The Mirrored World

Author: Debra Dean
Pages: 256
Publisher: Harper
Read: July 21
Source: Finished copy from publisher via TLC Books Tours

Description from Goodreads:
The bestselling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad returns with a breathtaking novel of love, madness, and devotion set against the extravagant royal court of eighteenth-century St. Petersburg.

Born to a Russian family of lower nobility, Xenia, an eccentric dreamer who cares little for social conventions, falls in love with Andrei, a charismatic soldier and singer in the Empress's Imperial choir. Though husband and wife adore each other, their happiness is overshadowed by the absurd demands of life at the royal court and by Xenia's growing obsession with having a child—a desperate need that is at last fulfilled with the birth of her daughter. But then a tragic vision comes true, and a shattered Xenia descends into grief, undergoing a profound transformation that alters the course of her life. Turning away from family and friends, she begins giving all her money and possessions to the poor. Then, one day, she mysteriously vanishes.

Years later, dressed in the tatters of her husband's military uniform and answering only to his name, Xenia is discovered tending the paupers of St. Petersburg's slums. Revered as a soothsayer and a blessed healer to the downtrodden, she is feared by the royal court and its new Empress, Catherine, who perceives her deeds as a rebuke to their lavish excesses. In this evocative and elegantly written tale, Dean reimagines the intriguing life of Xenia of St. Petersburg, a patron saint of her city and one of Russia's most mysterious and beloved holy figures. This is an exploration of the blessings of loyal friendship, the limits of reason, and the true costs of loving deeply.

First Sentence: "Yes, this was her house many years ago, when she was still Xenia."

Review:
I suspect this shall be one of those reviews that sounds like I didn't like the book, but I did for the most part, so make note of that. Debra Dean writes beautifully, and I never found my attention waning from The Mirrored World. However, the story really lacked any sort of emotional impact or connection, largely because of the over-brisk pacing and dull main character.

Let me start, however, with what kept The Mirrored World a positive read for me. For one thing, I am hugely into anything about Russia or the Soviet Union, thus my interest in Dean's novel. There's something about Russia I find so captivating, and I suspect that has to do with the wide divide between the serfs and the upper classes. The pomposity of the events and the exhibitionism of the tsars and tsarinas is astounding. Dean delves into the excesses of the reins of Elizabeth, Peter III, and Catherine the Great. Throughout are such historical goodies as a party where Elizabeth ordered everyone to crossdress or the way she married off people for her own entertainment. I was definitely in it for the historical pageantry, and that was enough to get me through.

Unfortunately, the pace moves so quickly through time that much of history is glossed over, like watching decades of Russian history pass by from a bullet train. The Mirrored World clocks in at just over 200 pages, and it could have been much longer. In those pages, Dean takes Dasha from a child to an old woman, which gives you a sense of how quickly the pace goes. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but this novel is not a humorous one and meaning was obscured in the rush to the finish.

Dasha, however, is the biggest obstacle. She has almost no personality, and is more an observer of the people around her than anything. Of course, the people around her are interesting, but I kept expecting their to be a purpose to her, for her to learn something or do something in the course of the narrative, but she only ever reflected the values of those around her, particularly Xenia, though for a while she reflects her eunuch husband, who was definitely my favorite character.

More than anything, The Mirrored World is a tale of Dasha mirroring Xenia's life. She follows the lively Xenia everywhere, going to live with Xenia and her husband after the marriage. When Xenia tells Dasha to wed Gaspari, Dasha does. As Xenia becomes a holy fool, Dasha turns more and more to charity, even with the prospect of bankrupting herself in the process, as Xenia did before her. Their dynamic baffled me, and is perhaps a bit alien to our culture.

While a prettily-written novel, The Mirrored World failed to captivate me, skimming on the surface of history, rather than really diving in to where the feelings and the meaning reside. I liked it, but couldn't help comparing it to another book I enjoyed more set in the exact same time period, The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. By no means will this experience with Debra Dean be my last, but I do hope for a bit more from The Madonnas of Leningrad.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "Whatever we know as children, this is the world, eaten whole and without question."

Labels: 2.5 star, adult, Book Reviews, family, historical fiction, religion, Russia

Tatiana and Alexander
Tatiana and Alexander, Book 2

Author: Paullina Simons
Pages: 576
Publisher: Avon
Read: May 17-20, 2013 
Source: Gifted
Recommended by: Lisa V.

Description from Goodreads:
The epic saga of love and war continues--the heart-stopping sequel to Paullina Simons's beloved international bestseller The Bronze Horseman.

Tatiana is eighteen years old, pregnant, and widowed when she escapes war-torn Leningrad to find a new life in America. But the ghosts of her past do not rest easily. She becomes consumed by the belief that her husband, Red Army officer Alexander Belov, is still alive and needs her desperately.

Meanwhile, oceans and continents away in the Soviet Union, Alexander barely escapes execution, and is forced to lead a battalion of soldiers considered expendable by the Soviet high command. Yet Alexander is determined to take his men through the ruins of Europe in one last desperate bid to escape Stalin's death machine and somehow find his way to Tatiana once again.

Previous Book in Series:
1: The Bronze Horseman

First Sentence: "Alexander Barrington stood in front of the mirror and adjusted his red Cub Scout tie."

Review:
Tatiana and Alexander did actually turn out to be a much stronger read for me than its predecessor, The Bronze Horseman. Rarely does a sequel improve upon the first book, so yay for that. While I slogged through book one, this one I read over the course of just a couple of days. Simons' trilogy takes a turn for the historical, rather than the romantic, which is just what I was wanting from this series from the start.

Of course, the reason I like this one so much better than The Bronze Horseman is that Tatiana and Alexander are kept apart for the bulk of it. Only in the last 100 pages are they together again, aside from some brief flashbacks that catch the reader up on the events of the first book (and, no, it's not in the least frustrating that an 800 page book can be summed up in a few quick flashbacks). My issues with Tatiana and Alexander's relationship were and are threefold: the idiotic love triangle (which is a non-issue now, but still taints my opinion of the two), the age difference (which isn't really all that large, but Tatiana was not mature for her age), and the way Alexander bosses Tatiana around. I'm sure his bossiness is typically Russian, and it's also what he witnessed from his parents, but I still think he's a dick, even if society taught him to behave that way.

However, as I said, they're hardly together in this one and that's a blessing, unless what you loved about book one was the romance, not the part about the siege; in that case, better luck with book three. Simons totally goes for a dramatic irony thing, with the reader knowing that he's alive and Tatiana believing Alexander died. Will she move on? Will she commit suicide out of despair, leaving her son an orphan? Sadly, the latter was much closer to transpiring. Yeah, I knew her husband was alive and that they would be reunited, but I kept hoping she would move on anyway, what with not shipping them in the slightest.

Aside from them, though, I pretty much loved everything else. Simons writes well, aside from her tendency to get all gooshy with the romance stuff. Where the story in The Bronze Horseman was entirely linear, Tatiana and Alexander jumps through time, from Tatiana to Alexander. We learn more about Alexander's childhood and follow him from his faked death until their reunion. Since the lovers are parted, the focus is on historical events, not melodrama.

Warning: This paragraph has spoilers:
With Alexander, Simons is able to cover torture sessions and the way the Soviets try to garner confessions, in which every option is a trap. From there, Alexander moves to a penal brigade, and the reader gets to witness just how poorly managed the Soviet forces were, sending men out to die senselessly. Later, Alexander fights along the front line with Germany, poorly armed and with the NKGB waiting behind to shoot him and his men should they retreat. Forced to surrender or die, his men are then sent to a concentration camp (Sachsenhausen) for having dared to let the enemy win. All of these things are true to the Soviet experience in WWII, and Simons does a good job depicting the bleakness.

With only one book left in this saga, I'm hoping for more historical fiction, but suspect that The Summer Garden will be romance, romance, romance. At any rate, with this one, I'm glad I've read the series, and tentatively excited to continue.
Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Does Hitler value your life?' asked Tatiana.
     'More than Stalin would. Hitler tries to heal us so he can send us back to the front, but Stalin doesn't even bother. He lets his men die and then sends fourteen-year-olds to the front. And then they die.'"

---

Up Next:
The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma! I've been curious to try Suma's books for ages, so thank you to Jenni of Alluring Reads for suggesting it. I can only hope I love it as much as Jenni did!

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Labels: 3.5 star, adult, Book Reviews, cold war, historical fiction, Russia, sadie hawkins sunday, WWII

The Winter Palace:
A Novel of Catherine the Great

Author: Eva Stachniak
Pages: 440
ARC Acquired from: Bantam

Brief Summary:
Barbara is Polish, daughter of a bookbinder who moved the family to St. Petersburg for work. Before his death, her father asks a request of Empress Elizabeth, for whom he once excellently repaired a book: that she watch out for his daughter. This earns Barbara, or Varvara in Russian, a place working in the winter palace. She works, for a time, with the seamstresses, something for which she has no talent. Then, because of her own intelligence and her desperation to do something better, she becomes a tongue, a spy for the empress. In the process, she befriends, as dangerous as such a concept is in the world of politics, Sophie, a young German, who will later become Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.

Review:
What a completely beautiful and tragic book. I was hooked from the first page. Barbara has such a realistic and strong voice. Plus, I really love reading about Russia, which has always fascinated me for some reason, although I really could not say why.

Most little girls really want to be princesses at one point or another, and, although it wasn't my biggest dream, I certainly went through phases where I thought it would be awesome. After reading this, imagine me stomping those dreams down, because, good lord, I do not want to go through any of that business. All the spying, the court politics, the hypocrisy and the paranoia (is there a word for paranoia when it's completely justified?) would either drive you insane or turn you into a total bitch.

Speaking of, it is entirely terrifying to me that rulers managed to maintain for dominion when so many of them were so awful. Elizabeth does not seem to actually do much of anything but sleep with her guards and spend money on shiny new things for herself, even when Russia is in the midst of a war and does not have enough guns or food for the soldiers. Peter, the Grand Duke, clearly has some sort of mental deficiencies going on and yet is considered a candidate for the throne. How did such governmental systems last for so long?

The history herein is entirely fascinating, and I definitely felt everything along with Barbara. I loved how she did the best she could in every situation, and did it decisively. When she couldn't fight, she went along with things, like her marriage. And, in the end, she made that into a positive.

If you like historical fiction and have been disappointed by the quality of some of the books out there, read this one without worrying. I promise it's good!

Rating: 4.5/5

Labels: 4.5 star, adult, beautiful writing, betrayal, historical fiction, Russia, spies, strong heroine

The Gathering Storm
The Katrina Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Robin Bridges
Pages: 386
ARC Acquired from: Delacorte via NetGalley

Brief Summary:In an alternate history, Katerina lives in Romanov Russia, but a very different one from the one studied in school. In this Russia, witches, necromancers, wolf creatures, vampires and other paranormal nasties abound. Katerina's secret is that she is a necromancer; she can bring the dead back to life. All her life, she has struggled to hide her powers, and avoided using them. Unfortunately, a couple people see her use her powers (to save someone) and she becomes a pawn in the political maneuverings of both the dark and light courts.

Review:
There's no doubt that this is a unique book. I certainly haven't read any other books with a similar subject. Honestly, I do not yet know how I feel about this book. I definitely enjoyed reading it, and I found the story compelling. However, the setting and the mythology here is also really weird, so weird, in fact, that I had difficulty settling into the rhythm of the story.

Also, I do not really like Katerina. I do like her passion for medicine and the fact that she is determined to become a doctor, even though it seems pretty much impossible for her to do so. However, why does she always almost swoon when anything gross happens? Umm, as a doctor, she'll need to not do that. Another good quality of hers is that she doesn't want to be forced into marriage or fulfilling her social role. What bothered me, though, was that for all her lofty ideals and moral fortitude, she didn't apply herself. She has so much power, but does not make good use of it. To be a doctor, she must be smart, but she doesn't act that way much of the time.

Still, I did really like Georgi, the Grand Duke. He has a very Darcy air about him that, unsurprisingly, thrills me.

I definitely plan to read more of this series. Hopefully, Katerina will make better use of her awesome qualities, there will be more Georgi and the paranormal stuff will be further explained.

Rating: 3.5/5

Labels: 3.5 star, alternative history, Apocalypsies, betrayal, Book Reviews, debut author challenge, paranormal, romance, Russia

Tolstoy:
A Russian Life

Author: Rosamund Bartlett
Pages: 454 (plus a hundred or so more in notes/bibliography)
ARC Acquired from:

As a history major in undergrad, I have some familiarity with history books such as this one. Many of them are painfully dry and dishearteningly long. Thankfully, since I was reading this for fun and not with the threat of a test to push me through, Bartlett's tome, while long (which is to be expected given the subject matter), proved to be pretty readable.

That is not to say, of course, that it was a speedy read. It was not, at least not for me. However, Bartlett is a good writer and she conveyed information in a logical order, something one does not always find in such books. Plus, Tolstoy's a pretty interesting guy to read about, even if he was a bit of a jerk (ex. his treatment of his wife, who was pregnant all the time from their marriage until she pretty much couldn't have kids anymore). Did you know his belief in nonviolent resistance was an inspiration to Gandhi? And that he was a huge proponent of vegetarianism?

Looking at this in terms of how useful it would be for a paper, I would give it pretty high marks, since, as previously mentioned, it is both well-written and a wealth of information. The one drawback I see is the construction of the chapters, many of which cover a couple different aspects of his life. For example, one chapter is entitled "Student, Teacher, Father" and another is "Landowner, Gambler, Officer, Writer." Honestly, I think it would have been better to break these up into their own chapters, since there tended to be a pretty obvious switch from one of the subjects to the next. This would serve two purposes: shortening the chapters and making it easier to locate what you're looking for in the text. Really long chapters are both depressing to a student and make it really hard to go back and locate that one quote that is crucial to proving your thesis.

Despite that, I would consider this a pretty awesome choice for your learning-about-Tolstoy needs, be they self-motivated or required for class.

Labels: biography, Book Reviews, history, Russia, Soviet Union