A review by rosalovo
The Funeral Party by Lyudmila Ulitskaya

challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really wanted to like this book bc it was a gift, but to be so short it was very boring. The central plot is that the diverse friends of a Russian artist living in NYC gather to pay their respect unknowingly in the days leading to the collapse of the USSR. However, the inconsistent use of third person which dipped back and forth into multiple characters heads without so much as a page break made the story difficult to follow. And while the main characters are Jewish, I can’t help but feel the close mindedness with which they are represented to be deeply harmful. 
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