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There are currently 24 member reviews
for Iron Curtain
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Carol T. (Ankeny, IA)
Keep reading!
When I started this book, I thought "how slow. how Russian." But I'm glad I hung in because by the middle it was good and by the end very good. Highly recommended - but hand in there.
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John A. (Austin, TX)
What Is Freedom?
Iron Curtain is a very interesting story contrasting the freedom of an entitled daughter of a powerful Communist leader in her home country with the freedom of a very financially poor wife of a feckless poet in England. Milena, the female protagonist, grows during the story from a spoiled brat to a very strong woman. How that happens is the essence of the story. I recommend this well-written book.
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M K. (Minneapolis, MN)
Iron Curtain
This gorgeous well-written book will grab your attention from the first several pages and never let go. The compelling story takes you on a journey that you haven't been on before, from a young woman leaving the upper class of Russia to a life she hadn't really anticipated in England. I found the book to be very engaging.
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Beth B. (New Wilmington, PA)
The Iron Curtains of Our World
What are the iron curtains of your world? What restrains and governs you?
In "Iron Curtain" by Vesna Goldsworth, we have an opportunity to examine family dynamics and human relationships within a unique story. Milena, called a red princess, is a product of a privileged paternalistic society, one in which children are raised in a vise-like grip. Her first escape is through books and work in an effort to find herself and seek possible options.
I found the book's cover to be a precursor to the plot -- the two versions of the same female face portray Milena's compulsive need to look over her shoulder (top) and a pensive coming to grips with herself (bottom).
The author's style is in itself unique. Some sentences sang with her word usage and skill with sentence structure, often tongue in cheek.
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Randi H. (Bronx, NY)
Entertaining historical fiction
Iron Curtain is the enjoyable story of Milena, a young woman who grows up the privileged daughter of a high-ranking member of a communist-bloc state's government prior to the dissolution of the USSR. She falls in love with a British man and moves to England to marry him. The viewpoint from her privileged upbringing provides an unusual background for the book, and was one that I enjoyed.
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Jennie W. (Denver, CO)
Iron Curtain
I really wanted to like this book. The time period during the Cold War is an interesting backdrop to a love story. However, I would not consider this a love story. It is two unlikable characters who "fall in love" after knowing each other only a few days. Milena is a cold, stoic partner to Jason's flighty, bohemian Irishman. On the surface, this should make for a good story, however, nothing seems to really come together to draw in the reader.
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thy
I really wanted to love this book
I liked the book but found the "love" story too unrealistic in that one would leave their life after knowing someone for 3 days. Oddly enough, this is also what made it more interesting because things livened up a bit when Milena left. In my opinion some of it went on and on and left me wanting to skip over paragraphs to get to something better. I would describe Milena as a pretentious, entitled snob who only had sex in common with English poet Jason and that may be enough for some, but not for me. I just could not connect or feel any fondness for any of the characters and that I regret as the writing was quite lovely. I will most likely read this one again and maybe gain a different perspective.
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