Review: Six Days in Leningrad by Paullina Simons

Six Days in Leningrad

by Paullina Simons

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 432

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Only a few chapters into writing her first story set in Russia, her mother country, Paullina Simons travelled to Leningrad (now St Petersburg) with her beloved Papa. What began as a research trip turned into six days that forever changed her life, the course of her family, and the novel that became THE BRONZE HORSEMAN. After a quarter-century away from her native land, Paullina and her father found a world trapped in yesteryear, with crumbling stucco buildings, entire families living in seven-square-metre communal apartments, and barren fields bombed so badly that nothing would grow there even fifty years later. And yet there were the spectacular white nights, the warm hospitality of family friends and, of course, the pelmeni and caviar.

At times poignant, at times inspiring and funny, this is both a fascinating glimpse into the inspiration behind the epic saga, and a touching story of a family's history, a father and a daughter, and the fate of a nation.


Kritters Thoughts:  I have never read a behind the scenes book and it was kind of fun to do that even though I haven't read any of the books by Paullina Simons.  For me this book was less behind the scenes of her book and more reading about her travel adventures with her father and it made me wish to have this sort of a trip with my dad - may need to book one soon.  

What a book!  It read so quickly.  I loved how Paullina spoke in a few instances about the difference between what she remembered as a child to what ended up being in front of her eyes years later.  I also loved how she spoke about how her time in the States really skewed her viewpoint of what normal living should look like and visiting these friends who felt they had made it really put her new home into a new perspective.  

This book made me think about other books where I would love a story about how the author came up with the subject and how the research into the subject happened and maybe even if it changed where the story was going to go in a different direction.  I would love this kind of a book for quite a few of my favorites.  

Have you read this series?  Would it be fun to read a behind the scenes book of a book or series?  Is it like the movies where you should read the original book first before the behind the scenes?

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.