This was a great little novella centering on how we view our own relationships and how others view them from the outside. I loved the nosy neighbour concept and the contrast between the two couples. The prose made me think of relationships I had previously been in and resonated with thoughts I'd often had. This story throws up alot of thought provoking questions like how do we know if the person we're with is the right one or if we are simply settling? Really good read!

𝐀𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐬’ 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

In Hayden Kopser’s debut novella, two couples get “a dose of voyeuristic entertainment” through the walls of their apartment. Listening to Jack and Maria’s (Masha) “deteriorating relationship”, Amy is attuned to the younger couples' woes. Their “clockwork” arguments are a chance for Amy and Rene to enjoy, side by side, the elicit thrill of another’s deeply personal struggles and avoid their own. We, the readers, are privy to the internal dialogues of each character as they grapple with the harsh realities of partnerships. Falling out of love, wondering why ‘despite the means’ we stay, denying our own needs, pointing the blame away from ourselves in situations we have helped create and the collection of all our heavy regrets. Love’s disappointments, the distractions, projections, the absences, it’s a noise some of us feel best avoided. Jack and Masha’s love is dying but Amy and Rene aren’t in a war free zone of the heart either. Their neighbors' fault lines may reveal truths Amy needs to meet about Rene. Jack feels guilty, for his stray thoughts, his wandering heart. Masha, a beautiful, smart, Ukrainian immigrant, is suffocating and feeling disgust for Jack. Rene’s affection seems tepid, but it could well be the impossible task of measuring up, of being the sort of man Amy desires. Amy needs confirmation, an anchor, something more than their current state.

Masha is a story of immigration, expectation, and a search for what is missing, as well as what is salvageable. Love and hate, when it comes to partnership, is two sides of the same coin. Grievances are aired to a breathless audience. We are each an enigma to ourselves and each other, how can bonds survive the cold winter? As the younger couple erupts, Amy and Rene discover that Jack and Masha have observed their relationship too, and it sure doesn’t look like true love. It isn’t long before they are all asking themselves pointed questions, wondering about their options, even daydreaming about different lives.

Beginnings and endings, it’s the tale of every love life. Do we ditch it all and chose ourselves, do we contort our heart and soul to match the partner we’ve been served? It’s an unbalanced scale, the heart suffers injustices more often than not. This novella is an examination of the alliances we make with each other and the many ways we fail. Short, but intelligent.

Published June 1, 20

The central idea of the book is quite original: 2 couples living in the neighbouring apartments. Thanks to the vent on the wall their appartments share they can hear the conversations of each other. I can clearly imaging this on the stage, it can really be transformed to the theatre performance keeping all the author's style.
I love the main characters and the problems they have faced. And I really wanted this book to be longer so the readers could fully see the transformations (if any) of the ideas and motives of the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Masha follows the story of two couples, living next to each other. There is a vent on the wall their apartments share, which allows the couples listen to each other if they talk loudly enough. It really liked the concept of the story, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had more pages. Since it's a novella, there wasn't much room to develop each of the four characters, and I felt like the characters' emotions were just told. I would have liked to see more through their actions.

It's been so long since I've truly loved a novella, and this one did the trick. Told like a modern-day fairy tale, Kopser follows one night in the lives of two couples, both dealing with their own relationships, neither sure if they can last the night.

This miniscule glimpse into the lives of others was beautiful and poetic, and left me feeling almost enchanted as the snow fell on the East Coast couples. While you don't learn much about any of the characters in the story, you learn just enough to feel like you want to both root for and against all four of them, and the snapshot plot left me satisfied that I had learned something about these two couples, and about humanity in general.

Brava!

This was an incredibly fast read - I was expecting only 32 pages! That being said, I don't believe it wowed or impressed, but perhaps only merely hit the mark of what it intended to do. I think this author is talented, but this wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

The concept for Masha is very unique, and reminds me of like an old timey holiday play. I also think it was nice for the author to have couple's with more complicated and deep issues, so that there was more to explore in the book. I do wish the book was a little longer, because I don't feel like the reader actually got a lot of time with the characters and didn't know them as well as the author does. Also, I found myself feeling like characters' emotions are more tell than show throughout the novella, so I feel that the reader could more deeply understand the characters if their feelings were more described rather than named (ex- Saying Jack felt guilty, and that guilt turned to sadness, rather than saying how he physically felt or something along those lines). I do love the concept for this story, two neighbors listening to each other through the vent and judging each other even though their own relationships need work, but I didn't get everything I was looking for in Masha.