Two new and very different books tackle the same complicated and largely inscrutable Russian history. One makes the ghosts of Russian past very real, and the other explores the demons haunting a Soviet escapee.
REVIEW: The Half Life of Valery K
Regular readers of Natasha Pulley will find this novel to be least like any of her others. While there are some winks to her other universes (a pet octopus, a lighthouse), this may be her most grim. The alternate realities explored by her previous characters exist only in the author’s imagination. Here it is a battle of conflicting realities — the one which is killing people covertly and the one which the government wishes to portray.
The Friday 56 – All for Nothing
The Friday 56 challenges readers to share what they are reading by choosing a few sentences on page 56 of their current book. She took letters out of the desk and put them in the case as well, and photographs too. Then she closed the suitcase and pushed it back under the bed. She sat…
A Russian Pas De Deux: TWO REVIEWS
Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay This historical fiction is the debut novel by an award-winning short story writer. Her true strength lies in creating vignettes; small snowglobe-like places that her characters inhabit. The tale switches between present day and 1950s Soviet Russia, following the memories of a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi. Daphne Kalotay…