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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
It was a really interesting historical spy book from an unexpected perspective.
This isn't a book I normally would pick up but done so because of a book club. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this historical fiction. The Cold War and espionage are topics I don't normally gravitate towards but I truly enjoyed learning more about this time period. The fiction part felt realistic and not soap-opera-y. I loved the relationship between the sisters and their dynamics on how they approach life. The love stories were believable as well. I was a bit confused as to who was the ultimate traitor at the end (from Washington). You really need to pay attention to the details - every sentence is key and if you miss even one or forget one, you will get lost. The alternative timeline and characters can be confusing so this is definitely not for the faint of heart and is one for a more well-read reader.
adventurous
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:
Yes
Such a good book. Loved the dual timelines, and the twists and turns as it played out were crazy interesting.
3.5. This is my third, and favorite, book by this author. I enjoyed the story, liked the characters, and liked the pace. 3.5 because some parts were a little unbelievable.
I read this for my in-person #bookclub comprised of some pretty amazing moms in my county. We’ve been meeting up monthly for almost a year and it’s a true pleasure. This was my first Cold War book, so that was super interesting, but it dragged in places and struggled to hold my attention. I found myself not really caring about the characters.
Fun page-turner. Took me a while to grasp the meaning of the book title as the lead-in was pretty involved. Mostly good character development, though I confess I was surprised by a crucial decision of one pivotal character.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was recommended this book on reddit while looking for stories about espionage, and was happy to found one that was (obviously) going to go into spy rings around and after the second world war. I figured out pretty early on that it was going to be a very grrr-bad-communism capitalism-good-yay perspective from the author, which is annoying but not uncommon. I soldiered on. What was truly unforgivable, especially considering the self-lauding authors note at the end, was how incredibly unresearched the details in the narrative were. From Old Church Slavonic numbers on elevator buttons in the soviet union to incredibly unrealistic dialogue surrounding communist ideology, it was like the author just confirmed ideas she had about the ussr with chat gpt. Who cares if something is realistic or not, let's throw in some (sometimes hot, sometimes disturbing) sex scenes so people won't look so closely. The big "twists" are pretty predictable, but there wasn't any successful foreshadowing - the narrative was spliced up to interrupt itself and distract the reader. The main characters developed as good ideas, but I disagree there's real development for any of them, just complexities thrown in at the end which always existed, allegedly. I really think another round or two of editing would've improved this a lot.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A little slow in some parts but got better as it went on.