Reviews

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up
Enjoyed this but wish it had been about 100 pages longer. I thought the atmosphere and setting was captured really well but I wanted to know more about the characters we met, it felt like the only one we really got to know was Vera.

knightkittyreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Thank you Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co. for providing me with an advance copy of this book.

Anya is a young girl of 8 living in Siberia when this book begins. Her mother, a former prima ballerina, mysteriously disappeared when Anya was 5. Anya has been tapped to train as a gymnast for the Soviet Union. This story follows Anya’s fascinating and grueling journey to become an elite gymnast in a system that churned out top athletes at any cost. It is also a story of Vera, haunted by her years in a Soviet prison camp, and Yuri, Anya’s father, struggling to raise his daughter alone and grieving the loss of his wife.

I appreciated how rich this story was. The main storyline is Anya’s and her journey to become a top gymnast, and her coming of age. It is also about the Soviet Union and its people during those years leading up to the dissolution of the USSR – their heart, their hardships, and their philosophical struggles as they grapple with what they have been taught, versus the realities of the lives they lead. The cold and desolation of Siberia is depicted viscerally, and the Siberian people as weary but tough, fiercely loyal and proud.

I loved this book. Admittedly, I am very much the target audience as I am a fan of gymnastics, and remember the era that the book is set in. I have also always been fascinated by the Soviet and Chinese athletic institutions. This book is inspiring, sad, heartwarming, and beautiful. This was a book I couldn’t wait to get back to reading to find out what was happening in Anya’s world.

medievalisting's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

bookwormmelissa's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Thanks to Henry Holt and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I heard about this book on a podcast episode that recommended books to watch this fall and winter. When I heard there was a book about gymnastics coming out in November, I was so grateful to discover it on Netgalley! I grew up a huge fan of Nadia Comeneci and other gymnasts at around the same era and after - my friends and I used to pretend we were those gymnasts. Many of the characters in Meadows' book were famous Russian gymnasts, and the author takes us deep into Russian gymnastics philosophy and coaching midst a harsh political and social background. We follow main character Anya as she is chosen to be a Russian gymnast at a young age, as well as her family and neighbors, with the story spanning decades forward and back as each character's backstory informs the present. It's a bleak book, and everything is not tied up nicely as we see the impact of communism. I appreciated the deep dive into Russian gymnastics and the greater political surroundings of the time, but I felt the pacing dragged in places. The author's in-depth research really shows, and I am glad I read it.

taybalboa's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

3.5 stars ⭐️

More...