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Insightful Russian historical novel

Convoke

Recensito in Italia il 20 marzo 2017

Julia Gousseva is a talented writer. This book, Anya's Story: Russian Historical Fiction (Anya Series Book 1), is part of a series, but can easily be read alone. Anya begins sharing her story with us as a 17-year-old high school graduate ready to marry her high school sweetheart. But Russia's political turmoil brings economic and cultural manipulations of the many for the benefit of the few. Anya doesn't believe such upheavals will touch her until she faces deceit, betrayal, and humiliation. Anya struggles for her life in a small town with a Soviet submarine base. There her passions are test ed and her life changes as fundamentally as does Russia itself. Read this book not only for the quality of its insights into Russian society in a time where the upheavals in those days set the stage for the upheavals in our own time. Highly recommended.

LOVE AND SURVIVAL IN TURBULENT TIMES

Sibyl Mory

Recensito in Italia il 2 febbraio 2014

This book beautifully and graphically captures late 1980's life in the Soviet Union, a time of turbulent and intimidating change. Anya, a 17-year-old girl just graduated from high school, with a solid, dependable boyfriend she looks forward to marrying, is convinced she has a secure and stable life ahead of her. Her own personal existence, with its loves and tragedies, is played out against the background of the Gorbachev years and the collapse of communism, and the old, comfortable system it had put in place. This disintegration is mirrored perfectly in Anya's own life as her sense of security is threatened, both by the precariousness of everyday existence in a crumbling state, and by the shocks and buffetings in her own love life as two men struggle over her. We are kept in suspense throughout as to whether Anya will learn to embrace change and responsibility for her own life, or cling on obstinately to traditional values that are in the process of being swept away. A great novel, both in terms of the story of a young woman, and the assured, authentic descriptions of a society in turmoil. Can Anya, and her country find a way through the rubble of what, both individually and nationally, had once seemed immutable, and achieve some sort of regeneration? Check out this expertly-crafted book.

Recensito in Italia il 15 marzo 2017

I enjoyed Anya's Story (Anya Series Book 1); it’s an historical romance that takes place in Moscow years ago. Author Julia Gousseva wove a brilliant story about the confusion, mystery, and distrust near the end of the Cold War. (I remember a friend in junior high whose dad built a bomb shelter in the back yard). The first chapter hooked me, and I couldn’t wait to get to the end. I’m not one to give any spoilers, so will just say this is a must read for romance lovers, and I give this book 5 stars and looking forward to book 2!

"Bells keep our souls alive, revive us, and remind us that life always moves forward"

Sheryl

Recensito in Italia il 18 dicembre 2013

Anya's Story" by Julia Gousseva is a wonderful story with an insightful look into a young Russian girl, Anya. I am a big fan of this author after reading "Moscow Dreams" I couldn't wait for the continuing story.

Anya's love life changes and she is forced to make quick decisions that will change the rest of her life.

Anya is a wonderful character, very courageous as she travels far from home and into the unknown, she is naïve, and idealistic and when the unexpected happens her life will change again.

An excellent plot twist that I didn't expect and I was sorry this book came to an end. Hopefully the story of Anya will continue...

Author Julia Gousseva's writing style is refreshing and inspiring and this is a wonderful book to immerse yourself in. A tribute to courage and self confidence.

5 stars for this Awesome book! I am full of love for Russia and Anya and this creative author!

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Book Addict

Transported to a New World

Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 2 gennaio 2014

To read Anya's Story is to take a step into the world of Moscow and Leningrad from several decades ago. The descriptions of Moscow and Leningrad created such a lovely picture in my mind that for the first time in my life, I feel attracted to Russia. Julia Gousseva wrote a novel in Anya's Story that created the urge to travel to these cities and experience the magic and beauty firsthand. "Magic and "beauty" are not words I've ever associated with this country shrouded in so much mystery and danger based on my upbringing in the United States in the 1950s and '60s.

The characters reveal a telling picture of the universality of the individuals who lived in a country that often kept its people in a world where their livelihood and sustenance came at the whim of a sometimes disjointed and confused government. Despite never having been so dependent upon a secret government whose decision affected the lives of its people quickly and decisively, I was drawn to the characters of Ms. Gousseva's novel. It is through the close examination of individuals that we can pull down the curtains of mystery and distrust created to win a nasty and Cold War.

I was taught the distrust and dislike, not of individuals such as the Anya of this story, but of governments that wanted to overpower the superpower status of the United States. The U.S.S.R., once an uneasy ally, became the enemy during my elementary school days. We did drills with thought in mind of an invading enemy from a Russian decorated with a fur hat and tall boots all the while swilling back vodka and wiping drool from large red noses. My neighbors and a few family members even built bomb shelters with fear of a Russian attack on the United States as the motivating factor.

Julia Gousseva has once again written a book rich in the cultures of a country with many subparts. The story floats from Moscow to Leningrad to the northern reaches of Russia to the warm state of Georgia creates a vast and expansive view of a country as varied as the one in which I live.

Through the individual stories, I learned about the very personal nature of the different faces of the Soviet Union and Russia. While in the United States, our political leaders may change every four years, we've never known what it was like to suddenly wake up one morning only to be told everything we ever believed and known, never really existed in the first place. Unlike books such as Orwell's 1984 where a cold impersonal view of Communism is impressed upon the reader and where the characters never seemed quite real to me, Anya's Story presents very real teenagers who are different in what they want from life, but are similar in their tastes for love and excitement.

I'm very happy I found this author and her work because she managed to transport me to a very different and beautiful place through her vivid descriptions. It's a view of Russia I enjoyed. That is perhaps the greatest thing about her novels. The gray view I've held of Russia all my life thanks to the Cold War of my youth, disappeared into bright and clear views of another place with people not so much different from me.

4 persone l'hanno trovato utile

ER Reviews

Anya's Story will stick with you for a long time

Recensito in Messico il 8 dicembre 2013

If you've never read one of Julia's book, you're missing out BIG time! Anya's Story follows the life of a young high-school girl in the days during and before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The insights that are provided here are both boisterous and unbeatable. Big dreams, hardwork following laid down plans, the promise of a love that's to last a lifetime... and then DISASTER!

What Julia has done here is present to us a carefully crafted masterpiece, deduced from the knowledge of her own real life experiences, with enough suffering, pain, dejection, yet still brimming, clinging on to a broken resilience in a manner that's enough to reduce you to tears.

I'm trying hard not to introduce any spoiler here to clarify my points, even though I'm much compelled to. The memory of this book will cling to you for a long time. This is Anya's story.

ER Reviews

Anya's Story will stick with you for a long time

Recensito in Brasile il 8 dicembre 2013

If you've never read one of Julia's book, you're missing out BIG time! Anya's Story follows the life of a young high-school girl in the days during and before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The insights that are provided here are both boisterous and unbeatable. Big dreams, hardwork following laid down plans, the promise of a love that's to last a lifetime... and then DISASTER!

What Julia has done here is present to us a carefully crafted masterpiece, deduced from the knowledge of her own real life experiences, with enough suffering, pain, dejection, yet still brimming, clinging on to a broken resilience in a manner that's enough to reduce you to tears.

I'm trying hard not to introduce any spoiler here to clarify my points, even though I'm much compelled to. The memory of this book will cling to you for a long time. This is Anya's story.

Sibyl Mory

LOVE AND SURVIVAL IN TURBULENT TIMES

Recensito nel Regno Unito il 2 febbraio 2014

This book beautifully and graphically captures late 1980's life in the Soviet Union, a time of turbulent and intimidating change. Anya, a 17-year-old girl just graduated from high school, with a solid, dependable boyfriend she looks forward to marrying, is convinced she has a secure and stable life ahead of her. Her own personal existence, with its loves and tragedies, is played out against the background of the Gorbachev years and the collapse of communism, and the old, comfortable system it had put in place. This disintegration is mirrored perfectly in Anya's own life as her sense of security is threatened, both by the precariousness of everyday existence in a crumbling state, and by the shocks and buffetings in her own love life as two men struggle over her. We are kept in suspense throughout as to whether Anya will learn to embrace change and responsibility for her own life, or cling on obstinately to traditional values that are in the process of being swept away. A great novel, both in terms of the story of a young woman, and the assured, authentic descriptions of a society in turmoil. Can Anya, and her country find a way through the rubble of what, both individually and nationally, had once seemed immutable, and achieve some sort of regeneration? Check out this expertly-crafted book.

Una persona l'ha trovato utile

Kerry Gubb

Reluctant Kudos

Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 7 febbraio 2019

The story's twists are plausible, being illustrative of characters who either go off half-cocked, or make promises which later embarrass them and create impossible situations. I spent quite a bit of time wondering at the naivety of the heroine, which bothered me. Which means I was drawn in. Which means the author has succeeded in engaging me, regardless of how I actually feel toward the characters.

Una persona l'ha trovato utile