Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine by Sophie Pinkham (review by Tiffany Z. '17)

Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine by Sophie Pinkham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Despite the subtitle, Black Square is not just about Ukraine. It is about the shrapnel the explosive nineties left in Russian and Ukrainian society, from the free travel of drugs that accompanied free borders, to Ukrainians’ struggle with their Soviet inheritance every Victory Day. Through anecdotes from Ukrainian and Russian colleagues and her own travels, Pinkham paints a portrait of Ukraine from the early 2000s to 2015 that, though vivid, falters in its attempt to illustrate a multifaceted society. Though she tries to cover all classes and regions in Ukraine, too often does she fall back on experiences with overwhelmingly young, artistic hipster types from Kyiv and western Ukraine. Some parts, like her discussion of the Donbas, almost entirely lack in-depth firsthand testimonies, even though those would have bolstered already interesting arguments rare in Western media. I wanted to see more like her coverage of the 2013-14 Maidan protests: though she did not attend them, she drew on rich historical contexts and personal interviews to represent the complex dialogue surrounding Ukrainian identity. Pinkham’s work sheds vital light on post-Soviet daily life, but I hesitate to extend Black Square from highly recommended for Russia-Ukraine aficionados to required reading for all. - Tiffany Z. '17

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Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (review by Tiffany Z. '17)

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Pale Fire, consists of an eponymous poem written by a fictional American poet, John Shade, and the annotations to that poem, written by the enigmatic Zemblan professor, Charles Kinbote. Fear not, however, that this work will be didactic or esoteric: Kinbote takes advantage of the commentary section in which he is supposed to elucidate aspects of Shade's poem (a quiet introspection on the poet's life) to tell his own adventure story of an assassin's tenacious pursuit of an overthrown king. His thrilling tale, placed in the middle of a placid text, jars at first. But as Kinbote's story picks up pace--in stark contrast to the mellow, unhurried rhymes of Shade's poem--little details in both narratives begin to click together, and in the book's last pages the two narratives coalesce in a bizarrely thrilling rush. I heartily commend Nabokov not just for the technical feat of composing a 999-line poem and "discarded" drafts in a fictional writing style, but also for whisking us on a maddening journey that, hours later, made me think. I only suggest that readers have a dictionary open while reading this.

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Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead (review by Andrew R. '17)

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A ballerina smuggles a celebrated Russian dancer away from his Soviet handlers and into the United States, where they have a tempestuous love affair; later, said ballerina raises a dance prodigy who himself experiences some painful romance, while all the while minor characters around them (the neighbors, the owner of the ballet company, more haughty defectors from the USSR) fall in and out of their own miniature romantic dramas. As a novel primarily focused on the way dance shapes the lives of those who dedicate their souls to it, Astonish Me sometimes seems to be taking place onstage, what with its preoccupation with beauty and drama and tangled romantic threads, rather than in the Cold War-era society it tries to recreate. That said, though, Shipstead pulls off the intertwining love triangles at the novel’s center with impressive success, and the resolution brought about in the last few chapters feels satisfying without coming off as too neat or too overblown. Fans of ballet, and probably of the domestic drama as a genre, are certain to appreciate this book, but to the wider population the tendency of Astonish Me to prioritize aesthetics over real character development might not be entirely appealing.

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The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (review by Agata S. '15)

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nothing extraordinary happens in 1930s Moscow until Satan, also known as Professor Woland, arrives with his eerie crew of followers. Soon enough, chaos engulfs the city; Russian citizens are captured by the Soviet police, get sent to the insane asylum, and run in the streets stark naked. Surprisingly, this is just the beginning of Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and the masterpiece develops a story within a story that focuses on Pontius Pilate in ancient Jerusalem. Keeping readers glued to the novel’s pages, the genius author intertwines the two tales until they converge at the very end. In my opinion, The Master and Margarita is a must-read with an unparalleled plotline and characters that transform – even physically – in completely unpredictable ways. – Agata S. ‘15

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Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (review by Tiffany Z. '17)

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ivan Turgenev's 234-page Fathers and Sons might bear no resemblance in physical size, scale of plot, or popularity to, say, Leo Tolstoy's sprawling masterpiece War and Peace, but the quality of a classic must never be measured by length. The cozy lives of two university friends, unduly harsh nihilist Evgeny Bazarov and his companion Arkady Kirsanov, play out over the course of little more than a month. Yet in that short period of time, romances bloom, a friendship wilts, and the titled fathers (and mothers) worry incessantly about the titled sons, who meanwhile chase their ambitions to tragic ends. Unlike War and Peace, Fathers and Sons is a novel about daily life. Turgenev accurately captures it all—from hotly debated controversies of mid-19th-century Russia to the strains and strife of ordinary parent-child relationships—with fresh, easily understandable prose, a keen eye for detail, and sharp-witted dialogue through which characters additionally raise key questions that still bear relevance today. A novel that can be read for its lively plot, its memorable and realistic characters, or its thought-provoking ideas, Fathers and Sons lives up to its acclaim and makes a touching, joyful read for anybody. – Tiffany Z. ‘17

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A Dirty War by Anna Politkovskaya (review by Alice W. '16)

A Dirty War by Anna Politkovskaya
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Few people knew of Chechnya before the Boston Marathon bombing; even fewer people know of the struggles that have pervaded Chechnya's short history, and the two Chechen Wars from 1994-6 and 1999-2000 fought on its soil. In this collection of articles, Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist for the Novaya Gazeta, paints a harsh, glaring picture of the fate of the civilians, Russians and Chechens alike, who were the main victims of the early crossfire between the Russian federal forces and the Chechen fighters and later the actual targets of gross atrocities committed by both soldiers and rebels during the second war. This book may be difficult for those not particularly well-versed in international affairs, but I was able to comprehend most of the politics through both textual clues and my own inferences. Moreover, the countless inexcusable crimes and massacres chronicled in A Dirty War makes it a difficult book to go through without tearing up in grief and frustration over the injustices. Despite these obstacles, A Dirty War is a moving work of literature and anyone who does finish would agree the messages it conveys makes it well-worth the time. - Alice W. '16

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A Countess Below the Stairs by Eva Ibbotson (review by Sophia S. '15)

A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although Eva Ibbotson's matter-of-fact writing takes some getting used to, I wish more authors would adopt her unique style of frank writing. The narrator’s humor is understated – not unlike a terribly funny joke delivered with a poker face. A Countess Below the Stairs delves into a servant's world in the early 1900's and revolves around Anna, an impoverished Russian countess posing as a housemaid in household of an engaged English earl. Unsurprisingly, the earl and the countess fall in love. In the meantime, the inhabitants of Mersham Manor discover that the earl's fiancée’s glamor is only skin deep. The gem of the book is the delightfully wicked plan a determined butler concocts to drive the shallow woman away. Although the plot is captivating, the romance is not. Anna and Rupert's love blooms from so astonishingly few meaningful encounters as to render it unreal. While it’s unlikely Ibbotson’s title will resonate for long, readers will enjoy the story. – Sophia S. ‘15

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