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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This is the first bestseller fiction I had ever read 14 years ago. And I still remember it as if it was just yeaterday.
Set in Pre-/post-depression and post WW2 era, Zoya captures your imagination and the mood of the times. You can empathize with the young Zoya, grow with her and marvel at her strength as she grows.
Set in Pre-/post-depression and post WW2 era, Zoya captures your imagination and the mood of the times. You can empathize with the young Zoya, grow with her and marvel at her strength as she grows.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13912887
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13912887
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-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
Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com
This will be a pretty short review as I don’t have much to say about this book. I’m attempting to get through my massive book collection and so I’m rereading pre-goodreads books and writing reviews on them. I’m reading a bunch of Danielle Steel as well so I can give the ones I don’t care for to my mom. I got a lot going on.
This book was alright. It wasn’t anything special. I remember loving this book because it was a russian main character who was a dancer, things I still love reading about to this day. It’s also a typical riches to rags to riches story, if there is such a thing. Zoya was a beloved member of the royal family and when the revolution happened, she had to escape. This is the story of her life after that.
Overall, this is a good filler book if you are looking for something in between books. It’s a rather large book in terms of page number but the good thing with Danielle Steel, is that her books, no matter how big, reads fairly quick. This only took me a couple of days to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder
trigger warnings: mentions of the holocaust and anti Semitism
I find some of her books to be hit-or-miss, but I absolutely loved this one. A Russian Countess, a few wars, it was all very well done.
I'm giving it three because I loved it when I was younger, but I'm almost positive I'll hate it now like I do with both the Titanic and Vietnam war novels she's written. I'm sure it's full of historical inaccuracies and I'd rather look back on this book as a read I loved as a teen and leave it in the past.
[bc:Zoya|82817|Zoya|Danielle Steel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1171026179s/82817.jpg|3032953]
Another solid book by Danielle Steel. This one ended on a good note and I came to care for the main character, Zoya. It does start to annoy me how tragic the lives are of every single character Danielle Steel writes. A little bit of tragedy I can handle, but literally people died around this main character every year or so. You'd think that she's cursed or something.
Also, how ridiculous is it that four or five men fell head over heels for Zoya because she was 'so beautiful' and 'so strong'. Every person that encountered Zoya could see she was a strong person just by looking into her eyes. EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. I don't want to know that she has red hair or green eyes or that she is beautiful and so young-looking at age 70 on every page that I read. God, no.
I have so many books on my shelves by this author and she's one of my favourites. But I'm afraid I'm going to get annoyed by her other books now. The repeating of sentences and too many tragedies are a common occurrence in her stories. That's why I probably won't read a Danielle Steel book in a little bit. Her books go by so slowly because they have tiny font which doesn't add to the reading please. I also did not realise this book was that thick.
Another solid book by Danielle Steel. This one ended on a good note and I came to care for the main character, Zoya. It does start to annoy me how tragic the lives are of every single character Danielle Steel writes. A little bit of tragedy I can handle, but literally people died around this main character every year or so. You'd think that she's cursed or something.
Also, how ridiculous is it that four or five men fell head over heels for Zoya because she was 'so beautiful' and 'so strong'. Every person that encountered Zoya could see she was a strong person just by looking into her eyes. EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. I don't want to know that she has red hair or green eyes or that she is beautiful and so young-looking at age 70 on every page that I read. God, no.
I have so many books on my shelves by this author and she's one of my favourites. But I'm afraid I'm going to get annoyed by her other books now. The repeating of sentences and too many tragedies are a common occurrence in her stories. That's why I probably won't read a Danielle Steel book in a little bit. Her books go by so slowly because they have tiny font which doesn't add to the reading please. I also did not realise this book was that thick.
3.5 stars
Zoya Ossupov, a young noblewoman, second cousin to the Tsar himself, lives a sheltered life of luxury in St. Petersburg. When the revolution breaks out, Zoya´s grandmother, who has seen which way the wind was blowing, bundles up the many garments they´ve sown jewellery into and Zoya and they flee the country through Finland. Having lost her father, mother and elder brother in only a few days and worrying about the safety of her cousins the Romanovs, who were placed in house arrest by the revolutionaries, Zoya has to make a new life for herself in Paris with her grandmother and the one loyal servant who came with them.
Going against the express wishes of her stately grandmother, Zoya auditions with the Ballet Russe and starts supporting their little family as a ballet dancer. The only other money they have is the pittance they can get from selling their family heirlooms, in a market already flooded with Russian treasures. Zoya rejects the elderly Russian prince and the young lodger that her grandmother tries to match her with. Her grandmother wants her to be safe, Zoya wants to marry for love. She falls for an American officer, but he´s old enough to be her father and believes she would be better off without him. Only towards the end of the first World War he realises that they cannot fight their attraction, and Zoya becomes a society darling in New York.
She´s blissfully happy until the Wall Street crash, suddenly widowed with two small children to support. Once again, Zoya´s willingness to work hard sees her safe and comfortable within a few years, and eventually she even finds love again. Then the second World War arrives, and both Zoya´s new husband and son are determined to fight for their country. Will another conflict cost her more of the people she loves?
I´m pretty sure that this is the first novel I´ve ever read by [a:Danielle Steel|14255|Danielle Steel|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1340133722p2/14255.jpg], and having read it, I can see both why her books are incredibly popular among some readers, and completely panned by others. I´m not going to pretend that I thought this was great literature, some of the descriptions and info dumping was a bit heavy handed and the plot was possibly a bit too packed, but it was an entertaining book and it reminded me that I´ve always found the Romanov family and their fate fascinating (even before I watched Anastasia. So it´s spurred me to add two non-fiction books about them to my TBR list and they will be part of my reading list for CBR7.
Zoya Ossupov, a young noblewoman, second cousin to the Tsar himself, lives a sheltered life of luxury in St. Petersburg. When the revolution breaks out, Zoya´s grandmother, who has seen which way the wind was blowing, bundles up the many garments they´ve sown jewellery into and Zoya and they flee the country through Finland. Having lost her father, mother and elder brother in only a few days and worrying about the safety of her cousins the Romanovs, who were placed in house arrest by the revolutionaries, Zoya has to make a new life for herself in Paris with her grandmother and the one loyal servant who came with them.
Going against the express wishes of her stately grandmother, Zoya auditions with the Ballet Russe and starts supporting their little family as a ballet dancer. The only other money they have is the pittance they can get from selling their family heirlooms, in a market already flooded with Russian treasures. Zoya rejects the elderly Russian prince and the young lodger that her grandmother tries to match her with. Her grandmother wants her to be safe, Zoya wants to marry for love. She falls for an American officer, but he´s old enough to be her father and believes she would be better off without him. Only towards the end of the first World War he realises that they cannot fight their attraction, and Zoya becomes a society darling in New York.
She´s blissfully happy until the Wall Street crash, suddenly widowed with two small children to support. Once again, Zoya´s willingness to work hard sees her safe and comfortable within a few years, and eventually she even finds love again. Then the second World War arrives, and both Zoya´s new husband and son are determined to fight for their country. Will another conflict cost her more of the people she loves?
I´m pretty sure that this is the first novel I´ve ever read by [a:Danielle Steel|14255|Danielle Steel|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1340133722p2/14255.jpg], and having read it, I can see both why her books are incredibly popular among some readers, and completely panned by others. I´m not going to pretend that I thought this was great literature, some of the descriptions and info dumping was a bit heavy handed and the plot was possibly a bit too packed, but it was an entertaining book and it reminded me that I´ve always found the Romanov family and their fate fascinating (even before I watched Anastasia. So it´s spurred me to add two non-fiction books about them to my TBR list and they will be part of my reading list for CBR7.
emotional
sad
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
The beginning of this book is so lovely. The relationships of the family are so sweet and loving and I wanted more of it. This book follows actual real world events so the beauty at the beginning cannot last. After that there are very brief moments of sweetness and joy but most of the book is an endless stream of tragedy. I read this book when it was first published and I adored it but reading it again so many years later it doesn't hold the same magic it once did.
Zoya is the Russian Forrest Gump, only extremely beautiful and all the men fall in love with her at first site. She's present for events surrounding the Russian Czar's family, save for the last moments, and moves to America to start from nothing and become somebody. Trite in parts but intriguing.