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A review by stacyroth
The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
3.0
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.
The Patriots follows the story of a mother and son, jumping between the two timelines. In the 1930s, Florence Fein leaves the United States to be part of the socialist movement in the USSR, feeling that the future is happening there now. In the ever changing political climate there, life is harder than she expected. Florence’s son, Julian, made the move back to the United States as an adult. We follow his story in 2008, when he travels back to Moscow for a business meeting and to learn the truth about his mom’s past.
I learned a lot about the way things worked in Russia, especially since the author would sometimes insert history lessons in the middle of the story to give more of an understanding as to what was going on. I felt like the book could have been condensed somewhat to make a more compelling read. In particular, the small bits about Julian’s son, Lenny, seemed unnecessary. Lenny’s part in moving the plot forward would have worked just as well without the chapter about how his work was going. It was interesting to read about Russia’s history, and the story was good, but it just did not keep me captivated. Not a bad book, but not one I would say is a must-read
The Patriots follows the story of a mother and son, jumping between the two timelines. In the 1930s, Florence Fein leaves the United States to be part of the socialist movement in the USSR, feeling that the future is happening there now. In the ever changing political climate there, life is harder than she expected. Florence’s son, Julian, made the move back to the United States as an adult. We follow his story in 2008, when he travels back to Moscow for a business meeting and to learn the truth about his mom’s past.
I learned a lot about the way things worked in Russia, especially since the author would sometimes insert history lessons in the middle of the story to give more of an understanding as to what was going on. I felt like the book could have been condensed somewhat to make a more compelling read. In particular, the small bits about Julian’s son, Lenny, seemed unnecessary. Lenny’s part in moving the plot forward would have worked just as well without the chapter about how his work was going. It was interesting to read about Russia’s history, and the story was good, but it just did not keep me captivated. Not a bad book, but not one I would say is a must-read