Plot: "Bulgaria, 1934. A young man is murdered by the local fascists. His brother, Khristo Stoianev, is recruited into the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and sent to Spain to serve in its civil war. Warned that he is about to become a victim of Stalin’s purges, Khristo flees to Paris. Night Soldiers masterfully re-creates the European world of 1934–45: the struggle between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia for Eastern Europe, the last desperate gaiety of the beau monde in 1937 Paris, and guerrilla operations with the French underground in 1944. Night Soldiers is a scrupulously researched panoramic novel, a work on a grand scale."
Comments: I copied the above description of the book from Google Books. At first I felt kind of guilty for not writing my own, but I could not think of a single sentence to write. I read the entire book from the first page to the last, and I couldn't write a sentence describing it. That certainly says something, mainly that most of the book went over my head (like The Chosen by Chaim Potok). Well, not exactly over my head, though it was written in a very sophisticated style. No, mostly I was just confused, overwhelmed, and detached from the story.
First off, here were a lot of names of people and places, of all different nationalities, which made everyone extremely confusing (I've always had problems with names). Next, the story would jump from place to place and from time to time; I would be reading about a meeting between two people, and then I would suddenly be reading about a sabotage mission - with different people. Seemingly random people would be introduced into the story and I would read for a while about them, the whole time wondering: "Where's the main character? What happened to him?" Eventually he would show up, but time would have passed and I wouldn't know what had happened. Last, the whole book felt like it was written with facts. It says on the front cover "A Novel", but it was written more like a history book or biography. I felt sympathy for some people, but I never really got attached to any. Was that on purpose? I have no idea.
I feel bad about complaining this whole time. I've heard good reviews about Alan Furst, and this is the only book written by him that I've read so far, but I'm not really impressed. Kind of disappointed, actually. I guess his style of writing just doesn't suit me. I'm going to try some more of his books, so keep checking in. Oh, and I wasn't trying to prevent you from reading this book. I guess that's what it sounds like. If you read this book and love it, feel free to comment on this post and complain to me or argue or just give the book some compliments. I'll most likely publish it (the only reasons why I wouldn't are if your spelling/grammar is absolutely horrible and if you're being completely rude).
Rating: I rate this book a six out of ten.
Comments: I copied the above description of the book from Google Books. At first I felt kind of guilty for not writing my own, but I could not think of a single sentence to write. I read the entire book from the first page to the last, and I couldn't write a sentence describing it. That certainly says something, mainly that most of the book went over my head (like The Chosen by Chaim Potok). Well, not exactly over my head, though it was written in a very sophisticated style. No, mostly I was just confused, overwhelmed, and detached from the story.
First off, here were a lot of names of people and places, of all different nationalities, which made everyone extremely confusing (I've always had problems with names). Next, the story would jump from place to place and from time to time; I would be reading about a meeting between two people, and then I would suddenly be reading about a sabotage mission - with different people. Seemingly random people would be introduced into the story and I would read for a while about them, the whole time wondering: "Where's the main character? What happened to him?" Eventually he would show up, but time would have passed and I wouldn't know what had happened. Last, the whole book felt like it was written with facts. It says on the front cover "A Novel", but it was written more like a history book or biography. I felt sympathy for some people, but I never really got attached to any. Was that on purpose? I have no idea.
I feel bad about complaining this whole time. I've heard good reviews about Alan Furst, and this is the only book written by him that I've read so far, but I'm not really impressed. Kind of disappointed, actually. I guess his style of writing just doesn't suit me. I'm going to try some more of his books, so keep checking in. Oh, and I wasn't trying to prevent you from reading this book. I guess that's what it sounds like. If you read this book and love it, feel free to comment on this post and complain to me or argue or just give the book some compliments. I'll most likely publish it (the only reasons why I wouldn't are if your spelling/grammar is absolutely horrible and if you're being completely rude).
Rating: I rate this book a six out of ten.
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