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Russian Woman, A Siberian in New York

Name: Russian Woman, A Siberian in New York
Author: X.R. Leblanc
ISBN: 978-0692234396

by X.R. Leblanc ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2014

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Leblanc’s debut novel is the first of a trilogy revolving around a beautiful woman from Siberia trying to make her way in New York City.
Although she has a rich, albeit unattractive husband and a job as a server at the most renowned restaurant in the Siberian capital of Krasnoyarsk, Olga Kotova longs for more. When she waits on the striking, wealthy Svetlana, who tells her about the United States, Olga knows precisely what she wants—“a life of wealth in America.” After traversing a complex, expensive maze of bureaucratic red tape, Olga finally attains her U.S. visa and arrives in New York City. During her monthlong visit, she meets wealthy investment banker Robert Thompson at a glamorous party. Robert, although reeling from his ex-fiancee’s unfaithfulness, is taken with all the beautiful foreign women at the party, including Olga. The two don’t meet again, however, until Olga’s second trip to America. This time, her luck changes for the worse: Her cash is stolen; she must find work, and she doesn’t have a work visa. The only jobs available to a Russian woman with no papers are in the sex trade—a strip club, a “happy ending” spa and/or prostitution. Olga finally sees a way out with Robert. He pays for her to attend design school and seems to genuinely care about her. But when the financial crisis puts Robert’s firm in bankruptcy, things start to fall apart for both of them. Leblanc’s pace is lively, and he nimbly keeps his characters and plotlines clear. The dialogue, however, can be stiff. For example, after Olga has a passionate encounter with a lover, he tells her it was amazing. She replies, “Yes, it was. I like you.” Readers may find Leblanc’s depiction of the investment banking world distasteful. The fabulous soirees are often little more than glammed-up, orgiastic frat parties. Money is king in this universe; art, literature, creativity and culture are largely absent. Perhaps highlighting the excesses of Wall Street is Leblanc’s point, but that message may be lost in this world of privilege.
A somewhat bleak look into a realm of rich men and the women who love them.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2014

ISBN: 978-0692234396

Page Count: 236

Publisher: RW Publishers

Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-345-45073-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE ALCHEMIST

by Paulo Coelho & translated by Margaret Jull Costa ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1993

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.

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Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.

The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.