Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Secrets We Kept

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

10 reviews

kristinj1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Overall I just really enjoyed this book. It is this really clever combination of American and Russian history, wrapped up in a story of literary intrigue and romance. I really liked the way the book moved through. Of time, taking chunks of years and then going back and forth between the East and the west. I will admit, sometimes I did have trouble keeping track of who was who, particularly among the women in the typing pool. In the end, however, I think that was okay because they talked about themselves as a group very often. We saw this, we got together for this, we remembered this. As far as a different kind of plot line, I had never read anything about this period of time in these efforts to deliver propaganda into the Soviet union. It's fascinating to know that this sort of work to deliver Dr Zhivago back across the border into the USSR actually happened.

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mnboyer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

In the middle of the Cold War, secretaries become spies and get involved in a plot to smuggle "Dr Zhivago" manuscript(s) out of Russia -- okay, books about famous books, count me in! Now, that is not to say that I genuinely would pitch this to people as a 'spy novel' because a lot of the spy stuff is lacking... there's not as much mystery and intrigue there as there should be. It is also fair to say that this is largely in part to to the fact that Lara Prescott weaves her own love story into this book, and that love story takes a little more front seat. Nonetheless, it was an interesting story about how many people were involved in trying to get "Zhivago" published -- how many people were actually going to risk their lives for a book.

Okay so here's the question... how true is this 'based on a true story' book. Well, the CIA was heavily involved in smuggling "Zhivago" out of the USSR so that they could publish it in the US. They were then involved in smuggling it back into the USSR so it could be published and distributed there as well. Boris Pasternak and Olga Ivinskaya were lovers and Olga really was the muse for one of the characters in his novel -- she did go to great lengths and through many USSR interrogations where the USSR wanted to know more about the novel, what Boris was doing, etc., and she never gave Boris up (to our knowledge). All of this was discussed in 2014, when the CIA suddenly started talking about their efforts to save "Zhivago"... I don't know why the CIA gives up their own secrets and stories, but, hey, it makes for good literature.

The book was written in Italian at one point, the CIA had it translated back to Russian, and sight unseen the USSR had banned it. There's just a lot going on! And then you add women typists who were all involved in this espionage and you end up with this novel. Sure, the two main characters are not 'real' and are fictionalizations. Sure, their love story is therefore its own fiction. But, the larger things going on really did happen.

Now, be forewarned, there are discussions or rape and violence in the novel. Spoiler: Olga is pregnant when sent to a gulag in Russia for not giving Pasternak up, and she ends up losing the baby (we do know that Olga did lose a baby, Pasternak remained married, and he never gave her the option to have another child after the closing of this novel, which actually makes me feel pretty bad for Olga -- you can go to prison for this guy but he won't let you have his child, boo).

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I wish there was less focus on the romance that Prescott was creating between two lady spies and more focus on just being cool, kick ass spies... but that's really just a personal opinion. I just wish we could have a spy/espionage novel with women as main characters who are solely focused on their job, not finding romance (this seems near impossible in the historical fiction world, as every woman out there apparently has to find a soulmate). 4 stars.

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jessm23's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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emma6544's review against another edition

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adventurous informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love reading non fiction spy novels as well as listening to a podcast called True Spies so this book was right up my street.

I really enjoyed reading the process of Doctor Zhivago’s publication and this book has definitely added that book to my TBR. I also enjoyed the development of the main characters.

However, if you want to read this book I would bear in mind that this book’s writing can feel quite simplistic (when I read this book, I did not mind this but I know this is a turn off for other people). Another thing to bear in mind is this book has quite a heavy romance sub-plot that isn’t mentioned in the blurb and this threw me off since I am not a romance reader and I picked up this book with the impression that the thriller element would take centre stage.

But, despite my feelings on the romance genre, I do think that the romance plays an important role to the novels plot and character development. I would still recommend this book to mystery/thriller lovers like myself who want to get into the spy thriller/espionage genre.

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kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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nichollinlove's review

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I'm big on historical fiction, this one was as good as any! I liked exploring so many different perspectives. I honestly have never thought about governments using literature to sway nations and to what lengths they would go to ensure that it does. After a quick Google search of the real story behind Dr. Zhivago, I appreciate this story so much more. It brings to life a story with much less details but one that managed to change a whole generation of civilization.

The audiobook cast was fantastic, I absolutely love a full cast for characters. It authenticates the story ten folds. That being said, there are a lot of characters we shift between and places and times the reader goes back and forth between. I suggest reading this in print as it's easy to get lost with the who and when while listening early on.

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obohobo's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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quirkychaos's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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christiereads23's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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cmreadsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This atmospheric, slow burn that is definitely more character driven than action driven. I felt the point of view of the different narrators, I could place myself in their shoes and time. There's outstanding attention to historic detail - the author transported me into the glamour and heartbreaks of the setting. I am struck by the parallel suffering of the women in the east and west in order to get Dr. Zhivago distributed in the USSR. The audiobook is superb and the writing so masterful and emotive. I was excited by the surprise lesbian storyline - (it is not signaled at all in the book jacket/marketing) - the way

Sally and Irina had to keep their sexuality hidden and the consequences

was powerful and paralleled the suffering Olga endured for Pasternak and his book. I had to put it down because when I got to the part about

Sally getting raped

and came back to it later. The audiobook was great and the performances were excellent.

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