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mamamelreads 's review for:
Kissing Tolstoy
by Penny Reid
This story started out with lots of potential, but it fell pretty flat toward the end. It was super short, and normally that short length can ruin a story in the hands of a less talented author. The pacing usually feels rushed. But in Kissing Tolstoy the pace of the relationship felt about right. It was headed toward being a pretty good romantic short story. I loved all the discussion about Russian literature. Sadly, I've really only read Anna Karenina, the book that the main character, Anna, lists as one of the worst Russian novels. This story made me want to read a lot more good Russian lit, even though I am not really a fan of romantic stories with too much tragedy or unhappy endings. Even without knowing all the intricacies of Russian literature, I still found it fascinating to read about Anna and Luca debate the themes and characters in those stories. I really loved Anna, the main character of this story. She was witty and smart and relatively strong in almost every way. Her dialogue was engaging and fun, and Fiona Fischer did a pretty good job as narrator in this audio book of capturing the essence of Anna's character. But Fiona had some plain weird ways of pronouncing some words ... and they weren't weird words where you might be able to understand poor pronunciation. They were common words like "reverently." How did some audio production company let her get away with such egregious mistakes? It wasn't so often that it ruined her narration, but it was odd.
And then there was Luca. At first Luca seemed like he would be a pretty cool hero for this story. Witty himself, he seemed like a good match for Anna. And then, to top it off, he was a Russian lit professor. Girls who love literature love the idea of men who love literature. Wouldn't it be cool to be in a relationship with a guy who could debate literature with us? Sure, he had some angst due to the ethical issues involving a potential relationship with his student. But that is to be expected in a story with this plot line, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I liked him ... but then he turned into a giant caricature. He started talking to Anna in quotations. He would wax eloquently in the most unrealistic manner possible. He didn't seem like a real person at all. He seemed like Penny Reid's wish fulfillment. It didn't leave me happy in the end. It left me feeling let down. It was disappointing because I thought that he had tons of potential at the beginning of the story. And to top it off Stephen Dexter's narration of Luca's point of view was atrocious. Simply awful. He spoke soooooo slow. I normally listen at 1.25 speed, and even at that speed I was impatient for him to speed things up. I sped it up to 1.5 speed, and that helped a little, but it still felt off. Luckily, Luca's point of view only happens in three chapters, so I didn't have to endure that narration much.
I wish I would have liked this more. I do enjoy Penny Reid's writing style, and I felt her fun way of telling stories through Anna's personality. This one didn't quite hit the mark, but I do look forward to reading the next book in the series. This one gets three stars. I liked it.
And then there was Luca. At first Luca seemed like he would be a pretty cool hero for this story. Witty himself, he seemed like a good match for Anna. And then, to top it off, he was a Russian lit professor. Girls who love literature love the idea of men who love literature. Wouldn't it be cool to be in a relationship with a guy who could debate literature with us? Sure, he had some angst due to the ethical issues involving a potential relationship with his student. But that is to be expected in a story with this plot line, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I liked him ... but then he turned into a giant caricature. He started talking to Anna in quotations. He would wax eloquently in the most unrealistic manner possible. He didn't seem like a real person at all. He seemed like Penny Reid's wish fulfillment. It didn't leave me happy in the end. It left me feeling let down. It was disappointing because I thought that he had tons of potential at the beginning of the story. And to top it off Stephen Dexter's narration of Luca's point of view was atrocious. Simply awful. He spoke soooooo slow. I normally listen at 1.25 speed, and even at that speed I was impatient for him to speed things up. I sped it up to 1.5 speed, and that helped a little, but it still felt off. Luckily, Luca's point of view only happens in three chapters, so I didn't have to endure that narration much.
I wish I would have liked this more. I do enjoy Penny Reid's writing style, and I felt her fun way of telling stories through Anna's personality. This one didn't quite hit the mark, but I do look forward to reading the next book in the series. This one gets three stars. I liked it.