I really loved the prose until I got into the "is it or isn't it true" bits and then I couldn't stand it.

This book was beautiful and heart-breaking all at the same time. I was rooting for Gita and Lale throughout, but I was also hoping for the minor characters - for Leon or Dana or Yuri. It's a book that will stick with me for quite some time as love doesn't necessarily conquer all, but it can help immensely.

I had read Shore's Caviar and Ashes for a class and hated it. This book I had gotten for free at a history conference and thought I would give it a shot. I didn't hate it but I didn't really enjoy it either. It was a book of superficial stories worked with with little from the archives. It bounced around Eastern Europe and topics like a pinball machine without much transition. At the end I felt like I hadn't learned anything other than maybe a fact or two here.