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ameluuche's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
leahisdudish's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kktaylor11's review
I picked it up because of the cover - so maybe that's a lesson in this? But it's so beautiful! And it's long -- 944 pages -- which is great because it will hold me over for awhile. And it's about Russian history, one of my passions. All the things were going for it....and then I started reading it. Disclaimer - I LOVE long books. The length did NOT scare me off here -- check out the books I've read for proof. I lean into epics. I made it more than 12 hours into this audiobook before finally throwing up my hands and saying "forget it."
From the very beginning the premise is weak (and becomes super annoying.) The book is supposedly a "letter about our family history" the narrator is writing to her niece after going to pick the niece up when she ran away. It's an awkward and forced frame story -- made even more so by the fact that it quickly transcends into an omniscient narrator. She knows the thoughts, feelings, urges, and details of every single character - including some that are only slightly connected. OK, so you let go of the frame and dig into the story itself...BUT NO! Because at TOTALLY random moments the narrator will break the narrative to say "or so I imagine, Brillka, since I wasn't there..." WHAT? Not 2 sentences before you were telling us what the character was thinking, or what kind of liqueur they were drinking. It's jarring and unnecessary and breaks the continuity of the story.
And then there's the story itself. The general basis without spoiling anything is that there have been 7 generations of a family that have an embedded curse because the patriarch somehow found a recipe for "magic" chocolate and anytime you MAKE this chocolate something horrible happens as "payment" for the delicious chocolate. Ummm...OK...except he made his fortune off the chocolate and nothing really horrible happened to him? (With one exception
Also, interspersed between the narrative itself are random sections highlighting Russian/Georgian history. There are not-so-subtle references to historical figures (IE: "The Generalissimus" = Stalin, "The Little Big Man" = Beria) and moments of almost historical lecture (although really only minimally accurate -- from a historical standpoint it's definitely a writer giving a brief summary of her understanding of history not a historian telling a story) which try to turn this into a multigenerational historical novel....and instead leading to more disconnection from the novel itself.
Finally, it really didn't need to be 900 pages long. What it needs is a good editor. Maybe the author thinks that she is writing the "next War and Peace" (I literally saw a review with that title -- whoever wrote that never ACTUALLY read War and Peace.) but the truth is that she is FAR FAR from the Russian Epics. There are so many side characters that fill 10- 20-50 pages and could be easily completely cut out of the story. (
So - bottom line:
1) Bad frame story interrupts narrative for no reason jerking you out of the progression of the story.
2) Crappy characters who have nothing to connect the reader to them, leaving little investment
3) Weak historical asides that add little to the story and don't adequately teach history - so what is their purpose?
4) Poor plot structure too reliant on convenient coincidences and unsupported causation.
5) 1000 pages of this -- at least 500 of which could be easily edited out and you'd STILL have a book that's too long for the story it's telling.
I give this 1 star because it's so bad I resent the fact I'll never get back the 12 hours I spent on it.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
qqjj's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
sara_n's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, and Police brutality
quickermorequickly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Torture, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Abortion, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol