It took a while for me to get into this book - it was hard for me to follow at first. But once I got it I really enjoyed it! I grew to like Lillian and wanted to know what happened to her. I think what made it difficult to follow at first was that for every person(s) that had an impact on her life, the story told what happened to those people even after Lillian was no longer in their lives. This was an interesting twist and one I grew to really like.

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I was expecting more from this book. It had so much potential with its premise. But it kept veering off course and getting so bogged down in details I couldn't follow the story. By the end, I didn't care if I understood the paragraph or not, I just moved on to get the book over with. I would not attempt to read this again nor would I recommend it.

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This book was surprising. The story reads very fast and is engrossing but it includes many degrading sexual situations for the main character, a young Jewish immigrant woman. I would not recommend it to anyone who would find explicit and taboo sexual situations upsetting.

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I found this to be a very moving story of a young Russian Jewish immigrant. She ends up traveling to the ends of the earth following her heart.

The descriptions were wonderful and rich - I felt like I could see what Lillian saw and (almost) feel what she felt.

A great story about the strength of the human spirit and the power of love.

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I didn't really enjoy this book. I disagreed with many of the choices the main characters made in the story and didn't find anyone easy to like. When I finished the book I felt like it was a waste of time. Yet days later I'm still thinking of the story and remembering it more the way I would remember a movie, so the imagery is still very vivid in my mind. I can't say that I'd recommend it, yet it stays with me. Very unusual for me.

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Would say that this book was just OK.

Not one of my favorites.

Might give it only 2 stars.

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Fascinating read. The characters were interesting even though they spent chapter after chapter engaging in unbelievable behavior. That said, the author made me really care about them. I liked the author's gimmick (technique?) of devoting a few paragraphs after each character left the story to letting the reader know what happened in their life. Vary satisfying. Hard to recommend this book because it is flawed in many ways, but it is unforgettable.

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Very interesting and different

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I enjoyed this book but I kept wondering how some people manage to get all the bad luck and still keep going. Makes me rethink how easy my life really is now. Takes place in the 1920's and as an imigrant life was not easy anyway.

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A somewhat different kind of book. The beginning grabs the reader 'in' with the war details about Lillian. The book does jump around about it's characters; at times is a little hard to follow, but the majority of Bloom's writing is great. The details of Lillian's struggle in life; her challenges; the people & situations she encounters & faces; are written well. Lillian is 'tough as nails;' she's determined to find Sophie who was left behind in Russia durng a raid in WWII. Lillian's long trek back from New York, to Washington state, to Alaska, to Russia, to search for her daughter is filled with numerous characters, all very interesting. Bloom writing is a great fictional read.

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Despite some other readers' mixed reviews, I loved this book. All of the characters -- including the heroine, Lillian -- are flawed and yet sympathetic. Lillian does a lot of despicable things to get where she needs to go, but if she didn't, she would never have a chance. I loved how Bloom wraps up the rest of a character's life story when they exit the plot line. Her characters were so fascinating that I really wanted to know what happened to them. (Her end stories do not disappoint.)

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I just couldn't get into this book. The characters blended together and the plot was hard to follow. I gave up after about 50 pages.

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This is a pretty good read. Kept my interest enough, so I wanted to finish it. The book definitely gets better as it progresses. Recommended!

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