Michael DelGiudice

soap opera, which is probably why it has appealed to so many. pretentious. as one reviewer wrote, 'a little bit of everything', which is one of its problems. too many loose details, too much name-dropping, from stealing the rostov name from 'war and peace', to references to schubert's music which was completely irrelevant. if you know anything about russian/soviet history the book makes light of a very traumatic time for so many. letting an aristocrat continue to live in a 5-star hotel, even if under compromised circumstances, is preposterous and, in my opinion, an insult to both aristocrats and 'commoners' in russia. the guy would have been toast, like the czar et al. ask a russian what they think of the book, written by a probably well-off american (an investment whatever) putting together the typical russian stereotypes to make a calculated profit off the ignorant and impressionable american public. so disappointing, and so common.