Review: 4 STARS OR 1 STAR?
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2013
Well, I give one star. It was a very weird and not something I'm used to read but if you like that kind of book, it could also be a 3 or 4 stars.My problem is definitely not because the author is mocking the reader but it's more the genre I've a problem with.I see the main character as a lost girl, drifting in life and certainly not leading it.Maybe she was defined by what her dad told her: "The best thig I gave you is your butt.If you really wanna achieve something in this life all you need is to just use it right".But as some women use it right and take power and attain goals (as contreversial as it may be)Katya achieves nothing.The book is full of stereotypes (but maybe they're not stereotypes after all...): the russians drink all the time (she's nearly drunk all the time), smuggle and the officials use their prestige and power to have sex with secretaries.It's certainly not a romance but not an erotic novel either. You've got a lot of sex not erotical in the least. It's sad and even degrading most of the time. She sleeps with men because she's tired fighting them and sometimes gives a one night stand to be rid of them or because she is drunk or bored. And the man she really loves sees her as a friend.At the end of the book, you've four generations of women (welle three, the last is too young) and none of them have accomplished their dreams but all have been used by men.It's quiet depressing and at the same time, it was like a surrealist novel. The characters were so eccentric, so uncommon it was fascinating in a sick way.And all the time, you feel a little depressed or moody, drifting like Katya.Maybe it's the slav soul?