What do readers think of Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy? Write your own review.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

3.8 Milena, a Red Princess, living in luxury with limited freedom in an unnamed Communist country in the 1980's, meets Jason, a British poet. This it when it becomes unrealistic. She sleeps with him once, they fall in love in three days, and she follows Jason to England to live in Bohemian poverty, but she is free!
I did enjoy the contrast between the two cultures and the misconceptions of the Soviets and the British. I didn't connect with either character. The only thing in common was sex. The ending didn't resolve the issue of why Milena left in the first place.

It is difficult to write a review without a spoiler, but then what would you spoil? The reader anticipates the ending from the beginning. A privileged young woman whose father is a powerful figure in a Communist-bloc country (never named) defects for love. If the reader lacks background knowledge about Communist governments in the 1980's, the author's obscure references will not enlighten.

The main character's lack of emotion is like a wet blanket over the story, and her actions are often hard to fathom. Instead of not being able to put this book down, I had trouble picking it back up. Thank goodness for the mother-in-law, who was the only relatable character I found.