She came from Russia, she had a thirst for revolution…
First up, I feel bad saying bad things about novels (unless the author is dead, and especially if the author is Thomas Hardy, then I’m more than happy). Simon Sebag Montefiore has never rocked up at my job and pronounced all my embalming to be substandard, and that my people resemble a Buzzfeed list of comedy taxidermy mistakes. Writing is very hard,and his non-fiction history books are bang on, but when it comes to writing about teenage girls, I think he overreached.
I got Sashenka out of the library as I fancied a big, exciting novel with lots of danger and peril, and to be factually accurate with the Russian Revolution was a bonus. It is the story of a rich girl getting involved with revolutionaries, wanting to spend the night in prison, relishing how dirty her clothes get, wanting to wear the rough coats of the peasants and not her lavish furs…cue Jarvis…
And while I absolutely think rich folk should be applauded for fighting for the rights of the poor, as Jarvis points out, there’s a difference between those who are trapped in inequality and poverty and those choosing to visit. Sashenka loves the excitement, her heart thumps on her scary missions, but after her dad gets her out of prison when a poor person would have been hanged, and it’s hard to feel anything for her. Only once did I connect with this essentially dappy teenager, and that was when she had to deal with her drunken, tarty mother, who knocks about with Rasputin. Otherwise, for most of the book I felt I’d have happily dobbed her into the Okhrana myself.
But it has to be said, the copy I got from the library did not deserve the treatment it received regarding cover art. When I searched for the book up online it looked like this –
However, possibly to ensnare the romance and Catherine Cookson crowd, this is the cover the library hardback has –
Not since Wordsworth Classics’ repeated attacks on War and Peace have I seen such a cavalier attitude to the fundamentals of good taste.
And who can forget their ‘Dude Where’s My Axe? (oh wait, it’s here in my hand—sweet!)’ approach to Crime and Punishment?
Luckily Tolstoy and Dostoevsky aren’t alive to see their work depicted as the kind of mini-series that turned up on Sky One twenty years ago when only rich relatives has satellite dishes, or teen comedies featuring actors with last names for first names, but Montefiore has likely seen the chick-lit version of his book. Poor chap.
Well, I don’t think I’ll be reading Sashenka any time soon, but this did make me laugh – those covers! What are the Wordsworth Classics art department on?! I do like the sort-of constructivist style Sashenka though, it looks a bit more dramatic than the usual net curtain twitching!
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I’m so glad you appreciated the net curtain, that’s what drew me to it!! And why is she wearing a beret indoors!? She looks like a suburban beatnik!
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I do love Wordsworth Classics covers for a bit of comedy. Have you seen the one for The Moonstone? (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ML8o758bL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_.jpg) (Hint: the mysterious Indians are basically irrelevant to the plot.) Or the one for Dracula? (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-URxiZDt-_sY/UJBGIIZ_7JI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/qHyIeHlSn5w/s640/Dracula-(Wordsworth-Classics).jpg) (The Count is saaaad.)
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OMG!!!! Dracula made me choke on my tea!! I feel like Worthsworth are actually trolling the publishing industry and readers! Thank you for showing me them 🙂
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Always happy to share the love…
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OMG! I’m avoiding that one like the plague. And as for those covers – hellish!
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I don’t blame you! Times like this I’m very glad libraries are free 🙂
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Omg, thank you for this post. Brilliant Pulp comparison. And those covers! I laughed out loud for ages. Hilarious!
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Thank you 🙂 When I look at those Tolstoy covers I imagine there are people in prison right now for smaller crimes!
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😊 I imagine there are – they are absolutely hilarious. I spent a good 15 minutes google image searching Wordsworth Classics – the Dracula cover is also pretty epic!
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Embalming. You do that?
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Well, although I am an embalmer (part time, I live in an area of low population so I also have another job
working for the council), I was naughty comparing it to taxidermy, which is entirely a different process, but always seems a bit more fun than the actually quite everyday process of sanitising preserving people in a brightly lit theatre with a strong emphasis on health and safety, and there’s never been an entertaining Buzzfeed about it (as far as I know!) 😉
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So I guess you watched Six Feet Under?
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I watched a few, but the problem was the mistakes and inaccuracies, and rather like with another similar Swiss program called the Undertaker, I made a lot of pedantic comments at the tv, and annoyed people around me 😉
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I think I would have enjoyed hearing what you had to say, maybe after the episode in question. I’ve heard from a policeman that tv crime is rampant with mistakes too.
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I bet they are driven mad with it, at least there’s only a few programs about death for me to moan about, and there have been a documentaries that follow pathologists, funeral directors, embalmers, etc (one of which I studied with, cool seeing my mate on the telly!) that show the
complexities and mundane stuff, but poor cops! Every other program seems to be about them!
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Oh, I think I got the wrong idea. . .
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This is hilarious – Mills & Boom meets the Russian Revolution – that’s a tragedy in the making right there. 🙂
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It really is! Rasputin has no place in anything trying to sell itself as a romantic! :O
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That ‘Cookson-inspired’ cover is deplorable!
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It really is, it’s like they are deliberately trying to put people off picking up the book! :O
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Even though it sounds interminable, I’m so glad Simon Montefiore wrote Sashenka, if only because your post had me squealing with laughter – not least because of your point of connection with Sashenka – I do hope your mother doesn’t read your posts! 😉 And any excuse to watch Jarvis improves my day – what a joy!
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Lol!!! I hadn’t realised the connection there at all! Yeah, although my mum’s not a tarty drinker, maternal relationship issues do touch my sensibilities 😉
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You made me snigger. Very specifically. Not giggle, not laugh, not chuckle. Snigger. Thank you.
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Ha! You’re welcome, sniggering is good, it’s the bedrock of surviving all school, church and political assemblies 😉
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oh dear, my heart goes out for the rich girl who wants to get up close and personal with the plebs only to find they smell a bit. It’s like those C list celebrities who go off to the desert island reality location but are so shocked that there’s no where to plug in their hair tongs.
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Very true! It also reminded me of the point made in Good Will Hunting, if you have the opportunity and means to escape a bleak life or horrible fate, to not use it is an insult to those who have no no way out. This book really brought out my judgmental side, which to be honest, gets enough exercise as it is 😉
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