Thoughts on Midnight in St. Petersburg


Midnight in St. Petersburg
By Vanora Bennett

★★☆☆☆
40%
384 pages


Blurb

St. Petersburg, 1911: Inna Feldman has fled the pogroms of the south to take refuge with distant relatives in Russia's capital city. Welcomed by the flamboyant Leman family, she is apprenticed into their violin-making workshop. She feels instantly at home in their bohemian circle, but revolution is in the air, and as society begins to fracture, she is forced to choose between her heart and her head. She loves her brooding cousin, Yasha, but he is wild, destructive and devoted to revolution; Horace Wallick, an Englishman who makes precious Faberge creations, is older and promises security and respectability. And, like many others, she is drawn to the mysterious, charismatic figure beginning to make a name for himself in the city: Rasputin. As the rebellion descends into anarchy and bloodshed, a commission to repair a priceless Stradivarius violin offers Inna a means of escape. But which man will she choose to take with her? And is it already too late? A magical and passionate story steeped in history and intrigue, Midnight in St. Petersburg is an extraordinary novel of music, politics, and the toll that revolution exacts on the human heart

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book in exchange for a review. This however, does not change my thoughts and opinions of the book in any way, shape, or form.

My Thoughts

"That's the dangerous thing about fear. It silences people."
-Midnight in St. Petersburg, page 35

I honestly have no idea how to start this review. I disliked SO much about this book. While the writing was beautiful at some points, it literally put me to sleep at some points. I found the plot and story to be very dull and they were often very hard to keep up with. In the beginning, the writing had some mystery and intrigue, but this book very quickly lost it. The middle was so sagging that I skim read most of this book. Usually I don't skim read and I can't, but with this book there was no way that I could push through otherwise.

"I'm cutting myself a better lifeline."
-Midnight in St. Petersburg, page 53

I really didn't like how weak Inna could be at times, but I did like how she developed and grew a lot over time. The only other thing in this book that I liked in this book was the violin-making parts. I found the idea of MAKING an instrument to be so so cool.

In conclusion, while you may be intrigued by the blurb, I would not recommend picking this book up unless you are interested in falling asleep instead of reading. I could not for the life of me get into this book and the writing style did not work for me. The main character and violin making were kind of cool, but nothing really special.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Does Unique Formatting in Books Affect Your Reading Experience?

Image
How does the formatting of a book affect your reading experience? I usually enjoy unique formatting in my books, but I recently read the first half of Illuminae before putting it down. I quit reading Illuminae because of the formatting. While the whole book being composed of lab reports, wikipedia articles, and IM messages was a cool concept, it made the story hard to follow. Many people enjoyed Illuminae because of the unique formatting, and others enjoyed it because they thought it had a good story. The formatting, for me made the story drag and I had no idea what was going on until about page 150. The only part I enjoyed was the interviews with some of our characters because it was only then that you really got to see the characters. I enjoy both books that have unique formatting and books that have traditional formatting. However, I think that if a book does have unique formatting, the formatting should add to the story, not take away from the story. When I was reading I
Read more

Thoughts on The Wrath and the Dawn

Image
The Wrath and the Dawn  By: Renee Ahdieh  ★★★★.75 95% 388 pages Blurb In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Sh
Read more

Finding your groove with journaling

Image
When I was younger, I kept a journal, but it was mostly just what I did that day, or anything I was looking forward to in the future. I have recently gotten back into journaling, but I am doing it a lot differently than I used to.  Before you start to journal, you need to figure out how you want to do it and then get the supplies to do so. If you're not sure what kind of journaling you want to do, I would recommend experimenting. If you are going to experiment for a while before you see what you like the best, I would recommend getting a thick and tall notebook. Once you figure out what kind of journaling you want to do (i.e. prayer journaling, bullet journaling, art journaling, collage journaling, workout journal, or just idea journaling), go out and buy a journal that you both like and would work for what you want to do. The only real guidelines I use when picking out a new journal is to get a tall journal if you are going to do collage or art journaling. If you are do
Read more