Book Review- Keith Gessen's A Terrible Country

Thank You to Viking for providing me with a copy of Keith Gessen’s novel, A Terrible Country, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Andrei immigrated from Russia to the United States as a child and now in his early thirties, is a Russian Scholar. He’s struggling to find steady employment and to make his mark in academia, so when his brother calls on him to return to Moscow to care for their elderly grandmother, Andrei decides to go. Beyond caring for a grandmother whom he loves, he hopes that being in Russia will revive his career. Andrei is not prepared for the culture shock that he will encounter in his homeland. It teaches him that being born in a place and learning about it in books, is not the same as day-to-day living.

LIKE- Initially, I was drawn to Gessen’s novel by theme of caregiving. Like Andrei, I’ve been in the position of being caregiver and I could relate to both his frustrations and the joy from this precious time spent with a loved one. Andrei’s relationship with his grandmother, Baba Seva, is one of pure love and devotion. He gives her his all, even when he is struggling financially or is feeling doubtful about his own future. The best parts of A Terrible Country are the scenes between Andrei and Baba Seva. She has dementia and her confusion is heartbreaking.

I’m fairly familiar with famous Russian literature, but I don’t have a wide understanding of Russian history or what a modern Russia looks like. Gessen’s novel gave me a glimpse into Russia: the daily life in a major city and the culture. The title of the book is a refrain through-out the story, even Baba Seva tells Andrei that Russia is “A Terrible Country” urging him to leave, as she refuses to do so herself. This sentiment is multi-faceted. In the most simplistic sense, it is terrible because of the wealth disparity, the crime, and corruption. Andrei realizes that he has had it very easy in America. On the flip-side, this is the place of his birth, the place where he still has family. He feels a strong pull towards Russia. Andrei also manages to make friends during his year in Russia, including a girlfriend. He comes to see the beauty beyond the frustrations and he embraces Russia; warts and all. Russia is no longer a memory from his childhood or a mythology patched together from text books, but a place that is part of his soul. He has developed a strong bond with this terrible country.

DISLIKE- A Terrible Country was uneven in keeping my interest. It took me several weeks to read. I suspect this was due to the heavy themes and slice-of-life style, but I kept reading it in spurts, a few chapters at a time and setting it aside in favor of other books. It wasn’t that I was disinterested, I just found the story world to be a place that I didn’t want remain for an extended stay.

RECOMMEND- Yes. Gessen is a talented writer and A Terrible Country is great for readers who want a deeper look at modern day Russia. It compels me to seek out non-fiction books on the subject.

Book Review- JoJo Moyes' One Plus One

I first discovered JoJo Moyes last year, when I read her smash hit, Me Before You. I really enjoyed Me Before You and was very excited to read all of her other novels, of which there are many. I've recently joined the review site NetGalley and I was very excited when Viking Press accepted my request to review Moyne's latest novel, One Plus One. Thanks Viking!

Jess is a twenty-something single mom trying to hold it together by working odd-jobs in a seaside resort town in England. Her estranged husband has depression issues and cannot support his children. Jess can barely make ends meet. She has informally adopted, Nick, a child from her husband's former relationship with a drug addict. As an outcast teenager, Nick is routinely beat up by kids in the neighborhood for being different. Her preteen daughter, Tanzie is a socially awkward math wiz, whose teachers have pushed to have her enter a math competition in Scotland. If she wins the competition, there is a huge cash prize which would allow her to attend a fancy private school and change the future for the entire family.

The problem is, they have no way to get to Scotland. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, the family embarks on a crazy road trip, driven by Ed, an owner of one of the luxury houses that Jess cleans. They look at Ed's life and imagine that his money makes him live carefree. What they don't realize is that he is under investigation for insider trading and is about to lose it all. 

I loved this story. It's funny, heartfelt and poignant. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies,  Little Miss Sunshine, with the quirky family on an unexpected journey. The plot is solid and entertaining, but what Moyes really hits the mark with is her creation of characters that are endearing. Each of the main characters affected me and I really cared about their fates in the story. This novel really got under my skin in a good way. Although plenty of terrible things happen, the overriding emotion that I was left with was one of joy. 

One small thing that I noticed, and I can't confirm this without the author or publisher chiming in, is I think some small things were changed for an American audience. My husband is British and one of the funny things that my mother-in-law pointed out when I visited (and when she visits America) is how American TJ Maxx stores are TK Maxx in the UK. In the book, the stores are called TJ. Also, a character refers to potato chips as chips, rather than crisps. They are such minor things, but they popped out at me enough for me to stop and point it out to my husband.

That was a minor nit, because I really loved the story and Moyes is a fantastic writer. As soon as I finished One Plus One, I went to Amazon and purchased a load of her books for my Kindle. I can't get enough. 

I highly, highly recommend One Plus One and Moyes as an author to check out.