Zoia's Gold

A book I recently finished was "Zoia's Gold" by Philip Sington. The story backdrop in this book was unique and interesting. It follows the story of a Russian artist and mysteries surrounding her death and unusual art. An intriguing look into early 21st century Russia and the effects of the Bolshevik revolution, the lives displaced, the brutality and cruelty of war and the destruction of a culture. I found the history behind the story more interesting than the story itself. The author does a good job of letting the reader get a glimpse into those turbulent times and begin to ponder the motivations behind the upheaval. Frankly I found that Zoia, the main character, leaves much to be desired. She is very amoral, cold, sexually manipulative and seems spoiled and petulant. The story begins with her death and slowly we see the unraveling of her sad tale. Somehow, the author did not make me sympathetic to this character, despite the tragedies of her life. The other main character is a modern day art dealer who becomes obsessed with researching Zoia's life and art. His own life is a mess and he begins to project his problems into Zoia's life and gets a little messed up in the head by the end. This story seems to stretch this a little farther than what is realistic and in the end I am impatient with him as well.

This book is not top on my list of books to read and remember, however I still enjoyed reading about this period in history, and found it refreshing at least because of it's unique story style. Interestingly, Zoia was a real life artist. It's well-written, somewhat coarse (some really unnecessary sexuality) and tedious at times, not a book to read if you are depressed, but a book that I walked away from with new thoughts and perspectives on the Russian revolution. So that makes it worth my time.