A brutal and thorough exploration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of three young children.
Three young siblings fervently cling to the hope of being reunited as they navigate the unforgiving reality of St. Petersburg in the 1990s in Brown’s novel.
In early 1990s, the sudden unraveling of the Soviet Union has left St. Petersburg in tatters. The wealthy continue to profit while the poor continue their descent into starvation, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Against a backdrop of death, economic upheaval, and rising crime, the novel’s protagonists emerge: 12-year-old Fedya, 9-year-old Elena, and 4-year-old Irina are orphaned siblings scrambling to survive. Fedya runs with a gang of pickpockets and thieves to keep his sisters alive; Elena watches over Irina. Soon after the fiercely resilient children are introduced to the reader, they are ripped apart from one another; Fedya is taken in by the mafia, Elena is sent to an orphanage, and Irina is quickly adopted and sent to America. Though thousands of miles away from one another and fighting for their lives in more ways than one, Fedya, Elena, and Irina swear to themselves and each other that they will be united once more, hopefully in a kinder, more just world than the one they know now. This realistic drama is cruel, unforgiving, and indelicate; Brown writes uncomplicated prose that expertly exemplifies the cold brutality of life for those living in St. Petersburg during the era depicted here. The protagonists are treated with an intriguing blend of insight and superficiality as the author directs the reader to focus not on the unique nature of each character but on the cutthroat means of survival that define the children’s lives (“You’re almost ten! How long have we been on the street, and still you don’t know the rules? Maybe I should drop you both off at the police station and be done with you”). Avid readers of historical fiction will appreciate Brown’s unflinching exploration of Russia in turmoil and her sympathy for those experiencing it.
A brutal and thorough exploration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of three young children.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781881276296
Page Count: -
Publisher: Serey/Jones
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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