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The epic and monumental love story Paullina Simons began with her adored international bestseller The Bronze Horseman comes to a breathtaking conclusion. The Summer Garden is the third volume in Simons's magnificent trilogy-a Russian Thorn Birds-which follows a love that survived the terrible siege of Leningrad during World War Two, a heartbreaking separation and a glorious reunion in America, only to be supremely tested by the hatred, fear, and uncertainty of the Cold War. You will never show more forget the lovers Tatiana and Alexander and their story of enduring love and commitment, and you will cherish every moment spent in The Summer Garden. show lessTags
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Que masoquista soy . Odio al protagonista , todo lo que hace y deja de hacer Alexander "Shura", pero igual me leo la trilogìa una y otra vez . Incluso la semana pasada que fui a la feria del libro , ni bien vi que estaba este librazo , saltè en una pata , loca de contenta y lo manoteè mirando con ojos vigilantes a mi alrededor como chequeando que nadie intentara sacarmelo . Me lo traje a mi casa casi poniendolo en un altar para adorarlo y murmurando My preciousss . Es que a pesar de todo , de tener el peor hèroe de todos , la historia , el amor y la guerra fluyen como poesìa . Te encontràs con diàlogos hermosos como estos :
Una gran crònica sobre la vida despuès de la guerra .
Excelente . show less
"— Eres tan hermoso... —le susurró, llorando—. Sin haber conocido nunca a otro más que tú, siempreshow more
lo he sabido.
—Y yo, que sí he conocido... —dijo él—. Yo he acudido a ti conocedor de las maneras del mundo. Tú eres más de lo que pueda llegar a merecer en esta vida."
"—Yo sólo te quiero a ti —dijo ella—. Yo te quiero en los Urales, no me importa a cuántos hombres mates con tu deserción. Ya lo sé, es imperdonable, pero no me importa. Te quiero huyendo, atrapado y mintiendo. Te quiero y te querré de todas las formas posibles. No me importa lo difícil que pueda llegar a ser. Todo ha sido difícil."
"Te quiero. Estoy ciego por ti, loco por ti. Estoy enfermo de amor por ti. Enfermo de amor por ti. Te lo dije la primera noche que estuvimos juntos, cuando te pedí que te casaras conmigo, y te lo digo ahora. Todo lo que nos ha pasado, absolutamente todo, es porque crucé aquella calle por ti. Te adoro. Lo sabes muy bien."
Una gran crònica sobre la vida despuès de la guerra .
Excelente . show less
As the grown-up version of a middle school bookworm who chose library books solely because of their length, I was initially pleased to have a 742-page historical saga to immerse myself in. Images of Gone With the Wind, The Winds of War, anything by Michener came to mind.
Those images dissipated pretty quickly. For those who read the first two novels in this series (I didn't, but pulled up synopses to bring myself up to speed), reading about the later stages of Tatiania's and Alexander's relationship--postwar to Vietnam and beyond--may be immensely satisfying. Closure and all. But, diving into this one, I found nothing to make me really, really like either main character. For folks who care about language and adult content, there was more show more than I cared to read.
With all that said, Paullina Simons writes well. Her prose is very spare--action and conversation propel the story forward. None of those big, beefy paragraph-long Margaret Mitchell descriptions or chapters full of exposition.
Wouldn't recommend this one unless you're a huge fan of its predecessors. show less
Those images dissipated pretty quickly. For those who read the first two novels in this series (I didn't, but pulled up synopses to bring myself up to speed), reading about the later stages of Tatiania's and Alexander's relationship--postwar to Vietnam and beyond--may be immensely satisfying. Closure and all. But, diving into this one, I found nothing to make me really, really like either main character. For folks who care about language and adult content, there was more show more than I cared to read.
With all that said, Paullina Simons writes well. Her prose is very spare--action and conversation propel the story forward. None of those big, beefy paragraph-long Margaret Mitchell descriptions or chapters full of exposition.
Wouldn't recommend this one unless you're a huge fan of its predecessors. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.I loved "The Bronze Horseman" and "Tatiana and Alexander". Sure, there were some truly quaint turns of phrasing that I might not have tolerated in another book, but in these two books they did not take away from my enjoyment. They had heart and hope and love and I enjoyed them hugely.
The Summer Garden is not a worthy successor to those two grand adventures. In this third book, Tatiana and Alexander are in America, living their post-war life with their son and it seems as if coming to America changed the two of them - and not for the good. They don’t talk to one another. Alexander broods and Tatiana hides things from him. There was little sign of love between them. There is plenty of physical love – endless bunny-rabbit sex that gets show more old after not very long and interminable quarreling between the two of them over their future, Tatiana’s career as a nurse, his job, his unhappiness over the hours she works, the kind of house they will live in – everything. By the 490 page mark there was so much anger and unpleasantness that I could hardly recognize Alexander any more and Tatiana was just way too ‘good’ to be bearable any longer. I can only think that Simons got a three-book deal from her publisher and wrote this mess to fulfill that contract. She should have stopped at two.
I’ve always thought that in works of Historical Fiction it is especially important not to have things that are out of time or place. For me they stick out like two heads on a chicken. Simons is guilty of several instances of not getting parts of her time period right. The first one happened almost immediately when she has the Barringtons tooling around in an RV. Really? It’s 1946. The Winnebago does not come into being until the 1960s. When they finally settle down in their ‘double-wide mobile home’ while the Korean War is raging (another thing that I kind of thought was out of place and time) the Barringtons have air-conditioning and a hot tub. And there are lots and lots of other things that were just very bothersome to me.
But most especially, I think that the biggest problem with this book is that is missing a very important major character – World War Two – and without the war this book has no backbone and no reason for being. It’s just a big sexy bore.
It was a huge disappointment and I could not finish it. I will do my best to forget every word I read so that I can go on re-reading the first two books in the series. show less
The Summer Garden is not a worthy successor to those two grand adventures. In this third book, Tatiana and Alexander are in America, living their post-war life with their son and it seems as if coming to America changed the two of them - and not for the good. They don’t talk to one another. Alexander broods and Tatiana hides things from him. There was little sign of love between them. There is plenty of physical love – endless bunny-rabbit sex that gets show more old after not very long and interminable quarreling between the two of them over their future, Tatiana’s career as a nurse, his job, his unhappiness over the hours she works, the kind of house they will live in – everything. By the 490 page mark there was so much anger and unpleasantness that I could hardly recognize Alexander any more and Tatiana was just way too ‘good’ to be bearable any longer. I can only think that Simons got a three-book deal from her publisher and wrote this mess to fulfill that contract. She should have stopped at two.
I’ve always thought that in works of Historical Fiction it is especially important not to have things that are out of time or place. For me they stick out like two heads on a chicken. Simons is guilty of several instances of not getting parts of her time period right. The first one happened almost immediately when she has the Barringtons tooling around in an RV. Really? It’s 1946. The Winnebago does not come into being until the 1960s. When they finally settle down in their ‘double-wide mobile home’ while the Korean War is raging (another thing that I kind of thought was out of place and time) the Barringtons have air-conditioning and a hot tub. And there are lots and lots of other things that were just very bothersome to me.
But most especially, I think that the biggest problem with this book is that is missing a very important major character – World War Two – and without the war this book has no backbone and no reason for being. It’s just a big sexy bore.
It was a huge disappointment and I could not finish it. I will do my best to forget every word I read so that I can go on re-reading the first two books in the series. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.My god this series. I can't even and doubt I will ever be able to articulate how this series ravaged me.
The story and writing is full of emotion -love, hate, jealousy, sadness, anger, joy. Emotions of life.
The story and writing is full of actions -heroic, cowardliness, moral, immoral, right, wrong, gray. Actions of life.
Tatiana and Alexander's story is full of what other's have called "mundane details". I call it the details of life, or you know the little and big things that make us who we are. Soooooo mundane ;)
Look I get it this series is long, beautiful, and ugly. Just like life. It certainly is epic and requires a certain fortitude to get through.
It's real, it's reality and some don't want that from their books.
Tatiana and show more Alexander didn't always do what I wanted them to do but it's their story not mine and frankly the story was better for it.
I know some other's also complained about the flashbacks saying they were unnecessary. However, I read these books all together one after the other and when I read the flashback where Pasha is told to fear rust, I freaking lost it, cried forever. Could that been left out of the story, yes, but did it add a serious, crazy dimension, YES! All the flashbacks not only brought the ghosts back but gave me a deeper understanding of the characters which made me miss them even more and understand Tatiana even more because of this. (I lost a lot of my anger towards Dasha during the 3rd book flashbacks).
The characters from this series are going to haunt me for a long time.
*Sidenotes*
My god how much research do you think Paullina Simons did for these books! From WWII to Vietnam guns and politics, detail,detail,detail!
This series must, I demand it, be made to film. Maybe not movie but perhaps a Thorn Birds like format? They can't leave anything out, once again I demand it.
Whose naming the next goldfish they get Shura? I know I am. show less
The story and writing is full of emotion -love, hate, jealousy, sadness, anger, joy. Emotions of life.
The story and writing is full of actions -heroic, cowardliness, moral, immoral, right, wrong, gray. Actions of life.
Tatiana and Alexander's story is full of what other's have called "mundane details". I call it the details of life, or you know the little and big things that make us who we are. Soooooo mundane ;)
Look I get it this series is long, beautiful, and ugly. Just like life. It certainly is epic and requires a certain fortitude to get through.
It's real, it's reality and some don't want that from their books.
Tatiana and show more Alexander didn't always do what I wanted them to do but it's their story not mine and frankly the story was better for it.
I know some other's also complained about the flashbacks saying they were unnecessary. However, I read these books all together one after the other and when I read the flashback where Pasha is told to fear rust, I freaking lost it, cried forever. Could that been left out of the story, yes, but did it add a serious, crazy dimension, YES! All the flashbacks not only brought the ghosts back but gave me a deeper understanding of the characters which made me miss them even more and understand Tatiana even more because of this. (I lost a lot of my anger towards Dasha during the 3rd book flashbacks).
The characters from this series are going to haunt me for a long time.
*Sidenotes*
My god how much research do you think Paullina Simons did for these books! From WWII to Vietnam guns and politics, detail,detail,detail!
This series must, I demand it, be made to film. Maybe not movie but perhaps a Thorn Birds like format? They can't leave anything out, once again I demand it.
Whose naming the next goldfish they get Shura? I know I am. show less
FINALLY. I am done with this series. I can put it to bed and never think on it again. There are times where the series was quite good, but more times where it was frustrating, puzzling, and rage-inducing. Unfortunately, the latter sort of moments almost entirely comprise the final volume of the trilogy, making this a painful read. And, fuck yes, there will be spoilers and profanity all up in this review.
The Almost Good
Simons obviously knows how to write well. She's got a great command of language, and can put together nice complex sentences. Of course, being able to write masterfully is worthless if you don't write awesome things with your pretty sentences. However, I think even the writing has gotten worse in this third book. There show more were also several typos that hadn't been edited out, perhaps because even the editor couldn't stand this shit and started skimming. In one scene, the quotation marks completely disappear for about a page for no reason. Another obnoxious trend in the writing, one obviously intended to be clever, is the narrator's tendency to get really excited and end sentences with exclamation points for emphasis! Exclamation points are for dialog or first person narration, not freaking third person.
The Bad
By this point in the series, there is literally no plot, just the unfolding of the rest of Alexander and Tatiana's sex-filled lives, until the last two hundred pages where it becomes another book entirely. In no way do I think of myself as a prude about sex in novels. In fact, I sometimes quite enjoy it, though some sex scenes are giggle and snort-inducing, because of the absurd descriptions. Simons' are okay in that they mostly do not result in hilarity. However, they're also not sexy. A little goes a long way with sex in novels, I think. There's so much more power and tension in novels that have just one good kiss than in this series where Tatiana and Alexander have sex countless times. If you played a drinking game by the number of orgasms had in this book, you would die of alcohol poisoning before you finished. While I cannot say quite for certain, I'm convinced that those two characters don't have sex a single time that the reader doesn't know about it.
Keep in mind that they have a young child, and, for much of his toddler years, they have just one bedroom. So they have sex with their sleeping child several feet away myriad times. What fun. I get that their circumstances are difficult, but have someone take care of your kid for a couple hours or something. There will not be enough therapy in the world to take on this kid's emotional problems.
Describing sex is obviously Simons' favorite thing, but she does also enjoy describing Tatiana and Alexander, perfect specimens that they are. Here's a sample out of the hundreds of descriptions offered:
"She's got a tiny waist out of which her hips extend like to halves of a golden delicious apple. Her flat stomach glistens, her breasts are heaving. He is looking up at her. She is golden delicious." (390)
If you're going to read this trilogy, I hope you're very interested in Tatiana's breasts, because you get to hear about them A LOT. Also about her tiny waist. Alexander's described too, so tall and manly and strong, but Simons sure seems to enjoy describing Tania's nigh impossible figure more. And, in case you didn't know they were hot, both of them get hit on constantly by everyone. Alexander's boss' girlfriend greets him with kisses on the cheeks, but always tries to get him on the lips. A coworker of Alexander's breaks into their house in the middle of the night to rape Tatiana while keeping Alexander at bay with a gun, but Alexander saves the day, of course. These are just two examples of many.
The Fucking Ugly
Now, in theory, I do support the idea of showing the difficulties in Tatiana and Alexander's relationship after she rescued him from a concentration camp, now run by the Soviets, in Berlin. Alexander underwent a lot of torture, and would no doubt be fucked up as a result. He's scarred, inside and out. However, that does not make it okay for him to do whatever he wants, and I do not appreciate the way he treats Tatiana, even if she's okay with it. While a husband treating a wife this way might have been deemed normal or acceptable at the time, that does not make Alexander any less of an abusive monster.
One of the main fights Alexander and Tatiana have is about the fact that she insists on working at the hospital, even after he's earning enough money to support the family. All the other women stop working even when they just have boyfriends, so why won't she stay home, which is, after all, a woman's place. He bitches at her about her job constantly, accusing her of letting him and their son Anthony down by being away from home so much, even though Tatiana does fucking everything. She cooks all the food, and she's a great cook, from scratch, she keeps the house spotless, and she has sex with Alexander a million times a day, all while working 40-60 hours a week. Rather than thanking his lucky stars that he married a damn goddess, Alexander accuses her of not caring enough and of having an affair with a coworker.
After they have fights, about her job or about the fact that she has yet to become pregnant with a second child, even though fifteen or so years have passed from the birth of their first, Alexander seduces her into doing whatever he wants. Then there's this fight. An asshole friend of Alexander's is finally getting married, and they're having a bachelor party with strippers. Tatiana tells him she does not want him to go see the strippers, and after a heated discussion, he promises to leave before the strippers and be home by 1 AM. He stumbles in drunk and smelling like cheap perfume at 5 AM. Tatiana goes out to the hen party at some club the next night, as she threatened to do if he went to see the strippers. She comes home early, and reveals she was actually at the hospital, because, unlike her husband, she doesn't actually want to do things that will make him uncomfortable. She tells him not to touch her right now, and he does. He has sex with her, even though she didn't want him to. Sure, she got into it because that's what happens with them, but, in my mind, this is spousal rape. He forced her. After lots of sex, the fight's over. Just like that.
Then, later, things get worse. Alexander, convinced his wife is having an affair with a doctor at the hospital, because he saw the doctor make her laugh (no joke), and because she works Friday nights, he starts going out with a different asshole friend. A married woman with huge breasts hits on him, and he ends up playing with her breasts and getting a subpar blowjob in her car, then making plans to meet up for the real deal later that week. He tells Tatiana he's working and goes, but ultimately chickens out of actually sleeping with the woman, who calls his house and asks Tatiana where he is when Alexander doesn't show up to meet her. Penetration or not, this is adultery, and Alexander is a rat bastard who deserves to die alone.
For freaking the first time ever, Tatiana is finally so pissed she's considering leaving him, taking Anthony and going. When she says this, he hits her, several times in the face, leaving her bruised and bleeding. Just wait, though, it gets worse. Here's what Tatiana has to say: "'Except for this--anything you do is fine with me . . . So if you raise your voice or hand to me, I bow my head and take it'" (510). The this in that sentence is adultery. So, it's totally okay with her if he abuses her as long as he doesn't fuck anyone else. No, Tatiana. No, it's not okay.
What's even more not okay is that she DOES forgive him, of course. She lets him stay, and you know what his punishment is for cheating on his wife and then abusing her when she has the audacity to be mad at him about it? He finally gets more children (she was actually going to tell him she was pregnant again the night he went to fuck that other woman) and she quits her job at the hospital to raise them. You know what, Paullina Simons? It is in no way acceptable to romanticize an abusive, cheating husband, or to convey that men can do no wrong and should in fact be REWARDED for such horrific behavior.
The Shit Icing on This Crap Cake
Then, after 500+ pages of their unhealthy relationship, the book suddenly turns into a novel about the Vietnam war for a hundred pages. Simons did similar awkward changes of pace in The Bronze Horseman, but this one was even more out of place. Tatiana and Alexander's oldest son, Anthony, enlists to go Vietnam, and they freak out. In his fourth or fifth tour of duty, he goes missing. Setting up an incredibly lame parallel with the second book, Alexander goes to Vietnam to find and rescue him.
In Vietnam, Alexander discovers that his son has been entrapped by a one-eyed, eight-fingered North Vietnamese whore, who he married believing her pregnant with his child (she may or may not have been). Alexander convinces a family friend, and Anthony's commander in Vietnam, to stage a rescue to get his son in enemy territory, where he may not even be, even though this is completely against the commander's orders. In the process of rescuing Anthony (because of course they do), the Vietnamese girl (who is evil, obviously) is killed, as are a lot of the men who helped Alexander rescue his son. Alexander is grievously injured (but doesn't die because I hate everything). For their actions, both Anthony and Alexander are given medals of honor, even though Alexander wasn't supposed to fucking be there and Anthony got himself captured by falling in a love with a whore who was working as a spy. More men died in this operation than were rescued. But who fucking cares about that? All that matters is Alexander and Anthony!
Finally, I'm at the end of this damn book, the Coda, a prissy way name for the epilogue. In this epilogue, we learn that 1999, Alexander, age 80, and Tatiana, age 75, are still in love and have the perfect lives. All of their kids are married and successful. Every single child in the family is exceedingly attractive, and all the men are tall. Most important of all, you should note, each one of their four kids had at least one son, because, you know, men are more important than women, in case you missed that from all of the other misogyny in this disgusting book, which gives a happily ever after to a man who abused his wife.
Fuck This Shit, I'm Out
Now can anyone tell me why the FUCK this book has a 4.16 average rating on Goodreads? Only 81 people out of 6273 thought this was a one star book, as of the time of this writing. You know what? I give up. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course, but I really do not get how this book fit the epic love story that is purportedly going on in this series. Spousal rape, infidelity, and abuse are not romance, yet this is subtitled "A Love Story." Unlike Lady Gaga, I do not want any part of this Bad Romance. show less
The Almost Good
Simons obviously knows how to write well. She's got a great command of language, and can put together nice complex sentences. Of course, being able to write masterfully is worthless if you don't write awesome things with your pretty sentences. However, I think even the writing has gotten worse in this third book. There show more were also several typos that hadn't been edited out, perhaps because even the editor couldn't stand this shit and started skimming. In one scene, the quotation marks completely disappear for about a page for no reason. Another obnoxious trend in the writing, one obviously intended to be clever, is the narrator's tendency to get really excited and end sentences with exclamation points for emphasis! Exclamation points are for dialog or first person narration, not freaking third person.
The Bad
By this point in the series, there is literally no plot, just the unfolding of the rest of Alexander and Tatiana's sex-filled lives, until the last two hundred pages where it becomes another book entirely. In no way do I think of myself as a prude about sex in novels. In fact, I sometimes quite enjoy it, though some sex scenes are giggle and snort-inducing, because of the absurd descriptions. Simons' are okay in that they mostly do not result in hilarity. However, they're also not sexy. A little goes a long way with sex in novels, I think. There's so much more power and tension in novels that have just one good kiss than in this series where Tatiana and Alexander have sex countless times. If you played a drinking game by the number of orgasms had in this book, you would die of alcohol poisoning before you finished. While I cannot say quite for certain, I'm convinced that those two characters don't have sex a single time that the reader doesn't know about it.
Keep in mind that they have a young child, and, for much of his toddler years, they have just one bedroom. So they have sex with their sleeping child several feet away myriad times. What fun. I get that their circumstances are difficult, but have someone take care of your kid for a couple hours or something. There will not be enough therapy in the world to take on this kid's emotional problems.
Describing sex is obviously Simons' favorite thing, but she does also enjoy describing Tatiana and Alexander, perfect specimens that they are. Here's a sample out of the hundreds of descriptions offered:
"She's got a tiny waist out of which her hips extend like to halves of a golden delicious apple. Her flat stomach glistens, her breasts are heaving. He is looking up at her. She is golden delicious." (390)
If you're going to read this trilogy, I hope you're very interested in Tatiana's breasts, because you get to hear about them A LOT. Also about her tiny waist. Alexander's described too, so tall and manly and strong, but Simons sure seems to enjoy describing Tania's nigh impossible figure more. And, in case you didn't know they were hot, both of them get hit on constantly by everyone. Alexander's boss' girlfriend greets him with kisses on the cheeks, but always tries to get him on the lips. A coworker of Alexander's breaks into their house in the middle of the night to rape Tatiana while keeping Alexander at bay with a gun, but Alexander saves the day, of course. These are just two examples of many.
The Fucking Ugly
Now, in theory, I do support the idea of showing the difficulties in Tatiana and Alexander's relationship after she rescued him from a concentration camp, now run by the Soviets, in Berlin. Alexander underwent a lot of torture, and would no doubt be fucked up as a result. He's scarred, inside and out. However, that does not make it okay for him to do whatever he wants, and I do not appreciate the way he treats Tatiana, even if she's okay with it. While a husband treating a wife this way might have been deemed normal or acceptable at the time, that does not make Alexander any less of an abusive monster.
One of the main fights Alexander and Tatiana have is about the fact that she insists on working at the hospital, even after he's earning enough money to support the family. All the other women stop working even when they just have boyfriends, so why won't she stay home, which is, after all, a woman's place. He bitches at her about her job constantly, accusing her of letting him and their son Anthony down by being away from home so much, even though Tatiana does fucking everything. She cooks all the food, and she's a great cook, from scratch, she keeps the house spotless, and she has sex with Alexander a million times a day, all while working 40-60 hours a week. Rather than thanking his lucky stars that he married a damn goddess, Alexander accuses her of not caring enough and of having an affair with a coworker.
After they have fights, about her job or about the fact that she has yet to become pregnant with a second child, even though fifteen or so years have passed from the birth of their first, Alexander seduces her into doing whatever he wants. Then there's this fight. An asshole friend of Alexander's is finally getting married, and they're having a bachelor party with strippers. Tatiana tells him she does not want him to go see the strippers, and after a heated discussion, he promises to leave before the strippers and be home by 1 AM. He stumbles in drunk and smelling like cheap perfume at 5 AM. Tatiana goes out to the hen party at some club the next night, as she threatened to do if he went to see the strippers. She comes home early, and reveals she was actually at the hospital, because, unlike her husband, she doesn't actually want to do things that will make him uncomfortable. She tells him not to touch her right now, and he does. He has sex with her, even though she didn't want him to. Sure, she got into it because that's what happens with them, but, in my mind, this is spousal rape. He forced her. After lots of sex, the fight's over. Just like that.
Then, later, things get worse. Alexander, convinced his wife is having an affair with a doctor at the hospital, because he saw the doctor make her laugh (no joke), and because she works Friday nights, he starts going out with a different asshole friend. A married woman with huge breasts hits on him, and he ends up playing with her breasts and getting a subpar blowjob in her car, then making plans to meet up for the real deal later that week. He tells Tatiana he's working and goes, but ultimately chickens out of actually sleeping with the woman, who calls his house and asks Tatiana where he is when Alexander doesn't show up to meet her. Penetration or not, this is adultery, and Alexander is a rat bastard who deserves to die alone.
For freaking the first time ever, Tatiana is finally so pissed she's considering leaving him, taking Anthony and going. When she says this, he hits her, several times in the face, leaving her bruised and bleeding. Just wait, though, it gets worse. Here's what Tatiana has to say: "'Except for this--anything you do is fine with me . . . So if you raise your voice or hand to me, I bow my head and take it'" (510). The this in that sentence is adultery. So, it's totally okay with her if he abuses her as long as he doesn't fuck anyone else. No, Tatiana. No, it's not okay.
What's even more not okay is that she DOES forgive him, of course. She lets him stay, and you know what his punishment is for cheating on his wife and then abusing her when she has the audacity to be mad at him about it? He finally gets more children (she was actually going to tell him she was pregnant again the night he went to fuck that other woman) and she quits her job at the hospital to raise them. You know what, Paullina Simons? It is in no way acceptable to romanticize an abusive, cheating husband, or to convey that men can do no wrong and should in fact be REWARDED for such horrific behavior.
The Shit Icing on This Crap Cake
Then, after 500+ pages of their unhealthy relationship, the book suddenly turns into a novel about the Vietnam war for a hundred pages. Simons did similar awkward changes of pace in The Bronze Horseman, but this one was even more out of place. Tatiana and Alexander's oldest son, Anthony, enlists to go Vietnam, and they freak out. In his fourth or fifth tour of duty, he goes missing. Setting up an incredibly lame parallel with the second book, Alexander goes to Vietnam to find and rescue him.
In Vietnam, Alexander discovers that his son has been entrapped by a one-eyed, eight-fingered North Vietnamese whore, who he married believing her pregnant with his child (she may or may not have been). Alexander convinces a family friend, and Anthony's commander in Vietnam, to stage a rescue to get his son in enemy territory, where he may not even be, even though this is completely against the commander's orders. In the process of rescuing Anthony (because of course they do), the Vietnamese girl (who is evil, obviously) is killed, as are a lot of the men who helped Alexander rescue his son. Alexander is grievously injured (but doesn't die because I hate everything). For their actions, both Anthony and Alexander are given medals of honor, even though Alexander wasn't supposed to fucking be there and Anthony got himself captured by falling in a love with a whore who was working as a spy. More men died in this operation than were rescued. But who fucking cares about that? All that matters is Alexander and Anthony!
Finally, I'm at the end of this damn book, the Coda, a prissy way name for the epilogue. In this epilogue, we learn that 1999, Alexander, age 80, and Tatiana, age 75, are still in love and have the perfect lives. All of their kids are married and successful. Every single child in the family is exceedingly attractive, and all the men are tall. Most important of all, you should note, each one of their four kids had at least one son, because, you know, men are more important than women, in case you missed that from all of the other misogyny in this disgusting book, which gives a happily ever after to a man who abused his wife.
Fuck This Shit, I'm Out
Now can anyone tell me why the FUCK this book has a 4.16 average rating on Goodreads? Only 81 people out of 6273 thought this was a one star book, as of the time of this writing. You know what? I give up. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course, but I really do not get how this book fit the epic love story that is purportedly going on in this series. Spousal rape, infidelity, and abuse are not romance, yet this is subtitled "A Love Story." Unlike Lady Gaga, I do not want any part of this Bad Romance. show less
After reading this book I can't help but ask "Can anyone truly survive war?" When that army seargant comes home to his beautiful wife, the one he envisioned every night on the battlefield as he crept along the cold forest floor, closer and closer to his enemy, does he just wrap his arms around her and forget? When he nestles his face into her long locks and smells her floral shampoo, does he just forget the whistling of the grenades and the blasts of the bombs? When he lays his hands upon her and feels her arch towards him, does he just forget the feel of his rifle and the cold steel of his blade? When he sees his dark-haired son for the first time since his birth, does that army seargant just forget the piercing eyes of his enemy and show more the smell of the dead? How can he? How could anyone?
Although the war is over, Alexander and Tatiana are still fighting. However, the battle is no longer with the Germans or Russians. It is with life....the reality of daily living. Both of them are tormented by the ravages of war, memories of pain, suffering and loss that engulf them when they look at each other, touch each other, whisper to each other. They already know how to love.....now they have to learn how to live.
I devoured this book. Being the final installment in the trilogy, I desperately wanted to know what happened to this amazing couple. The connection between Tatiana and Alexander remains undeniably awe-inspiring. She tries desperately to heal his scars, both physical and mental. There is nothing that soothes him more than Tatiana....his wife, his only true love, "his cradle and his grave". The whispers he shares with her are like footprints across my own heart. Only Jamie Fraser from Outlander has the power to caress me with words like Alexander does. Even as they grow older, Alexander remains the strong, striking and stubborn man he was in his twenties when he crossed the street for a young Russian girl named Tatiana. Fate tries to snatch their happiness away by luring their oldest son into the throes of the Vietnam war, a son who has grown up to be just like his dad, only taller, stronger and more beautiful.
I did not want this story to end. I have journeyed with these characters from the beginning of their tragically sweet love affair and I have run the gauntlet of emotions with them. For me, Paullina Simons has proven that love is stronger than the evils of war and hatred. She has made me believe that happiness can be found after devastating sorrow. She has shown that even the strongest of men need the loving whispers of another. She has made me believe that love will keep us young forever. Thank goodness....... I am forever young. show less
Although the war is over, Alexander and Tatiana are still fighting. However, the battle is no longer with the Germans or Russians. It is with life....the reality of daily living. Both of them are tormented by the ravages of war, memories of pain, suffering and loss that engulf them when they look at each other, touch each other, whisper to each other. They already know how to love.....now they have to learn how to live.
I devoured this book. Being the final installment in the trilogy, I desperately wanted to know what happened to this amazing couple. The connection between Tatiana and Alexander remains undeniably awe-inspiring. She tries desperately to heal his scars, both physical and mental. There is nothing that soothes him more than Tatiana....his wife, his only true love, "his cradle and his grave". The whispers he shares with her are like footprints across my own heart. Only Jamie Fraser from Outlander has the power to caress me with words like Alexander does. Even as they grow older, Alexander remains the strong, striking and stubborn man he was in his twenties when he crossed the street for a young Russian girl named Tatiana. Fate tries to snatch their happiness away by luring their oldest son into the throes of the Vietnam war, a son who has grown up to be just like his dad, only taller, stronger and more beautiful.
I did not want this story to end. I have journeyed with these characters from the beginning of their tragically sweet love affair and I have run the gauntlet of emotions with them. For me, Paullina Simons has proven that love is stronger than the evils of war and hatred. She has made me believe that happiness can be found after devastating sorrow. She has shown that even the strongest of men need the loving whispers of another. She has made me believe that love will keep us young forever. Thank goodness....... I am forever young. show less
"We'll meet againg in Lvov, my love and I..." Tatiana hums, eating her ice cream, in our Leningrad, in jasmine June, near Fontanka, the Neva, the Summer Garden, where we are forever young.
Con esa oración se termina la trilogía. Con esa oración se acaba la historia de Tatiana y Alexander, que llenó mi corazón. Con esa oración comienzo a extrañarlos.
Tatiana y Alexander se han convertido en algo mas que personajes para mi, casi siento que los conozco, que los he visto, que estuve allí en la parada del bus cuando Alexander decidió cruzar la calle. Así que terminado de leer sus vivencias me puso algo melancólica.
En The Summer Garden, Tatia y Alex ya han dejado atras sus años de guerra, Leningrado, Rusia, Europa y... Lazarevo. show more PERO la guerra, Leningrado, Rusia, Europa y... Lazarevo, no los ha dejado atrás a ellos. Asi que ahora en su nueva vida, en Estados Unidos, deben aprender a convivir con todos esos recuerdos, lo quieran o no.
Dicen que uno NO conoce bien a alguien hasta que no vive con el, y aquí puede notarse la veracidad de ese dicho. En esta continuación de la saga, pueden apreciarse las verdaderas personalidades de los personajes, la que, por la guerra y por su familia, habían tenido que ocultar. Y tendrán que aprender a amarse con todos los defectos que antes no conocían el uno del otro.
La guerra convierte a Alexander en un hombre roto, que debe adaptarse y aprender a vivir de nuevo, y Tatiana hará todo lo posible por ayudarlo. Sin embargo Alexander hace algunas cosas, imperdonables para mi, un poco más allá de la mitad del libro, y toda mi comprensión hacia el se desvanece en ese momento. Arruinando para mi lo que restaba de libro, pues se me hacía imposible aceptar todo el amor que proclaman después.
Sin embargo, este libro sigue teniendo 5 estrellas gracias a los capítulos, tipo flashback, de una de las vacaciones de Tatiana en el Lago Ilmen. Las vacaciones donde conoció a la niña con uñas sucias que la traumatiza para siempre, mencionada en [b:The Bronze Horseman|83144|The Bronze Horseman (Tatiana and Alexander, #1)|Paullina Simons|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327921996s/83144.jpg|12615171]. Las vacaciones donde se fractura el brazo. Las vacaciones donde su papá le regala el tan querido vestido blanco con flores rojas. Leía esos capítulos con ansias y miedo, gracias a esa niña con uñas sucias que podría ser la mismísima Rhoda Penmark de [b:The Bad Seed|467032|The Bad Seed|William March|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348354741s/467032.jpg|1152540], la maldad personificada.
El epilogo, es hermoso y el capitulo final aun más, si puedes pasar por alto el comportamiento de Alex -cosa que yo no pude hacer- y sentir que su amor, aun, es real. show less
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Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, USSR in 1963. At the age of ten her family immigrated to the United States. Paullina attended college in New York, Kansas and England. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in Political Science Paullina went on to various jobs including working as a financial journalist and as a show more translator. After several years Paullina got around to her first love and wrote her novel Tully (HarperCollins, Oct. 1995). She has since written Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (also known as Tatiana and Alexander.) The Summer Garden, The Girl in Times Square, Road to Paradise and Children of Liberty. Many of Paullina's novels have reached international bestseller lists in countries including Australia and New Zealand. Paullina has also written a cookbook, Tatiana's Table, which is a collection of recipes, short stories and recollections from her bestselling books The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, and The Summer Garden. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Summer Garden
- Original title
- The Summer Garden
- Original publication date
- 2005
- People/Characters
- Tatiana Metanova; Alexander Barrington; Anthony Alexander Barrington; Vicki
- Epigraph
- By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,
Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst...
For there, they that carried us away
captive required of us a song
And th... (show all)ey that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Psalm 137 - Dedication
- For Kevin, my own mystic guide
- First words
- THE CARAPACE
Carapace n. a thick hard case or shell made of bone or chitin that covers part of the body of an animal such as a lobster. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"We'll meet again in Lvov, my love and I..." Tatiana hums, eating her ice cream, in our Leningrad, in jasmine June, near Fontanka, the Neva, the Summer Garden, where we are forever young."
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Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Romance, Historical Fiction, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3569 .I48763 .S86 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 857
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- 31,789
- Reviews
- 48
- Rating
- (4.03)
- Languages
- 9 — Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 32
- ASINs
- 8
