Book Review: The Lost Season of Love and Snow by Jennifer Laam

It was maybe a 3.5… There was great promise – I really enjoyed the beginning and the history. Russian literature is such a fascinating subject, and I admit I didn’t know much about the Pushkins before reading this one. I found it very interesting to learn how they came together, and to get a peek behind the curtain of Russian courtly/high society life in this particular era. The part I struggled with was the abrupt shift from a historical novel about women’s roles in society and the difficulties of life under the iron rule of the Tsar to a rather fluffy tale about a woman whose husband tells her to flirt her way through society so he can write – and who is then surprised when she likes the attention and he doesn’t.

Natalya starts out as a woman who wants freedom and opportunity, and rapidly becomes…a flighty flirt in over her head. Pushkin starts out brooding and uncertain yet interesting because of his inner passions, and rapidly becomes…annoying, not interesting, because of the other characteristics. True, it’s not really that simple – but it’s written to be nowhere near as complex as I’d imagine it actually was. It felt like the post-childbirth shift in the couple’s relationship and fortune was rushed and over-simplified, and that short-changed both the characters and the story I think… It was still interesting, but not as much so as it would have been if the rich complexity of their personalities had remained in focus throughout the second half of the book.

My review copy was provided by NetGalley.