A review by samanthalenore
Sashenka by Simon Sebag Montefiore

5.0

I had never heard of this book and it was literally something I just picked up randomly off of the library stacks. I need to preface my love for this book with an acknowledgement that it's not painstakingly well-written. The criticism that the character of Sashenka doesn't read as a convincing woman is probably deserved, and I did notice that certain literary devices--like an incessant description of the way that things smell, for example--often felt overwrought.

That having been said, I LOVED this book. It was an extremely detailed, evocative story about Soviet personal life and what it would have been like to be in the upper echelon of the party. It seems that the richness of the story owes everything to the writer's background as a historian. I genuinely enjoyed the story so much that I was easily able to forgive some of its flaws. I don't know if everyone would enjoy it as much as I did, but if you're interested in this period of history and enjoy this kind of historical fiction I really recommend you give it a try. I was very moved--this one definitely got me crying on the subway, which is really embarrassing...