None
4 stars
A multi-genre story.
First, its a love story -- boy meets girl, they fall in love, encounter obstacles one after the other, overcome many of them.
Then its a war story, about the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, with rationing, hunger, people dying from the bombardment, from hunger, cold and disease.
Then its a story about life in general in the USSR, dealing with the bureauract, and difficulties of travel, housing, working, especially in war time.
My main complaint is that it's too repetitive.
I'm not really drawn to romance novels, but as that is part of human life, I'm happy to read about it because it's what people do, but reiterated detailed descriptions become excessively boring after the third or fourth repetition.
Likewise with the hardships under siege, though perhaps in that case the repetition might help the reader to feel something of what it is …
A multi-genre story.
First, its a love story -- boy meets girl, they fall in love, encounter obstacles one after the other, overcome many of them.
Then its a war story, about the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, with rationing, hunger, people dying from the bombardment, from hunger, cold and disease.
Then its a story about life in general in the USSR, dealing with the bureauract, and difficulties of travel, housing, working, especially in war time.
My main complaint is that it's too repetitive.
I'm not really drawn to romance novels, but as that is part of human life, I'm happy to read about it because it's what people do, but reiterated detailed descriptions become excessively boring after the third or fourth repetition.
Likewise with the hardships under siege, though perhaps in that case the repetition might help the reader to feel something of what it is like, and reading about this while Israel is attacking Gaza helps to give one an idea of how people in Gaza must feel. Nevertheless, I think the book could have been improved by cutting out a lot of the repeated scenes.
