Review: A tight, tense, well-constructed story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
This turned out to be a very, very compelling read. I really had a hard time putting it down. I knew before beginning the book that the author is Russian and that is her first language, consequently I was not surprised by some unusual uses of language but given the bizarre main character, Thais, it did not seem out of place.Thais is a thirty-something woman who works as a cleaning woman in a Moscow apartment building. Years ago she was in a car wreck with her parents and brother--she was the only survivor. Thais is obviously mentally disturbed but she is not stupid. As a teenager she was bullied and she is hyper-aware of people's attitudes and can sense when she is being humored, placated, or condescended to. She spends her time dumpster-diving and collecting strange things which fill her apartment. Her neighbors do their best to avoid her.One day a popular Russian actor and singer, Timur Ozin, in a celebratory mood, is handing out roses to women and he gives one to Thais and tells her she is beautiful. Thus begins her obsession with him--an obsession that leads to death and destruction.The story is written mostly from Thais's point of view and her point of view is crazy but also logical in a very strange way. I thought the progression of events was very well done and, while there were a couple of minor points that were a little bit of a stretch, it was an exciting, tense story.My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that since the story is set in Moscow, a city with which the author is familiar, I would have liked more of a sense of the city. All the scenes and descriptions of place were very modern but very generic--it could as easily have been set in an American city. But, never the less, this is a tight, tense, well-constructed story. Well done.