Sana Krasikov

I see there are polarized views from other reviewers....lots of 5 stars and lots of people who couldn't finish it. I finished it, but was underwhelmed. The book really grabbed me early on, but failed to live up to its promising beginning. There are many times when multiple perspectives really add to a story; in this case, I felt the author had to rely on the combination of first-person (Julian) and third person narration to pull together a narrative arc rather than to add depth. There are several places where the book reads more like a lecture -- on history and/or ideology -- rather than a novel.… (altro)

Sana Krasikov’s engrossing novel spans nearly eighty years, and follows three generations of the Fein and Brink families

In the early 1930s, left-leaning idealist Florence Fein, already disillusioned with life in Brooklyn following the Depression, witnesses the appalling poverty and casual racism (and specifically antisemitism) while working in Ohio as liaison and interpreter for a Soviet trade agency that is trying to purchase specialist mill components. Her experiences there, and a burgeoning friendship with one of the Russian delegates, lead her to decide to emigrate to the Soviet Union. Her family are appalled at her decision but are unable to dissuade her.

Life in soviet Russia is not the idyll she had anticipated, but she manages to forge a life, working with Russians. After a false start at Magnitigrosk, she repairs to Moscow where she meets several fellow American expats. Before long, she has set up home with Leon Brink, another American who has found work with Tass, the official news agency for whom he is a reporter.

The story moves back and forth between Florence’s struggles to adapt to her new life in the 1930s to her son Julian, who, in 2008, is helping his American firm in negotiations with a recently privatised, formerly State-owned petrochemicals conglomerate. While in Moscow, Julian meets up with his son, Lenny, who has been living there for fifteen years, working in a succession of consultancy roles.

Krasikov shines a light upon the deprivations and terror that were prevalent during Stalin’s rule. Florence’s idealism is armour-plated, but it does gradually start to disintegrate, as she comes to realise that life in Moscow in the late 1930s is more dystopia than Utopia. The alternating narratives work very effectively. The episodes in which we view Florence struggling to keep going, and the ghastly sacrifices and concessions she has to make in order simply to survive, are augmented by Julian’s reminiscences some seventy years later, as he tries to navigate through the labyrinthine mix of bureaucracy and blatant commercial extortion.

The book represents an overwhelming success. A cross-generational epic, that spans a horrific regime and its long reverberations down to the current day, it also shows the power of family love, and its ability to triumph over even the most powerful waves of self-delusion.… (altro)

The Patriots is historical fiction at its best. The story is told from three perspectives: Florence, her son Julian, and his son Lenny. They each have lived part of their lives in Russia, and part in the U.S. Florence moved to Russia from Brooklyn in the 1930s and got trapped under Stalin and Lenin's regimes. Julian (whose Russian given name is Yulik) was born in Soviet Russia, emigrated to America later, and still works in Russia sometimes. These two characters tell the bulk of the story.

It's 500 pages of complex, in-depth, well-edited language and word pictures. Krasikov doesn't use florid language, but builds layers of description. I felt as if I was inside the tiny rooms in the communal apartments. Or struggling with the conflict between freedom and political principals.

The themes are relevant today, despite much of the action taking place in the mid-twentieth century. How far are you willing to go to defend your family when you have no weapons? When you're well and truly trapped, is there any way to ease the burden?

I learned a lot about this time and place in history, and came to know all the main characters well. Krasikov is a master of this genre.

Thanks to Random House, Spiegel & Grau, and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for my honest review!… (altro)

An emotionally charged multigenerational story about leaving home and finding it again. It reminds us that the proverbial grass is not always greener on the other side. It is the story of Florence Fein, a young adult from Brooklyn who travels to Russia in search of the utopian society that she believes she will find there. It is a story of how we allow our pride to prevent us from acting in our own best interests. The story is unique in its description of american expatriates living in the USSR and how their experiences fail to live up to their expectations. Although the story moves slowly at times, I was never bored with it. I became immersed in the story quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it to the end. Recommended reading for russophiles, as well as fans of literary fiction and/or historical fiction.… (altro)