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literarymultitudes 's review for:

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
3.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There's some great 4 or 5 star reviews been written about it here, with which I agree a lot. So there's nothing much for me to add to that.
This book was like a wonderful road trip in a way. It really took me travelling (and I'm this close to booking a ticket to Sofia...) and was one of those great reading experiences. A great long, rich and colourful book.
A little bit of a spoiler topic wise:
SpoilerAlso, I did my thesis about Gulag literature, so I know a thing or two about this topic. And I must say that those parts of the book were done with an excellent sensitivity and intuition.

Alexandra may not be my favorite character, but she doesn't have to be. I do think, however, that she is a very well written character. Some of her "obsessions" are somewhat annoying, but she kept being interesting.
SpoilerAnd the very end... well, not my favorite part of the book, but you can't have everything. ;-)