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Lady of the Snakes
Jane Levitsky is a bright light in the field of nineteenth-century Russian literature, making her name as an expert on the novels of Grigory Karkov and the diaries of his wife, the long-suffering Masha Karkova. Jane is also wife to sweet, reasonable Billy and mother to lovable (if demanding) Maisie, roles she’s finding surprisingly challenging to juggle along with her ambitions. But when Jane uncovers evidence that Masha may have been more than muse and helpmeet to her famous husband, she seizes her ticket to academic superstardom. Little does she know that she has set in motion a chain of events that will come perilously close to unraveling both her marriage and her career. Lady of the Snakes will be instantly familiar―and instantly unforgettable―to any woman who has ever aspired to have it all.
308 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2008
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309 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
April 28, 2008
The descriptions of how Jane felt as a new mother were so refreshing. As women these days, we all know that we will probably become mothers some day, but we receive no hands on training for it. Our identities change overnight. It took me a long time to rediscover ourselves in the midst of all the change.
One of Jane's friends, quit her job when her second child was born. My favorite part was when the friend told Jane that the part she missed the most about working was having people respect her when she told them what she did for a living. Does anyone else feel that way when they tell others they stay home with their children?
I would have probably rated this book higher, but I identified too much with the main character. Reading the scene where Jane discovers her husband's infidelity, I felt the blood rush to my face, my pulse increased, and I felt my temper rise. It didn't help that Jane's husband Billy is a cyclist and my husband is too. The worst part is I knew that the affair would happen. The author gave plenty of hints; but I still had such a visceral reaction. I am so glad the situation resolved peacefully by the end of the book or I think I would have felt out of control for weeks.
One of Jane's friends, quit her job when her second child was born. My favorite part was when the friend told Jane that the part she missed the most about working was having people respect her when she told them what she did for a living. Does anyone else feel that way when they tell others they stay home with their children?
I would have probably rated this book higher, but I identified too much with the main character. Reading the scene where Jane discovers her husband's infidelity, I felt the blood rush to my face, my pulse increased, and I felt my temper rise. It didn't help that Jane's husband Billy is a cyclist and my husband is too. The worst part is I knew that the affair would happen. The author gave plenty of hints; but I still had such a visceral reaction. I am so glad the situation resolved peacefully by the end of the book or I think I would have felt out of control for weeks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2010
I have been waiting for a book like this for a long time. An intelligent story that is complex without alienating the reader, schloarly without being pretentious. Not a completely unique view of the modern woman but smart and real nonetheless. Pastan does a fantastic job of weaving together mulitple stories, muliple lives- and showing the underlying parallels in all of them. I think that if I was a Russian lit scholar and/or a mother, this would be the story of my life - that's how real this book felt. Read this book immediately!
August 31, 2008
Pretty good literary mystery and motherhood/marriage drama. I liked it enough to look forward to reading it, but not enough to rave about it. There were some plot lines I just didn't buy relating to the main character as a mother, but overall, a good read.
April 30, 2021
Solid novel. The middle section was a bit predictable but then the pace picked up as a few surprises unfolded. I wish that the ending had more of a denouement though, as the final pages seemed to wrap up too quickly.
September 19, 2022
If I could, this would be a 4.5 star review. Not a perfect read, but very close. Fell down a bit towards the end.
Let me start by saying that my bookstore of choice - partly as a result of financial hardship but partly as a result of geographical situation - is Goodwill. So I often end up with novels that came out over a decade ago after I have winnowed through the bottomless stacks of Patterson and Alex Riders.
This book startled me. I grew up in academia - what a ghastly word that is - and this intriguing novel dropped me right back into my childhood. I could SMELL the corridors of Dwinelle Hall and the chalk in my father's office and hear the endless bickering, back-biting and gossiping at the academic cocktail parties of the 60's and 70's. Judging from this novel, pretty much the same goes on in 2010.
I grew up in Berkeley and I also grew up in the Slavic Department - my father was professor emeritus when I was a adolescent - so this book sucked me in. I suspect others might find it boring, but not I. Because I also remember my mother (youngest grad student to ever get her MA in the Slavic department) grumbling about Tolstoy's wife and how hard she worked re-writing by HAND his endless manuscript drafts and not only getting none of the credit but also being turned away at his death bed and shut out in the snow. My parents' generation did not swear, but my mother could get quite worked up talking about famous Russian writers and their misogyny.
Anyway...this is one of the few times that I have wished I could talk or write to the author after reading a book. Because I also know very well how important all those letters were to a pre-internet generation. Our family lived off the spoils of my father's correspondence with Nabokov for years. What I don't remember is an egg man coming to our house in the Berkeley Hills. The milkman, yes ("Farms in Berkeley?") but never an egg man. Maybe we were too poor.
I really enjoyed this novel and have just ordered another by the same author from a real bookstore - not Goodwill. Because Ms. Pastan also has the baby/kid parenting thing down to a T. I am an amateur at Russian lit, but a pro at raising babies.
Let me start by saying that my bookstore of choice - partly as a result of financial hardship but partly as a result of geographical situation - is Goodwill. So I often end up with novels that came out over a decade ago after I have winnowed through the bottomless stacks of Patterson and Alex Riders.
This book startled me. I grew up in academia - what a ghastly word that is - and this intriguing novel dropped me right back into my childhood. I could SMELL the corridors of Dwinelle Hall and the chalk in my father's office and hear the endless bickering, back-biting and gossiping at the academic cocktail parties of the 60's and 70's. Judging from this novel, pretty much the same goes on in 2010.
I grew up in Berkeley and I also grew up in the Slavic Department - my father was professor emeritus when I was a adolescent - so this book sucked me in. I suspect others might find it boring, but not I. Because I also remember my mother (youngest grad student to ever get her MA in the Slavic department) grumbling about Tolstoy's wife and how hard she worked re-writing by HAND his endless manuscript drafts and not only getting none of the credit but also being turned away at his death bed and shut out in the snow. My parents' generation did not swear, but my mother could get quite worked up talking about famous Russian writers and their misogyny.
Anyway...this is one of the few times that I have wished I could talk or write to the author after reading a book. Because I also know very well how important all those letters were to a pre-internet generation. Our family lived off the spoils of my father's correspondence with Nabokov for years. What I don't remember is an egg man coming to our house in the Berkeley Hills. The milkman, yes ("Farms in Berkeley?") but never an egg man. Maybe we were too poor.
I really enjoyed this novel and have just ordered another by the same author from a real bookstore - not Goodwill. Because Ms. Pastan also has the baby/kid parenting thing down to a T. I am an amateur at Russian lit, but a pro at raising babies.
October 29, 2017
A good book that explores the different roles and ambitions we have in life and how to manage (or not manage) them all. Sprinkled with literary prose and intriguing academic ventures, it sheds light on the realities of having it all, but balances the tough times with moments of clarity. Plus, it's about a book nerd and her mysterious historical icon. Very well written and hard to put down!
August 7, 2017
Loved this book! It was the perfect depiction of what working moms go through trying to have a family, career, marriage. Plus the mystery and discoveries of the main character's research made the entire story interesting!
May 26, 2018
Ugh omg annoying. Protagonist extremely unlikeable. Predictable plot. Read this book if you like neurotic awful protagonists and endless descriptions of toddlers and their toddler-speak and judgey mom stuff. I’m angry that I read this book.
October 11, 2023
interesting
July 21, 2010
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. My friend's mother lent it to me, and after reading the flap, I figured it was worth a peek, just to see if it was any good. And that was pretty much the last time I came up for air.
Jane Levitsky is a young woman working as an assistant professor and researching the papers of the wife of a Russian literary giant, but she is also struggling with how to meld her professional life with her private one as a wife and mother. It's a familiar problem for women in today's workforce, and I am sure her struggles would ring true for many modern women. What I found refreshing is Jane's insistence on remaining true to herself as a woman and scholar, and doing something she really loved, even though she is now a mother.
I really enjoyed the search throughout the novel for who Maria Karkova, the wife of the fictional Russian writer, really was, and how she fit in with her husband's literary greatness. The play between the modern day life of Jane and the excerpts of Karkova's diary really drew me in, to the point where I shared with Jane the sense of unreality when my everyday life called me back, and it was with Jane that my mind remained as I went about eating dinner with my family, eager to get back to the book and to see where it all was headed.
This is truly a well-written novel, with well-developed characters and a protagonist that is easily identified with, even for a stay-at-home mom who hasn't been forced to face the same struggles between work and family. I would highly recommend this novel.
Jane Levitsky is a young woman working as an assistant professor and researching the papers of the wife of a Russian literary giant, but she is also struggling with how to meld her professional life with her private one as a wife and mother. It's a familiar problem for women in today's workforce, and I am sure her struggles would ring true for many modern women. What I found refreshing is Jane's insistence on remaining true to herself as a woman and scholar, and doing something she really loved, even though she is now a mother.
I really enjoyed the search throughout the novel for who Maria Karkova, the wife of the fictional Russian writer, really was, and how she fit in with her husband's literary greatness. The play between the modern day life of Jane and the excerpts of Karkova's diary really drew me in, to the point where I shared with Jane the sense of unreality when my everyday life called me back, and it was with Jane that my mind remained as I went about eating dinner with my family, eager to get back to the book and to see where it all was headed.
This is truly a well-written novel, with well-developed characters and a protagonist that is easily identified with, even for a stay-at-home mom who hasn't been forced to face the same struggles between work and family. I would highly recommend this novel.
December 27, 2011
It's been a very long time since I've read a book that has spoken to me on as personal a level as this one. I think Pastan did an amazing job of writing an engaging, smart, very readable novel while also articulating work-motherhood-partnership struggle so many middle class (white?) women are currently living. I was particularly impressed with Pastan's ability to create a character, Jane, who cared passionately about her work, about her child, and about her partner-- and who also hated the inconvenience each of those presented in reference to the others. In so much literature and movies today, it seems that strong women characters who choose to have children overwhelmingly are portrayed as happily bowing out of participating in the larger world to devote themselves purely to motherhood-- a choice, that while perfect for some women, has never appealed to me. This novel deals with the complexity of modern life but connects these struggles to those of women in history and yet also maintains, what I think is an appropriate perspective: that there are far more tragic things in life than having your babysitter quit on the spot resulting in your having to cancel a much-longer-for research trip.
First read: Aug. 29, 2008
Second read: Dec. 27, 2011
First read: Aug. 29, 2008
Second read: Dec. 27, 2011
January 20, 2008
This was an amazing book! Part academic mystery, part an examination of a working woman’s compromises, it is filled with wonderful, expressive language and perfectly-constructed images. We follow Jane Levitsky during her first year as an assistant professor at UW-Madison, dealing with the grind of all-new preparations and the pressure to publish; in addition, she has a toddler and a husband in law school. She suffers the insecurities of a woman trying to have it all: she wants to spend more time on her research, but she feels guilty about the time away from her family (especially her daughter, Maisie) and worries that she is a bad parent. Meanwhile, the subject of her research, the wife of a 19th century Russian writer, becomes more than the breakthrough that might make her academic career. Jane measures herself by the Masha she knows through her diaries, and the parallels between them exacerbate but also vindicate her feelings. As Jane’s tenuous hold on her career and family starts to slip, we feel Jane’s anguish and desperation as she keeps looking to her Russian alter ego for answers.
August 3, 2008
This was such a fun beach read...a 19th century literary mystery combined with a little modern motherhood angst about the challenges of trying to really have it all - family, career, & self. A couple of wry observations that stuck with me:
On how a newborn changes everything - "This is what women's lives are like...It had never occurred to her - not really - that women's lives were still so deeply different from men's. Now she saw it, and it shocked her. She had thought the world had changed since Masha's day, but here it was, its iron demands the same as they had always been. She had thought she would not live as Masha had lived, always for others, but now this was her life: nursing and walking, eating cheese & crackers with a free hand...
On child care - "Every evening it was the same, Jane's first glimpse of her daughter going straight to her heart like an explosion, and the painful process of moving from one self to another, from professor to mother, like a silvery fish heaving itself onto land to become a frog."
On still being a wife post-children - "Love multiplied, but the hours of the day did not."
On how a newborn changes everything - "This is what women's lives are like...It had never occurred to her - not really - that women's lives were still so deeply different from men's. Now she saw it, and it shocked her. She had thought the world had changed since Masha's day, but here it was, its iron demands the same as they had always been. She had thought she would not live as Masha had lived, always for others, but now this was her life: nursing and walking, eating cheese & crackers with a free hand...
On child care - "Every evening it was the same, Jane's first glimpse of her daughter going straight to her heart like an explosion, and the painful process of moving from one self to another, from professor to mother, like a silvery fish heaving itself onto land to become a frog."
On still being a wife post-children - "Love multiplied, but the hours of the day did not."
August 8, 2008
This is an AMAZING novel. The observational skills of the author regarding relationships (personal and professional) are incredible. And the way she was able to put them into words was so satisfying. Several times I was just blown away thinking I have felt like that but didn't know how to verbalize it!
The story was great and was really engaging. I became absorbed in the Jane's (the protagonist) life, and although it becomes apparent to the reader what is likely to happen in her life, you want to shout 'No! Don't do that!' and are engulfed in her emotional turmoil with her.
I don't have children, but I am married. The descriptions of childbirth, child rearing, living with a husband, working on your career, dealing with co-workers and other miscellaneous people in everyday life were so wonderfully detailed that I found myself wishing I had Jane for a friend to commiserate with.
I look extremely forward to reading Ms. Pastan's other novel.
The story was great and was really engaging. I became absorbed in the Jane's (the protagonist) life, and although it becomes apparent to the reader what is likely to happen in her life, you want to shout 'No! Don't do that!' and are engulfed in her emotional turmoil with her.
I don't have children, but I am married. The descriptions of childbirth, child rearing, living with a husband, working on your career, dealing with co-workers and other miscellaneous people in everyday life were so wonderfully detailed that I found myself wishing I had Jane for a friend to commiserate with.
I look extremely forward to reading Ms. Pastan's other novel.
July 8, 2008
An easy, digestible summer read, though undeniably "midcult" in the same vein as Ann Patchett's Bel Canto or Kate Christensen's The Great Man -- i.e. it's a book about intellectuals that really isn't intellectual at all. Best enjoyed with a pina colada on a lounge chair while on vacation from college syllabi authors with no vowels in their names. It has its share clumsy exposition, superficial characterization, and plot twists designed solely to wring some kind of epiphany from a self-absorbed and charmless protagonist. That said, I have a weakness for books set in academia (though I felt the portrayal of the ivory tower here was suspiciously bland) as well as literary detective stories. After hearing NPR's review, I guess I was expecting more erudition, more subtlety, more acidity or elegance. It's definitely no Possession but I'm giving it three stars anyway because it was a pleasant diversion by the pool.
April 9, 2008
A nicely complex novel about academia, motherhood, marriage, and literary influences. Jane is a first-year professor of Slavic Literature at UW-Madison but also a mother of a demanding two-year-old named Maisie and wife to Billy. She has focused her scholarly interests on the journals of Masha Karkova, the wife of a famous Russian writer of the 1800s, Grigory Karkov. Though Masha's situation, trapped on a family estate and bearing child after child for the not frequently faithful Karkov, seems worlds away from Jane's 21st world of juggling a career and family, Jane begins to identify more and more with Masha as she feels the strain of her multiple roles and her family begins to unravel.
Pastan creates a great fictional Karkov/Korkova and I finished the novel wishing that Lady of the Snakes (the last novel written by Karkov) was an actual book I could find.
Pastan creates a great fictional Karkov/Korkova and I finished the novel wishing that Lady of the Snakes (the last novel written by Karkov) was an actual book I could find.
July 20, 2009
this was a book i had a hard time putting down. i loved the voice of the narrator -- very cool and accessible, very clear. the character of jane was very refreshing, her various dilemmas felt totally believable and occasionally tragic. the "story-within-a-story" worked well and was the real basis for the novel's suspense. the diaries and letters that jane works so hard to uncover and understand communicate the character of karkova in degrees. on top of jane's professional struggles are her struggles with her child and husband. this novel takes seriously the uncomfortable pull between success in career and presence for family. i read this book before bed over a little less than a week. i think it would be pretty good beach reading for an academic.
March 4, 2008
I bought this book after reading a rave review praising its realistic portrayal of a woman trying to juggle her marriage, her baby, and her career in academia. But it turns out that the heroine is researching a Russian literary giant, and it seemed like half the damn book consisted of passages from these fake Russian books and fake Russian letters and fake Russian diaries. And (sorry Mrs. Whirry, my Honors English teacher) I loathe Russian literature. So I skipped a lot, because I'm not interested in the whispering birches making silver patterns on the frosty steppes while the loons cry their almost human cries.
But she gets an extra star for not using italics in those sections.
But she gets an extra star for not using italics in those sections.
July 28, 2008
I found this book on NPR's list of summer reads. It is a well-written and well-developed novel that manages to be academic as well as popular. The protagantist finds herself in the midst of an academic/research conspiracy while simulataneoulsy struggling to balance the demands/role/desires of motherhood with her career. The book is critical and thoughtful of both careers as well as those who decide to opt-out. At first I was annoyed that the protaganist's thesis (discussed throughout in detail) centered around an author who was fictional (wouldn't I have liked to learn about something real while reading "fiction" rather than reading about fiction within fiction?), but I got over it.
September 15, 2008
Rachel is a former teacher of mine, and so I was excited to see this attention all this book was getting (and also a little annoyed - I waited months to get it from the library until finally giving in and buying it!). This was a great, smart (dare I say feminist?) book. Which also made me grumble a bit over PW's "highbrow chick lit" description - it's written by a female author, and features a female protagonist who's studying a female literary figure, simultaneously dealing with the unique difficulties of balancing motherhood and career. Does this automatically make a book chick lit of some kind? This probably isn't the right place for this rant, but there you have it.
March 13, 2011
Maureen Corrigan of NPR's Fresh Air was not quite right about this novel. At first, the book stressed me out because it served as no escape; everything was too relatable: a woman academic at her first job with a 2-year old girl, husband in law school, ( a colleague with a huge stake in her academic field. All the guilt she felt at being a working mom felt right on. But then her daughter gets sick, her husband cheats on her with a grad students, she makes a once-in-a-century academic discovery, and it all felt fantastic and a little contrived. It all resolves quickly and easily, which is also pretty unrealistic.
August 27, 2012
I love mothers' point of views. Jane as one catched my attention and I as a teenager surprised myself from reading a classic novel. Yeah I do read books that are classic ones but I do it rarely.
Anyway, this book is addressed to reality and I love that. It makes me ponder and wonder how moms survive every day and how they handle things. Like jobs and people around them. The fact where moms tend to pull over their gift of love over thier families just to show how much they care. Jane is an exceptional writer, a melodramatic wife and a witty person. She does things in a productive way.
The story behind the lady of the snakes amazed me!
More power to Rachel Pastan
Anyway, this book is addressed to reality and I love that. It makes me ponder and wonder how moms survive every day and how they handle things. Like jobs and people around them. The fact where moms tend to pull over their gift of love over thier families just to show how much they care. Jane is an exceptional writer, a melodramatic wife and a witty person. She does things in a productive way.
The story behind the lady of the snakes amazed me!
More power to Rachel Pastan
February 23, 2008
I'm torn between giving this 2.5 or 3 stars. I picked it up because it was touted as literary mystery, which it was -- sorta. But the main character and all her pissing and moaning just bugged me to no end, even though some of her complaints were valid and have (I'm sure) escaped my own mouth. But it was constant!!! As for the literary mystery, I figured it out about 60 pages into the book, and one of the "clues" related to a plot point about halfway through showed just how much the author was reaching at that point...This is definitely no "Possession" for those that love the genre.
May 10, 2009
I don't remember how this book made its way onto my to-read list, so when I picked it up at the library, I wasn't sure about it. When it started, I had only looked at the cover and briefly read the inside flap and developed pre-conceived notions about what this book would be. But I was totally wrong. I love that it takes what was once a complete chic-lit plotline (woman tries to choose between career and being a mom and loses her husband along the way to the babysitter) and brings in real intelligence and a striking subplot. I read this book in a day and a half, I didn't want to put it down!
September 17, 2008
If you liked Possession, you might like this book. If you didn't like Possession, you definitely wouldn't like this book.
Like Byatt's novel, this one romanticizes literary study, making it into an exciting drama of hidden documents, dastardly thefts from the rare books library, and so forth. But if you don't think about it as realistic, it's enjoyable enough.
Warning: lousy writing in places (especially by the time you get to the second pregnancy)-- if the redundancy is meant to be artistic, that was lost on me.
Like Byatt's novel, this one romanticizes literary study, making it into an exciting drama of hidden documents, dastardly thefts from the rare books library, and so forth. But if you don't think about it as realistic, it's enjoyable enough.
Warning: lousy writing in places (especially by the time you get to the second pregnancy)-- if the redundancy is meant to be artistic, that was lost on me.
June 21, 2010
When I read the back cover of this book, it pulled at my academic heartstrings. I felt I could relate to the narrator, who is a graduate student and scholar of Russian literature. While the narrator was likeable, the book for me was a bit of a letdown. Her research into the lives of 19th century Russian writer Grigory Karkov (fictional)and his mysterious wife Masha was rather slow, and the payoff I had expected just didn't materialize. The trials and rapture of academic life were made clear and I could relate, but overall I can only say I liked it okay, not loved.
August 24, 2014
This book was okay. It seemed to drag on and I found myself speed reading over parts. I guessed about a lot of what was going to happen before it happened; boy meets girl, they marry, have baby, woman is struggling about career and motherhood and is career obsessed, husband has affair because he feels neglected, wife gets pregnant, they joyfully reunite blah blah blah. Intertwined is the history of a Russion literature figure who is overlooked because of her famous husband and it turns out she is a mother AND brilliant so see? History shows it can be so! TA DA!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2008
Maybe this wasn't the best thing for me to read, as the book revolves around a new mother/professor who is finding it difficult to balance these at times competing interests. In all honesty, as a new mother/doctoral candidate myself, it scared the crap out of me. I believe that Jane does eventually realize that she can strike a balance, but whether or not this is possible in real life is another matter completely.
Want to read
May 26, 20082nd novel - fiercely ambitious, a considerable leap from her 2004 debut, "This Side of Married.". An academic novel, a portrait of a young marriage threatened by the maelstrom of new parenthood and inadequate child care, a literary whodunit, a mediation on feminism and identity, an excursion in herpetology, with an explosion of adultry thrown in, all the more astonishing for a novel that is often a romp.
June 13, 2008
Such a fine story that covers, so deeply, quite a few major characters in the book. Several characters are Russian authors, which are our heroine, a Junior Professor, is doing research on.
But its also so rich in describing marriage, sex, midwestern landscapes (both natural and man-made), University politics, parenthood and even more.
Loved it, in addition to it's being such a page-turner.
Oh yeah, don't forget the interesting stuff about snakes.
But its also so rich in describing marriage, sex, midwestern landscapes (both natural and man-made), University politics, parenthood and even more.
Loved it, in addition to it's being such a page-turner.
Oh yeah, don't forget the interesting stuff about snakes.
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