Lianne
Written on Mar 12, 2014
This novel technically has all of the elements that I normally enjoy in a story: a character on the road to reclaiming something for herself, travelling to another country, Eastern Europe. And yet somehow it all fell flat for me. I think a large part of it has to do with Valentina never resonating with me as a character. Yes, her life was not very happy and she was in need of a change but her narrative never quite connected with me, hence I did not find myself caring about her character journey or the actual goal that she had in finding Milos Jarco. Even her reflections felt rather cold and distant (which may also be because of the translation and the way the author writes in general) and the narrative never felt comfortable to me. I kept reading only because it was a slim volume and I wanted to know/see if there was any moment along Valentina’s journey where it might turn around my reading experience. Sadly there was no such moment: no passion, no rousing moment of intrigue on my part, not to mention a rather bleak ending.
Overall, while the elements of this novel sounded interesting and her time in pre-glasnost Eastern Europe was intriguing, this novel was just not a fit for me, leaving me rather bored and disengaged from events in the story.