Entertaining, but shallow and nothing new

[Vladimir]

"What British historian could ever tell me, the former USSR citizen, about Russia and its history, especially Soviet history?
This is what I thought before opening the book. I do not quite like historical novels in the first place. And after reading all range of Russian authors from Tolstoy to Shalamov I thought to have a right to be skeptical. I was wrong." - said Vlad G. in his comment on Amazon http://goo.gl/uAGJF3.

Well, I cannot understand how the former USSR citizen - at least an intelligent man or a woman who lived there as an adult, not a child, can find anything really new in this book. Yes, this book is pretty entertaining, it's sexually charged, it does not make blunders, obviously Simon Sebag Montefiore knows his topic, but it's really average, lightweight literature, which does not bring anything new, does not go any deep into complicated causes of the tragic Russian history of 20th Century. Just to compare it to Varlam Shalaomv's Kolyma Tales is a nonsense.

From New York Times review http://goo.gl/qucsdW by DINITIA SMITH,
“He made her forget she was a Communist.” Well, good for him.
When “Sashenka” was published in Britain this year, this passage was a runner-up for The Guardian newspaper’s annual prize for bad writing about sex. Despite this and other overblown sex scenes and cartoonish dialogue..." ... and then Dinitia Smith begins to make futile attempts of finding anything deep and interesting in this shallow book....