Sashenka

I am a history lover.  Mostly, I enjoy American history, but I can get caught up in other world history, too.  I especially enjoy reading historical fiction and that is much of why I enjoyed the book, Sashenka, by Simon Montefiore.  It was actually really random that I started reading the book.  My mom had it in our Kindle library because she read it for her book club.  I was searching for a book to read on my Kindle for our recent weekend get-a-way.  The description sounded intriguing, so I started reading.  Part way through the book, I asked my mom if she liked it and she did.  She also thought I would like it, so it confirmed my choice in reading it. 

The character, Sashenka, is a teenage girl in the beginning of the book.  It is set in Russia during the fall of the Tsar.  Sashenka, against her father's wishes, becomes a Bolshevik and is all for that party.  Then the book skips ahead to the late 1930s during the reign of Stalin.  Sashenka is now married with two children and devoted to Stalin.  I didn't know much about the Russian revolutions before reading this book, so it was interesting history to learn about through the story of Sashenka.  It is a fictional story, by the way, but the historical parts are accurate.  Anyway, I did not know how ruthless Stalin was.  I always think of Hitler as the worst in terms of killing innocent people, but now Stalin ranks right up there in my mind. 

It is kind of hard to write more about the book without revealing a lot of what was surprising and made the story a page-turner for me.  I'll just say that Sashenka encounters some trouble and the book moves ahead, yet again before revealing the whole story.  The third part of the story is set in the 90s, after the fall of the USSR, and is told from the perspective of a historian looking back into Sashenka's life.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.  There was a little too much sex and adultery for my liking, but I could get past it and enjoy the true suspense of the plot.  I definitely recommend this book if you like historical fiction or if you are interested specifically in Russia.  Even if you don't like either of those things, it was easy to get lost in Sashenka's story aside from the Russian political stuff.  It is a long one, but especially quick if you have about seven hours in the car and a husband who is happy to drive the whole way!  :)