Scan barcode
A review by nicolepeck
The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
3.0
10/11/17 -- Won this book on Goodreads.
10/31/17 -- Received this book.
1/24/18 -- I'm having to pause reading this one. I'm struggling a bit to connect with it.
3/5/18 -- I didn't love this book. There were many promising moments, but, for me, the time the book spent with just prose instead of action or with the characters and their story, I got lost. I enjoy learning about history when it's interwoven in fiction, but this one failed to bring it to life for me. Maybe if the story had been told from Leon's point of view instead of trying to focus on Florence, who from the very beginning is not likable and even by the end of the book I didn't feel she had redeemed herself. What a horrible time period for Americans who choose to go to Russia to live and want to be a part of their ancestors' homeland only to be abandoned by the U.S. government. However, with Florence, I didn't feel for her. She kept doing such stupid things that I felt no empathy for her. I also struggled with the jumping around between Florence and Leon's story in the past and their son Julian's in the present. I kept getting lost on what was going on with each time period. I liked Julian, but the story didn't spend as much time with him in relation to his mom, only to his present-day struggles, to help tie the two time periods together enough for me. And then all of a sudden there is "The Pilot" at the end of the book. It felt out of place and forced and I was too hardened against Florence to feel sorry for her by this point. Also, the author does not clarify the majority of the Russian/Yiddish terminology used. Only occasionally does she define the terms she is using or anything. So there were many times I had to stop to look things up, and that further disrupted the flow of the story for me.
This story is too disjointed for me and I wanted more of the characters' lives against the backdrop of the politics and war and all the trials going on for Russians and American expats in Russia instead of the political commentary that filled this book. As the action and the story focused on the characters, I was able to be drawn in, but those times were so short that all of a sudden I was thrown back into the politics that dragged on and on without drawing me in.
Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me. There are readers who may soak it up, but I struggled with liking the characters on top of not being able to be drawn into the story as much as I had hoped.
***I received this book via a giveaway here on Goodreads from the publisher.***
10/31/17 -- Received this book.
1/24/18 -- I'm having to pause reading this one. I'm struggling a bit to connect with it.
3/5/18 -- I didn't love this book. There were many promising moments, but, for me, the time the book spent with just prose instead of action or with the characters and their story, I got lost. I enjoy learning about history when it's interwoven in fiction, but this one failed to bring it to life for me. Maybe if the story had been told from Leon's point of view instead of trying to focus on Florence, who from the very beginning is not likable and even by the end of the book I didn't feel she had redeemed herself. What a horrible time period for Americans who choose to go to Russia to live and want to be a part of their ancestors' homeland only to be abandoned by the U.S. government. However, with Florence, I didn't feel for her. She kept doing such stupid things that I felt no empathy for her. I also struggled with the jumping around between Florence and Leon's story in the past and their son Julian's in the present. I kept getting lost on what was going on with each time period. I liked Julian, but the story didn't spend as much time with him in relation to his mom, only to his present-day struggles, to help tie the two time periods together enough for me. And then all of a sudden there is "The Pilot" at the end of the book. It felt out of place and forced and I was too hardened against Florence to feel sorry for her by this point. Also, the author does not clarify the majority of the Russian/Yiddish terminology used. Only occasionally does she define the terms she is using or anything. So there were many times I had to stop to look things up, and that further disrupted the flow of the story for me.
This story is too disjointed for me and I wanted more of the characters' lives against the backdrop of the politics and war and all the trials going on for Russians and American expats in Russia instead of the political commentary that filled this book. As the action and the story focused on the characters, I was able to be drawn in, but those times were so short that all of a sudden I was thrown back into the politics that dragged on and on without drawing me in.
Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me. There are readers who may soak it up, but I struggled with liking the characters on top of not being able to be drawn into the story as much as I had hoped.
***I received this book via a giveaway here on Goodreads from the publisher.***