Isolde was my introduction to Irina Odoevtseva – a fascinating woman whose life and work is contextualized brilliantly in the introduction to this Pushkin Press edition, the first ever translation of Isolde into English, almost a century after its 1929 publication. Isolde is a delightful, sparse, and sad book set in early twentieth century France, where fourteen-year-old Liza and her brother Nikolai are essentially left to their own devices by an extremely neglectful mother who insists on pretending in public (and often even in private) that she is their older cousin. On holiday in Biarritz, Liza meets a slightly older boy, Cromwell, who becomes enchanted by her and declares that her new name will be Isolde. The story then follows this trio – Liza, Cromwell, and Nikolai – back to Paris, where they’re abandoned altogether by their mother, with disastrous results.

As explained in the introduction, Odoevtseva herself was Russian and living in exile at the time of writing Isolde, and these circumstances are reflected in her narrative. The absence of Liza and Nikolai’s home country plays heavily on their imaginations – a naive, idealistic image of Russia only grows when abandoned by their mother in Paris. After some head hopping, the focus of the novel ultimately zeroes in on Liza, whose burgeoning sexuality, parental neglect, and nebulous national identity all shape the story which is driven less by a coherent plot and more by snapshots of Liza’s adolescence.

I found this thoroughly enjoyable, at times quite dark, and altogether unexpectedly modern. Not overly modern in language – the translation by Brian Karetnyk and Irina Steinberg was excellent – but in terms of content; there’s a focus on Liza’s autonomy over her sexuality, and it rather subverts expectations in more ways than one. (There’s also a rather inconsequential scene where a character is talking about how she’s kissed other girls but she can’t imagine kissing a man.) It’s a really solid gem of a book and I’m looking forward to checking out more by Irina Odoevtseva, as well as more from Pushkin’s modern classics series.

This is awful forgive me, but I wholly requested this book because of its gorgeous cover and name. Isolde is just beautiful and flows simply from the lips. I’m glad my childish love of everything pretty paid off because this was a fantastic read. Admittedly, I am in a mood right now where I will cry at the drop of a hat but this book absolutely will pull every emotion out of you with its atmospheric writing and complex characters.

Isolde is not the main characters real name. It’s Liza and she is an emigrant from Russia who yearns for home and by chance meets a wealthy man who dubs her Isolde. From then on a whirlwind forms and never let’s up.

This book is bleak and real so if you’re expecting a light, fluffy read than this is not for you. What you will get is a weaving of characters going through the rough choppy motions of life. You know you’re in for a good read when even the prologue about the author is able to pull you in. This is a sign of a great writer and translator.

Thanks very much to the publisher and Netgalley for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

A wonderful discovery. The story had an unpredictable plot, that captures your attention until the very end. The main character reminds a bit of Lolita, clearly well aware of the effect she has on men. The book is also a portrait of a very colorful generation. Excellent translation. I would like to read more books by this auhor, Irina Odoevtseva, SHO reminds me a bit of another Russian writer, the great Anna Achmatova.

This is an odd book. The introduction tells of how it was considered scandalous at the original time of publication, and I can see why. A lot is left unsaid but it is quite a sad story and also quite disturbing with the lengths that the characters will go to to get what they want.

Liza is at once naive and knowing, and the depiction of her willfully ignoring what she does know but refuses to acknowledge rang true.

Not sure about the overall pacing of the book as it did lose momentum a bit for me, and there was an odd lack of indication of the cause and effect of actions.

I did like how Liza several times planned specific actions and then chickened out - this also felt quite realistic. That said 3.5 stars is my rating. Thanks to #netgalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Isolde or as much as you can enjoy a very dark modern re-telling of Isolde.
The writing is very suggestive and atmospheric.
Liza/Betsy/Isolde is quite Lolita-esque and naïve. She's aware of her impression to men, but otherwise it seems she has no clue what's going on or surpresses the truth ("I don't want to grow up.")
I loved her statement that nobody knows anything about each other, which in this novel is true. Lots of drama and suffering until the end.
I also enjoyed the prologue about the author at the beginning, very interesting and a nice touch.

Thank you Pushkin and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Isolde was an enjoyable read. She was a fascinating character who was, in many ways, hard to pin down, perhaps because she was still too young to really know herself. However, she reminded me of Lolita in some ways, as she clearly was aware of the effect she had on men and how to use that to best advantage. Once or twice, I did wonder why the men in the tale were so obsessed with her. She could be annoying, so I guess it must have come down solely to looks. I don't want to risk spoilers, but the story did take a direction I hadn't expected at the outset, and that helped hold my interest from start to finish. This is not so much a book with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Rather it's a snapshot of a formative period in a young girl's life. Where she goes once the final page is turned is left to the reader's imagination.

Odoevtseva's novel is a character driven story more so than anything else. There seems to be little plot. It's set around a Russian family living/being on holiday in the south of France. As far as I could understand the story is about a broken family where the mother distances herself from her husband and daughter.

Like in most Russian novels the character gallery seems endless, though this may be due to each character having one - or more- pet names that makes very little sense to someone who doesn't speak or read Russia (ex. Natalia <-> Natasha).

I had a hard time following the different storylines, and because of the afore mentioned problem I have with the Russian name system, had a hard time figuring out who's who, but I think this is my "problem" and not the texts'.

I'm generally not a fan of classic retellings, or translated manuscripts. I didn't realize this book was translated, and obviously it is a retelling of Isolde. I will sit this one out.