like the medieval Crusaders or the Knights Templar. They were ruthless, amoral and paranoid. They believed that millions would have to die to create their perfect world. Family, love and friendship were nothing compared to the holy grail. People died of gossip at Stalin’s court. For a man like Satinov, secrecy was everything.”
We'll see how's the book 3, but I suspect that One Night in Winter will remain my favorite.
December 16, 2022
I liked the first section of this book okay, though I don't understand why women can't just be people and instead we must be described by our cup size. My biggest complaint for sure was that the majority of the excitement of the revolution happened off stage and instead we had to watch boring personal issues crop up in the main character's life. But it wasn't terrible, I could handle it.
Then I got to the second section, the one set during WWII and I was so bored I could not read it. So many instances of small children being annoying. Why would anyone want to read about that? So much whining, so many weird quirks these kids had. And really, did people have to worry about what Stalin would do if their toddler said something strange to him? I don't doubt it that much but it was not fun to read about. Oh no, a toddler said something stupid, hope we don't get sent to a Siberian prison. That's only interesting once, not page after page after page.
I eventually gave up because I got so bored that I would be reading and realize I hadn't been paying attention to the last several pages and actually not know what had been happening. Then I realized I didn't care at all because I saw that we were still talking about a little girl whose best friend was a cushion and that helped decide me that I was done.
This author's book on Jerusalem is one of my all-time nonfiction favorites, but this book was horrendous.
Then I got to the second section, the one set during WWII and I was so bored I could not read it. So many instances of small children being annoying. Why would anyone want to read about that? So much whining, so many weird quirks these kids had. And really, did people have to worry about what Stalin would do if their toddler said something strange to him? I don't doubt it that much but it was not fun to read about. Oh no, a toddler said something stupid, hope we don't get sent to a Siberian prison. That's only interesting once, not page after page after page.
I eventually gave up because I got so bored that I would be reading and realize I hadn't been paying attention to the last several pages and actually not know what had been happening. Then I realized I didn't care at all because I saw that we were still talking about a little girl whose best friend was a cushion and that helped decide me that I was done.
This author's book on Jerusalem is one of my all-time nonfiction favorites, but this book was horrendous.
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