I wanted to love this book, and it sounded right up my alley. I love any story in a far-off land, and a badass female character makes it even more intriguing. Unfortunately, this was such a slow burn that I lost interest right away.

I loved loved loved this book. Janet Fitch captured my heart years ago and I was beyond excited when she came out with a new novel. I knew little of this area and this culture and loved the ways Fitched opened my eyes. Such beautiful prose. I cried a lot while reading it moved me so much

I really enjoyed this book. However, as a middle school library, it probably wouldn't fit with the collection. Too bad! I love it!

I tried to read this but really struggled to get past the beginning. The setting and history is interesting but the book is just too slow for my liking and the language was too dense, and 800 pages is too much for me.

I didn't love this as much as I thought I would. I almost didn't finish, but am glad that I forced myself through. Very dull but a beautiful look into life during the Russian revolution.

There are parts of this book that I enjoyed, but for the most part I questioned both the seemingly unedited length and why I had read no reviews that included a warning about certain plot points. This book includes a sexualized rape, and if I had known about it before, I never would have started reading, It also has an LGBT storyline that I found tokenizing and unnecessary. Ultimately, these devices stopped me from immersing myself in the atmospheric historical fiction.

This review is very difficult to write. I must say Janet Fitch did a very thorough job of depicting the Russian Revolution. However, I think much of what she wrote could have been left out and the novel would have been better for it. I found that overall the novel was worth reading even through I felt I had to force myself to raed some parts of the book. Had the book been 400 pages and not 800, I think I would have been able to say that I could not put it down, Even that it was 800 pages I think it required more commitment on the part of the reader than is deserved.

This is a difficult book for me to review. I can certainly appreciate the research that went into writing this saga, but I still think that the novel was too long and would have benefited from some editing. About halfway through, I had the impression that very similar things kept happening and I almost gave up on finishing. Having seen that there's a sequel, I wonder if perhaps a trilogy structure wouldn't have worked better, but I'll have to wait and see... Anyway, I loved the overall setting, but the length was problematic because the story just kept going in circles.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fitch amazed me with Paint in Black. I listened to the audiobook that was read by Jennifer Jason Leigh and it was mesmerizing—Audible cast this book perfectly, Leigh was brilliant and her delivery was flawless and was exactly what the character embodied. I also read and thoroughly enjoyed White Oleander when it was the Oprah's Book Club selection. Fitch is a powerful and poignant writer and has such purpose and thought throughout her novels.

This was quite the undertaking at 816 pages and it took several attempts to not only get into it, but to stick with it. Hear me out... Fitch did an extraordinary job in her research and retelling of the Russian Revolution but at times this was the only redemption. I struggled with the main character, she was completely void of depth and was surprisingly underdeveloped for such an intricate story.

The last almost quarter of the book was completely unnecessary—I'm not even going to try to understand why it was included, it should have been edited out. Especially because this is apparently volume one of two.

The beginning was the best part, and then...it's like Fitch had to include every single detail and every bit of research and it's not necessary. Is she looking for validation for her years of work? The story then just becomes a linear piece of writing which begs the question, should this have not been a historical fiction book but rather an actual book on the Russian Revolution? I think so.

I loved White Oleander and had high hopes for this novel I found this book to be too long and too many contrived plot twists. It took me a long time to get through, which is unusual for me, generally, the longer the better. I did not find Marina likable. But I did find the prose lovely.

"From the mega-bestselling author of White Oleander and Paint It Black, a sweeping historical saga of the Russian Revolution, as seen through the eyes of one young woman.

St. Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear, before being betrayed in turn.

As her country goes through almost unimaginable upheaval, Marina's own coming-of-age unfolds, marked by deep passion and devastating loss, and the private heroism of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary times. This is the epic, mesmerizing story of one indomitable woman's journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century."

With winter setting in who doesn't want to read a doorstop of a book about Russia?

I didn't love this book but it was impressive in its own right.
I loved White Oleander and Paint it Black so I was definitely going to read this.

Weighing in at 816 pages, this novel is right on par with the canon of "Great Russian Novels".
If you want a more personal account of the Russian Revolution than "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", etc. you will probably enjoy this book. The novel opens onto teenage Marina's opulent world and carries you through her, her family's, and the entire country's roller coaster ride of military and social uprisings. I will say I learned quite a bit about Russian history from reading this. I found myself doing a bit of side research to better understand all of the political terms and agendas.

I would recommend this to fans of Fitch or fans of Russian history.

Brilliant historical novel! I love all the details in the story! I am obsessed with Russian history, and this was so true to life.

I just finished this book this morning, finally, and I'm not sure quite what to say about it. On the other hand, I feel that if I wait to review it, only the things that annoyed me about it will be left in my memory. Which is sort of what's already happening.

Before I put my thoughts into words, I went to see what others had to say about this book. Maybe someone could make me rethink what I've just read so that I might appreciate it more. Two authors I admire very much, Cynthia Bond and David Ebershoff (more on him later this week), had high praise. Huh. C'mon guys, tell me what I missed!

Let's go at this another way.

What I Didn't Like:
It's the Russian revolution, I get it. Lots to talk about. But this book did not need to be anywhere near 685 pages long. It wasn't all that far into the book before I started skimming liberally.

And when I got to the end? I couldn't believe that was how Fitch left it off; I was, to use a word my mother hates, pissed. I had expected the book to circle back around the opening few pages which were set in 1932. But it just sort of...ended.

One reviewer said Fitch "infuses her protagonists with transgressive sexual energy á la E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey." Which is, actually, true, but not something I was looking for in a book about the Russian Revolution. There is part of the book that was very disturbing, related to sexual enslavement, which I felt went on too long. Also, I'll give Fitch that Marina is a teenager, and teenagers don't always have the best judgment; but this girl seemed to be sexually aroused by almost every man who played any kind of significant role in the book. So, yeah, a lot of sex.

Those weren't the only scenes that played out much too long. The whole book could have used quite a lot of trimming up. It sometimes felt like the characters were just running back and forth. It was a time and place with a lot of tension but when things dragged out so much or seemed to become repetitive, I lost interest.

What I Liked:
I'll bet you were starting to think I might not get to this part, weren't you? Despite all of the above, there was a lot I did like about this book.

Fitch is able to make readers see the plight of all of the character - the good and bad of both those who were once the ruling class and those who did the work. There are certainly some very interesting characters in the book and I did find myself caught up in their tragedies and love.

Fitch studied Russian history when she was in school and her passion for the subject and knowledge of the revolution are clear. The extreme poverty, the desperation for food and eating materials, the fear are all vivid. I wasn't aware previously of just how confusing and uncertain the politics of Russia were following the revolution, how it tore apart the country and made everything so dangerous. I wish the publisher would have included a map of Petrograd and the surrounding areas as well as a listing of the historical characters and the various parties.

In many ways, this book is very timely - students rising up against their leaders, workers insisting on change, rural versus urban. One can only hope our own country doesn't end up with the same fate as Russia at the turn of the last century.

I recommended this book to many of my friends. i loved the story, the characters and different life styles that were portrayed. Thank you

Well, this was everything I was hoping for, based on the synopsis. I really enjoyed following Marina M's journey through life with the backdrop of the disintegration of the Russian monarchy and the challenges in living in a new Russia. Her passion for communism and how that conflicted with the roll out of the new governmental structure was a compelling thread to follow. It seems like the material is so timely. The characters were well constructed, the backdrop was so vivid and the pace was good. I was not aware that this was the first of what will be a series, so I kept wondering how the author would wrap it up as I kept flipping the pages. I look forward to getting the next installment. And thank you to Little, Brown and Company for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am grateful that I did not notice the length of this book before I started reading, because I normally don't pick up books that are more than 400 pages long. I am glad that in this case, I kept reading, because I felt an immediate connection to Marina and wanted to go with her on her journey through different sets of circumstances (and what I like to call her 9 lives). I will definitely read the second part to this book, because Marina has already gone through so many changes and become a better person, and I hope that we get to see more of her adventures and meet up again with some of the other characters. I learned so much about the complicated Russian revolution and really felt a part of this book. Janet Fitch covers a lot of complicated material without it becoming overwhelming or intimidating, and I appreciate her for that.

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

DNF @ 20% (loc 2464) I enjoyed the history and politics. Sixteen-year-old Marina was bland and insufferable. I was far more interested in her revolutionary friend Varvara. When Marina meets up with the poet Genya and I found out this was just Book 1 of 2, I realized that I couldn’t spend any more time with her. She’s an empty vessel who flits from one thing to another. On an emotional level, I didn’t understand how she became so eager to shed her privilege and why she was so invested in overthrowing the system. She doesn't come across as an extra empathetic person. (I appreciated a similar story arc with wealthy-girl-turned-revolutionary Jisun in Everything Belongs to Us, especially in contrast with her poor friend Namin who didn’t want to be saved.)

It’s possible that everything falls into place as the story continues, but I stopped caring before I had a chance to find out. The writing is beautiful and the time period is fascinating, so I might try this again if the mood strikes.

I was so, so excited to start this. I loved it, right up until the raunchy sex scene about 25 pages in. She must have taken every "penis" euphemism known to romance writing and thrown it in there. I think I'll just reread The Bronze Horseman instead.