An easy read, but at times a tough one for the heroine and club members There were mixed opinions from Tyneside Book Club members on June's choice.
Although all found it easy to get through, not everyone thought it was a success as a novel.
Some found the central character Darya hard to like, some worried about the psychology of an author who felt it necessary to put her through so many hideous - and often sexually exploitative - ordeals!
The book did show signs of being well-researched with the author clearly intending to highlight the trials of being a woman in a highly patriarchal world - both in the East and the West.
Most members thought it started stronger than it finished though, straying into romance and even Mills & Boon territory with the arrival of love interest David Ingram. That lapse tended to undermine its feminist credentials.
More of a beach read perhaps then, than a literary triumph. The club moves into thriller territory in July with Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train.
Although all found it easy to get through, not everyone thought it was a success as a novel.
Some found the central character Darya hard to like, some worried about the psychology of an author who felt it necessary to put her through so many hideous - and often sexually exploitative - ordeals!
The book did show signs of being well-researched with the author clearly intending to highlight the trials of being a woman in a highly patriarchal world - both in the East and the West.
Most members thought it started stronger than it finished though, straying into romance and even Mills & Boon territory with the arrival of love interest David Ingram. That lapse tended to undermine its feminist credentials.
More of a beach read perhaps then, than a literary triumph. The club moves into thriller territory in July with Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train.
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