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tnociti's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
wardenred's review
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I’ve come to believe that all stories are about time. Time passing. How life changes. What something once was. Even our own stories.
Based on the page count and how the first couple of chapters just flew by, I expected this to be a quick read. I didn't account for how heavy it would be, though.
Just as the blurb says, this is a story of a young girl becoming a gymnast under the Soviet Union which follows her from the frozen city of Norilsk to the training camp on Ozero Krugloye to Olympics and beyond. We also get chapters from her father, a longtime believer in the Soviet way of life who's growing slowly, reluctantly disillusioned; her elderly next-door neighbor and childhood babysitter, a gulag survivor who's still grappling with everything she'd had to go through; and, sometimes, flashbacks from her mother, a former ballerina and a passionate free thinker who, one day, had walked out of everyone's life and disappeared. That last mystery is in big part what holds the book together and what kept me turning pages even when the story grew too hard to bear. The way it plays out is something I'd love to talk about, but it's also a huge spoiler, so I'll just say I was both disappointed and satisfied in absolutely equal measure.
All the POV characters and then some have that MC energy—the book could easily be about anyone in the main cast, twisted just a bit differently. While I read about their tribulations, each of those characters felt so alive on the page. And yet, curiously, as I look back at the book, I don't recall the characters as fully realized fictional people. Each of them spends the story super stuck in a particular conflict, in the consequences of a specific choice. Everything they are revolves around it, and it's honestly super fitting for this book, because much as it is about gymnastics, it is even more so about the dystopian life in USSR, and it's portraying the experience with grueling honesty. I was born mere years before the collapse of the Soviets and raised by people who spent their entire life there, and the shadow of that miserable great country that everybody missed and no one had anything truly good to say about has hung above me my whole life. A bone-chillingly sad history, and the saddest part of it is that the world never truly learned from it.
As a whole, this is a story about surviving in a system that decides everything for you and constantly gaslights you. Does it still matter you love something if you're told to love it? If what you believe in turns out to be a lie, at what point do you realize you've been lying to yourself and how do you live with it? What choices can you make when everything's been decided for you? Can you say no while you still care, and what happens when you stop? There are definitely right and wrong answers here, I feel, but there are no easy ones, and it's especially not easy to tell ones from others.
The vibes here are scary thick and the writing is engrossing. I did sometimes feel taken out of the story by stuff like, when it's assumed that all the characters are speaking Russian anyway, random insertions of Russian words that have full equivalents in English. Like, why use "dochka" when it's literally just "daughter?" Also, I feel I've given up on authors who don't come from Post-Soviet countries ever figuring out how patronimics work. Clearly, this is arcane knowledge that you either grow up with or never grasp by the will of divine powers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
ohemgeebooks's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
missy_reads's review
4.0
I enjoyed the look into the Russian gymnastics program from when I was a little girl. These girls' lives were not their own in any way, and they existed in a very high stress environment. The expectations placed on them were unrealistic and left them with nothing when they aged out of the system. It was sad to see them treated so badly. It confirmed and described in detail what I already knew as an adult, but did not have any idea of when I was 9.
smalltownbookmom's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this historical fiction book about the life of a young Russian gymnast and the challenges that entailed. Great on audio with a stunning cover. I'm excited to read more from this author! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
caylinchronicles's review
4.0
A very moving story about the life of a gymnast who grew up in the 70s-80s of Soviet Russia. Anya's determination and ability to fight through the pain and fear the average child or adult would never even think to endure, pulled at my own experiences in the gymnastics world and I did not have the misfortune of doing it during an age where gymnastics was one of its worse selves.
The story starts slow and has struggles in finding its pacing and true identify, but I think it's because of the dual POV the author chose. The story switches from Anya to her neighbor, an old woman named Vera, that is a Russian rebel of sorts- who was forced from camp to camp finding a way to somehow survive through betrayal of herself and everyone she's ever known. Because of the switching back and forth between the two leads in a book that is barely 300 pages, you get characters that are only halfway flushed out.
Besides that, the author strives in her ability to make us feel the harshness of the Siberia setting. Sitting in my own home in New England in January makes me feel warm and cozy compared to the bite of the cold that happens in these pages. A place that the only thing containing life was the gym where Anya had lived and was raised in for her whole childhood. All of her early blood, sweat and tears were hidden in the mats beneath the bars, beam, vault and floor. It's where my own lay for the first 13 years of life.
Overall, a moving story that I could actually see being flushed out better as a movie. Provided that the right script that gave us a better insight on our two characters that I thought deserved more detail in their storylines.
The story starts slow and has struggles in finding its pacing and true identify, but I think it's because of the dual POV the author chose. The story switches from Anya to her neighbor, an old woman named Vera, that is a Russian rebel of sorts- who was forced from camp to camp finding a way to somehow survive through betrayal of herself and everyone she's ever known. Because of the switching back and forth between the two leads in a book that is barely 300 pages, you get characters that are only halfway flushed out.
Besides that, the author strives in her ability to make us feel the harshness of the Siberia setting. Sitting in my own home in New England in January makes me feel warm and cozy compared to the bite of the cold that happens in these pages. A place that the only thing containing life was the gym where Anya had lived and was raised in for her whole childhood. All of her early blood, sweat and tears were hidden in the mats beneath the bars, beam, vault and floor. It's where my own lay for the first 13 years of life.
Overall, a moving story that I could actually see being flushed out better as a movie. Provided that the right script that gave us a better insight on our two characters that I thought deserved more detail in their storylines.
alittlebird's review
3.0
I think the research into the gymnastics program is well- done (easily the best part of the novel) and Vera and Anya are charming enough characters. There's this way Americans write other cultures that is so uniquely judgmental and *American* that just leaks out of everything though. It's such a thick presence presented through characters and sensibilities that it's almost impermeable sometimes.
If that's not a problem for you and the topic sounds interesting, it's very readable.
If that's not a problem for you and the topic sounds interesting, it's very readable.
filaret526's review
3.0
I had such high hopes for this book! I love Soviet Gymnastics and Russian/ Soviet history, so this book seemed like it would be perfect.
I think the author tried to do too much as there were a few sub plots and it seemed hard to follow at times as it felt all over the place. I found myself not that interested in the characters and the book itself was one of those that you could put down for a few days and not really miss reading it. The middle of the book started to pick up a bit when talking about Anya competing and being at Round Lake. Then it falls flat towards the end.
I think the author tried to do too much as there were a few sub plots and it seemed hard to follow at times as it felt all over the place. I found myself not that interested in the characters and the book itself was one of those that you could put down for a few days and not really miss reading it. The middle of the book started to pick up a bit when talking about Anya competing and being at Round Lake. Then it falls flat towards the end.
melissaw12's review
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0