Daphne Kalotay's Russian Winter

Summary (from Amazon.com):

A mysterious jewel holds the key to a life-changing secret in this breathtaking tale of love and art, betrayal and redemption.

When she decides to auction her remarkable jewelry collection, Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi Ballet, believes she has finally drawn a curtain on her past. Instead, the former ballerina finds herself overwhelmed by memories of her homeland and of the events, both glorious and heartbreaking, that changed the course of her life half a century ago.

Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime. But two people will not let the past rest: Drew Brooks, an inquisitive young associate at a Boston auction hosue, and Grigori Solodin, a professor of Russian who believes that a unique set of jewels may hold the key to his own ambiguous past. Together these unlikely partners begin to unravel a mystery surrounding a love letter, a poem, and a necklace of unknown provenance, setting in motion a series of revelations that will have life-altering consequences for them all.

Review:

Kalotay's Russian Winter has it all: intrigue, lost love, echoes from the past, mystery, absorbing characters, great plot, and compelling historical context. This is a hard one to put down, and the ending is as satisfying as it surprising.

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Kalotay's writing is brilliant, utilizing present tense in the historical sections to provide a fairy-tale-type atmosphere and to bring the reader immediately into Nina's world. Ballet metaphors - particularly Swan Lake - suffuse the novel, texturizing it with depth and complexity. Nina is a sympathetic character, though it is difficult to like her at first. The reason for her coldness is not immediately clear, but by the conclusion it is amply apparent why someone of her experiences would function as she does.

The historical context is compelling and artistically drawn. Life under Stalin was no picnic, and Kalotay does a commendable job of translating the terror and fear that most Russians lived with every day. The descriptions of life at the Bolshoi are also fascinating.

Russian Winter is a fabulous read, one that is perfect for the cold weather and slower days of winter.

Daphne Kalotay's website

Read an interview with Daphne Kalotay

Buy the book at Amazon

Friday's Catch...on Thursday

Flavorpill presents a list of 10 Essential books from the last 25 years. What do you think?

Quidditch may become a NCAA sport. I love everything about this.

A list from Online Colleges suggests books that every college graduate needs to read. I was expecting Anna Karenina and Walden, so was surprised to find books about money management and Atlas Shrugged. Right on. College grads need to read those, too. I might also add The Millionaire Next Door.

And, because I may be another two weeks before I get back on here with my thoughts, here is a book you should go buy and read over the weekend. It has made me ponder the purpose and scope of the postmodern novel...just as I was beginning to give up on it all together. It's quirky, funny, and very smart. Check it out.

(For some reason, Blogger is being difficult and not highlighting my links as requested. Just roll mouse over text to find underlined text to take you to linked pages.)

A Response to Frankenstein

Call me silly – and possibly "unwell"-read – but I thought that Frankenstein was the name of the monster, not the monster’s creator. I was pleased to discover one other person in my book club who thought the same thing, and she’s very intelligent, so I felt slightly better. Interestingly, though, I suspect that my ignorance of this important fact radically changed the way I met the book. Because I was primed for the monster to be a villain, I was surprised to discover that though he becomes diabolical in action by the end of the novel, he is not diabolical in essence.

The monster – who remains unnamed – is something of a beautiful creature, though he is scorned for his ugly appearance. He begins life as a gentle giant, fascinated by man, in love with language, enamored with Goethe, Plutarch, and Milton. In short, he is the epitome of Rousseau’s noble savage, a being that – because he has been uncorrupted by society - is in his most natural state, a perfect example of human kind. (Think Adam and Eve before the fall.) The monster yearns to be a part of society, wants to be recognized by his creator, and desires to have a wife so that he can know kindness and love first hand. These things are denied him, mostly because Victor is unwilling to acquiesce to his demands and create a mate for him, and he becomes vengeful and villainous as a result. He vows to take Victor’s loved ones away, as Victor should not be allowed happiness, when he, the monster, can have none. Thus begins a series of murders, by which the monster attempts to vanquish his creator and make him suffer. He does both, though he doesn’t seem to be particularly happy by it at the end.

The inclination is to side with Victor because the monster is ugly and a murderer, but this doesn’t sit well with me. Victor creates a being with no forethought of what this creature might want or do. He pays no mind to his needs. Victor creates his monster only to see if such a venture is possible. Once he realizes that it is, he becomes so frightened he immediately flees. (One wonders at his poor timing.) The notion that a creator/parent has some responsibility to its offspring is lost on Victor, who desires only the notch in his belt, rather than acknowledging his explicit duties as caretaker of his creation..

Victor’s response raises a variety of interesting questions, ones that range from religion to science, Mary Shelley’s own rearing to the general responsibilities of parenting. In short, this aspect of Frankenstein is one of the reasons that the novel has continued to fascinate readers. Shelley’s masterful novel is a horror tale, but the ultimate, brain-teasing question remains: who is the real monster?