I loved this book! But I must say that I don't think I would have liked it as well, had I read it. I listened to it on cassette tapes, and the reading was so good, and I didn't have to try to figure out how to pronounce all those Russian names in my mind, they were pronounced very well with the proper accent, and the actress who spoke the words also "spoke' the characters, using the same accents for Alexander all the time, for Tatiana, changing when she was happy, scared, etc. I don't know how she did that! The love scenes which would have seemed trite and reductionistic if one had read the words, came alive with the realness of their passion for each other. This truly was/is a great love story!