Helpful Score: 3
First Line: The afternoon was so cold, so relentlessly gray, few pedestrians passed the long island of trees dividing Commonwealth Avenue, and even little dogs, shunted along impatiently, wore thermal coats and offended expressions.
Nina Revskaya, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet in Stalinist Russia, is spending her remaining years in Boston. Crippled by arthritis and feeling that her body has betrayed her, Nina has become a bitter, secretive old woman. When a man shows up on her doorstep with a piece of jewelry and questions, Nina puts her entire jewelry collection on the auction block rather than part with the answers to his questions. Little does Nina know, but protecting her secrets won't be that easy. Drew Brooks, an associate at the Boston auction house, is researching the history of Nina's jewels, and Grigori Solodin, the man on her doorstep, will not take no for an answer.
When you get right down to it, there's not all that much that's new in the plot of Russian Winter. Girl dances. Girl falls in love. Girl suffers heartbreak and betrayal. Girl runs away and begins a new life. But it's what Kalotay weaves into this plot that makes this novel special.
In many ways, Kalotay's book was right up my alley. I enjoy reading about ballet, and jewelry collections and their histories can fascinate me. Both of these things were very satisfying in Russian Winter, but the best piece of all was showing life in the Russia of Stalin-- where a prima ballerina lives in a communal apartment shared with her husband, mother-in-law and thirty-three other people. Each family has one room. There is one telephone for all. There is one toilet and one washroom for all. There is one kitchen with three stoves and six tables. It is a world where secrets can kill you, so you learn to lock away pieces of your soul until the lock rusts and the key no longer works.
Once characters like Nina are seen in the setting in which they became adults, they change right before your eyes and become multi-dimensional. It doesn't matter that the basic plot has been used before. This may be Kalotay's first novel, but I hope it isn't her last.
Nina Revskaya, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet in Stalinist Russia, is spending her remaining years in Boston. Crippled by arthritis and feeling that her body has betrayed her, Nina has become a bitter, secretive old woman. When a man shows up on her doorstep with a piece of jewelry and questions, Nina puts her entire jewelry collection on the auction block rather than part with the answers to his questions. Little does Nina know, but protecting her secrets won't be that easy. Drew Brooks, an associate at the Boston auction house, is researching the history of Nina's jewels, and Grigori Solodin, the man on her doorstep, will not take no for an answer.
When you get right down to it, there's not all that much that's new in the plot of Russian Winter. Girl dances. Girl falls in love. Girl suffers heartbreak and betrayal. Girl runs away and begins a new life. But it's what Kalotay weaves into this plot that makes this novel special.
In many ways, Kalotay's book was right up my alley. I enjoy reading about ballet, and jewelry collections and their histories can fascinate me. Both of these things were very satisfying in Russian Winter, but the best piece of all was showing life in the Russia of Stalin-- where a prima ballerina lives in a communal apartment shared with her husband, mother-in-law and thirty-three other people. Each family has one room. There is one telephone for all. There is one toilet and one washroom for all. There is one kitchen with three stoves and six tables. It is a world where secrets can kill you, so you learn to lock away pieces of your soul until the lock rusts and the key no longer works.
Once characters like Nina are seen in the setting in which they became adults, they change right before your eyes and become multi-dimensional. It doesn't matter that the basic plot has been used before. This may be Kalotay's first novel, but I hope it isn't her last.
Helpful Score: 1
A famous ballerina is selling her jewelry to benefit the Boston ballet. Nina Revskya is ill, in pain, and confined to a wheelchair. However, her decision to auction her jewels opens past memories that she would prefer to forget. The novel moves back and forth between her past and the present. The present is likewise divided between Nina's thoughts and emotions and that of the young woman, Drew Brooks, who is researching and evaluating the collection plus the reactions of a professor, Grigori Solodin, who believes that he is related to Nina.
Nina recalls her experiences as a child, later as an aspiring ballerina, and finally as a an accomplished and well revered ballerina. Even at this point she is poor, hungry and always repairing costumes, tights and ballet shoes. When she falls in love with the wealthy poet, Viktor Elsin, the two marry they still must live with his mother, who dislikes her and ridicules her.
As Nina's story unfolds, Viktor's best friend is arrested and sent away. Nina's friend, Vera, is devastated as she is in love with the friend. Nina becomes more and more distrustful of those around her and focuses primarily on dance. Viktor wants to have a child but Nina is afraid to bring one into this world. She and Vera quarrel and avoid each other. However, there is so much to the relationships and her marriage than one can share in a few lines.
Back in the present, Grigori Solonin owns an amber necklace that he believes belongs with a set that Nina has listed for sale. In his attempt to discover if it is and if he is related to Nina he finds himself attracted to Drew and another story line evolves.
I loved the novel and the bouncing back and forth between characters and time frames only seemed to me to enhance the story. It's a wonderful read well documented by the author's research. While these comments may seem disconnected it is difficult to share impressions about this read without giving away too much. Suffice it to say that this is a most enjoyable novel that I highly recommend.
Nina recalls her experiences as a child, later as an aspiring ballerina, and finally as a an accomplished and well revered ballerina. Even at this point she is poor, hungry and always repairing costumes, tights and ballet shoes. When she falls in love with the wealthy poet, Viktor Elsin, the two marry they still must live with his mother, who dislikes her and ridicules her.
As Nina's story unfolds, Viktor's best friend is arrested and sent away. Nina's friend, Vera, is devastated as she is in love with the friend. Nina becomes more and more distrustful of those around her and focuses primarily on dance. Viktor wants to have a child but Nina is afraid to bring one into this world. She and Vera quarrel and avoid each other. However, there is so much to the relationships and her marriage than one can share in a few lines.
Back in the present, Grigori Solonin owns an amber necklace that he believes belongs with a set that Nina has listed for sale. In his attempt to discover if it is and if he is related to Nina he finds himself attracted to Drew and another story line evolves.
I loved the novel and the bouncing back and forth between characters and time frames only seemed to me to enhance the story. It's a wonderful read well documented by the author's research. While these comments may seem disconnected it is difficult to share impressions about this read without giving away too much. Suffice it to say that this is a most enjoyable novel that I highly recommend.
