Book Review: The Madonnas of Leningrad

TITLE/AUTHOR: The MADONNAS OF LENINGRAD by Debra Dean RATING: 5/A GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Fiction/April 2006/228 pages TIME/PLACE: WWII Russia/Present Day San Juan Islands and Seattle CHARACTERS: Marina, Dimitri and their family COMMENTS: What a magnificent read this was! I am resisting the urge to start reading it again right away only because I have so many on my nightstand that I want to read. But this will be one to be read again sooner than later. I found myself spending so much time looking upthe works of art mentioned in the book and the Hermitage Museumwebsite itself - http://www.heritagemuseum.org/ that it took much longer thanit should have to read this 228 page book. It is so beautifully written I found myself reading passages over and over again and marking pages with any scrap of paperI had handy. I see it was tied for #1 Booksense pick for April. A pretty good hallmark of an excellent read. This is an amazing story of a woman with Alzheimer's disease, so many times described as "the long goodbye" and most notable in the following passage, "She is leaving him, not all at once, which would be painful enough, but in a wrenching succession of separations. One moment she is here, and then she is gone again, and each journey takes her a little farther from his reach. He cannot follow her, and he wonders where she goes when she leaves." The only thing a bit off-putting was the naming of an island in theSan Juans "Drake" island when there is no such island (when the author uses so many other real places) but I believe it was actually San Juan Island where I have visited many times, most recently last August.That is such a small quibble. This is such an outstanding book. I only regret I can't afford to buy one to give to everyone I know.