Review: Not bad, but...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 10 5, 2011
The stories were decent enough - kept my attention, and I was entertained. The book was free, so I can't really complain.Here's why I can't give it more than 2 stars: the author needs to do her research on the former USSR before writing about it.1) The children's grandparents live somewhere in Central Russia, not Ukraine. Meaning, a fairly long flight away. The Volga River does not pass through or anywhere near Ukraine. They'd also likely speak a different language than the kids (Russian and Ukrainian aren't the same.)2) The children live in Ukraine (Chernobyl) and yet they are sent to an oprhanage in a different country/Soviet republic? (Minsk is in Belarus.) Really?2) At the orphanage, the kids supposedly only see each other "during prayer." Prayer?! In a Soviet orphanage?! The Soviets used to put people into Siberian labor camps for daring to practice a religion. Any and all religion was forbidden, all places of worship turned into museums or torn down. The people who did practice had to do so in secret. And you think a state orphanage had daily prayer? (no, there were no private orphanages. There still aren't - they are still government-funded.)