A review by sookieskipper
The Museum of Abandoned Secrets by Oksana Zabuzhko

3.0

There paragraphs in this book that is so stellar and so fantastic that all the boredom the same book induced, was kicked to the curb. A look into Ukrainian history through the eyes of two protagonists separated by time and eras where the current politics was taking a drastic turn in international arena. The presence of the two women is strong every time they are on page but the fire sizzles out when the author ventures slightly out of this comforting boundary. The story expands and contracts without changing much of the fundamental plot and as a reader it messes up the focus. We, as readers are invested in knowing the woman from a time gone by but the jarring plot disturbs this focus thus potentially, at least in my case, lose interest in anything other than what I really want.
I will go ahead with this presumption that its a historical fiction thing where there are many strong players (along with the historical context itself) along with the protagonist the story is invested it, and maybe this is why historical fiction doesn't always grab my attention.
Probably this is a personal thing, I preferred if the size of the book was reduced to one quarter. I would have enjoyed it more.