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Хорошо... ( I just learned how to write with Cyrillic characters on my phone...) I almost loved this and indeed, it was better than Broken Glass Park, but I was disappointed when it was over. The beginning, which takes place from 1978 on in the Soviet Union, is satisfying and the characters are unique. Rosalinda, the heroine, is direct and controlling and deluded and vain, a no-nonsense woman who is not always wrong. Her relationships are unusual and her misadventures are interesting--but only a few have to do with cooking. The title is misleading, or maybe more metaphoric than literal. I thought I was really going to love this. When the setting changes to Germany though, the story stutters a bit and the pace of the novel changes. The ending doesn't flow as well as the beginning; it's full of jagged and abrupt shifts and details. And what happens to Aminat in the end just made me roll my eyes. So the novel seems unbalanced to me. For a short book, it goes on too long, but still it feels incomplete. “Watch out for people who feel weak. They may want to feel strong one day and you might not survive that moment.” “I had tried to teach her that nobody should be able to see when you were scared. That nobody should be able to tell when you were uncertain. That you shouldn't show it when you loved someone. And that you smiled with particular affection at someone you hated.”

2022-09-30 10:43