Kate Perez Perez itibaren Butovo, Belgorodskaya oblast', Rusujo, 309093
This was the most fun I've had inside the pages of a novel in quite a while. I have whole paragraphs circled in my paperback. Dermansky's spot-on sense of timing and her quick wit laced with great sincerity for her characters make this a compelling read. Her characters are incredibly flawed and contradictory, but Dermansky is nonjudgmental in even the most extreme circumstances, which is refreshing. There's a lot of heart here and I fell in love with the characters (even that ratty little cat on death's doorstep). You'll find yourself whispering "Benoît Doniel" for no reason other than to hear the words spoken out loud since it's such a mesmerizing name. And Marie, oh bad bad Marie, is now on my list of memorable female protagonists---she's an outsider, desperate to fit in, longing for love, and trying to get a damn foothold on life (though going about it in all the wrong ways). I didn't want the novel to end. But it did . . . ending on what I found to be the perfect close to the book.
It took me forever to finally get into this book. I thought the first 100 pages were boring and perhaps didnt need to be there. It started to get good, When she started reading the journal. But jumping here and to and fro from one person to another was all kinda ahh for me. Once it started picking up and me trying to discover the truth, it got better and kept reading wondering what really happened. Many times I felt like quitting. But kept on. Half book good, half book not.