![]() ![]() We are drawn into Nina’s dancing because Kalotay goes into such detail that we can almost imagine we’re watching the ballet and feeling the magic of live theatre. ![]() Kalotay describes ballet with a storyteller’s eye. I loved reading about Nina’s rise to principal dancer. The Russian scenes are beautiful and captivating. The auction also reveals a mystery in the present - why is Nina so reluctant to meet Grigori Solodin, a Russian professor with an amber necklace so apparently part of a set Nina owns? This dredges up memories she would rather forget, of her life in Stalinist Russia. ![]() Now living in Boston, she has decided to auction off her jewelry. ![]() Nina Revskaya is an elderly former dancer from the Bolshoi ballet. It’s farcical, and definitely welcome, keeping the book from taking its heavy subject matter too seriously. Later, a solemn TV interview scene includes a nurse who sneaks into camera view, waves, and scurries back off screen. Take for example a character whose ex-fiance’s new woman had “all her ducks in a row.” The character’s mother “let slip” that the ex-fiance was moving to Seattle with “the woman with the ducks.” It’s a toss away phrase, but one that turns a cliche into an opportunity to giggle. And once in a while, Kalotay injects a cheeky line or two into an otherwise serious scene. The pacing is a bit slow, but that somehow fits with the book’s reflective, nostalgic nature. Daphne Kalotay’s Russian Winter is a beautifully written book. ![]()
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