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BOOKSHELF | A fascinating story, Zoya
Here?s another book off the racks. It?s always a pleasure to sniff around in free-to-read book stores where one can spend hours leafing through dog-eared Robb?s Report journal or Lonely Planet guides. It?s better than a library.
Zoya
Danielle Steel
Price- $7.99
Publication- Dell Publishing
Here’s another book off the racks. It’s always a pleasure to sniff around in free-to-read book stores where one can spend hours leafing through dog-eared Robb’s Report journal or Lonely Planet guides. It’s better than a library. The books are new (mostly) and best of all, if you like it you can buy it.
I’ve never been fond of Danielle Steel, not that I have anything against mass market paperback writers. But because she has this uncanny tendency to kill all her loved characters where ever she hits a wall. And this is rather grotesquely evident in Zoya. But that apart, this is quite a fascinating story.
It’s always nice to read about something that finds its plinth in some historical event or affairs. Zoya is very much the story of life after the Russian Revolution. Not that it delves into the intricacies of historical archives. Neither does it try re-tell history.
Rather it follows the life of Zoya, a girl born into the Russian aristocracy, and her life after she has lost everything in the Revolution. The book pretends to be anything other than a mass market fiction. It does not quite tell us anything more than what is obvious.
In some ways this is a respite. One can simply read the story to know what happened rather than finding any deeper meaning. One can read the lines, rather than the in between the lines. Zoya does make for a rather poignant read.
The sudden fall from grace is what is striking in its magnitude. The life of a refugee in an uncertain world is depicted through Zoya and her grandmother. It’s a world where deprivation is met by love.
Where food is scarce but the determination to hang on finds its fangs. That is the magic of this tale. For many of us, in varying levels, will identify with Zoya. Pick up Zoya only if you have teh time and inclination to read a Danielle Steel book.
