|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Set in her native St. Petersburg, Russia, Simons's latest thick novel (after Tully, etc.) focuses on a WWII love affair. As the story opens, Tatiana, the youngest member of the Metanova family, is just 17; she still shares a bed with her older sister, Dasha. Not long after the country goes to war with Germany, Tatiana meets Alexander, a soldier, and sparks fly. It turns out, however, that Alexander is the same soldier Dasha has been crowing about. Possessed of a strong sense of family loyalty, and living under conditions that permit no privacy, Tatiana refuses to interfere with her sister's happiness, but the attraction between Tatiana and Alexander proves too powerful. Complicating matters, another soldier, Dimitri, has information that could destroy Alexander, and Dimitri likes Tatiana, too. In order to protect both Dasha's feelings and Alexander's life, the star-crossed lovers become part of a deceptive quadrangle as war intensifies around them. Taking her title from a tragic poem by Alexandr Pushkin, Simons skillfully highlights the ironies of the socialist utopia. Despite the novel's sprawling length and its seemingly epic scope, the nearly single-minded focus on dialogue between Tatiana and Alexander leaves other character development shortchanged and the reader with the impression of a peculiarly tiny canvas. Nave and occupying the Cinderella role in her family, Tatiana is certainly a survivor though one who finally outstays her welcome. While her love story is often both tender and fierce, it is also overwrought and prolonged past the breaking point. (June)Forecast: An advertising blitz, five-city author tour and glamorous jacket may distract readers from the novel's shortcomings and ensure short-term success (foreign rights have been sold in 10 countries), but this is not the Russian Thorn Birds the publisher hopes it will be.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Library Journal
In 1941 Leningrad, two sisters share everything including a passion for Red Army officer Alexander. Simons, the author of Tully and other titles, was born and raised in St. Petersburg.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
LIGHT came through the window, trickling morning all over the room. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
LIGHT came through the window, trickling morning all over the room. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
This book is painfully stupid and sappy!,
By "melyssam@aol.com" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bronze Horseman (Mass Market Paperback)
This is hands down the worst book I have ever read. There is abostuletly no character development, the characters are ..., and as a reader you don't really like or sympathize with any of the characters.... Due to the lack of character development, the story line is implausible and laughable. This book is a poorly written harlequin romance novel set in Russia. Don't waste your time reading it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic can't-put-it-down read,
By Bobbie Gingold (Great Neck, New York USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bronze Horseman (Hardcover)
A marvelous story of star-crossed lovers set in Leningrad during the seige of WWII. Paullina Simons has written a classic love story of the new century, chock full of history and characters that you will think about for weeks after reading about them. I felt as though I had lived through that terrible winter in Leningrad. I only wish the book were twice as long, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping for a sequel.Don't let this one pass you by. It's a book you'll always remember, and want to read over and over again.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A beautifully written love story.,
By
This review is from: The Bronze Horseman (Hardcover)
At the outset, I was unable to put this huge book down. You will be swept into the heartbreaking love between Tatiana and Alexander almost as though you were experiencing it yourself! When they meet and feel an instant attraction for each other on a Leningrad street, you can't help but feel that it is a great match in the making. However, when Tatiana finds out that Alexander is her sister's beau, she insists that they keep their strong feelings for each other secret in order to protect Dasha's feelings. Not only this, but Alexander's friend Dimitri takes a liking to Tania and since he knows a secret that would destroy Alexander had anyone found out, he cannot know of their feelings for one another. For a great part of the book, they must live this way, until the siege of Leningrad when all of Tania's family perishes of starvation. It is this story that had the power to keep me up all night reading, wondering what was to become of the massive love that they felt for each other. Unfortunately, just like any other story, once the tension is gone, the it just isn't as spellbinding. When Tania and Alexander find each other and are finally able to consummate (and consummate and consummate) their love for each other...let me break in here and say that I nearly had to skip over about 100 pages of "moaning" and "licking"...their love almost falls flat. Toward the end of the book, it becomes more engrossing with their fight for their lives and plans to leave the Soviet Union. Alexander's secret both helps and hinders Tania's ambitions to make a better life for herself outside of communist Russia. "The Bronze Horseman" is beautifully written with lush wording and a genuine sense of longing between the two protagonists. The realistic scenes of Leningrad winters, starvation and death will be sure to impart a feeling of desperation and a need to survive as you're reading. This is a compulsively readable novel, except for the small middle part, and I was disappointed when I reached the end.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
