Vadim Levental

This extraordinary novel takes absolute attention and a willingness to read slowly. It insists and demands much from the reader. It wasn't a natural read for me as such because I'm typically the kind of reader who is in the middle of many novels at once, and I like to read quickly. So the novel stretched me and made me confront my own weaknesses as a reader, all for the good. Some parts of the novel digressive. Some passages are written in a way where I feel far removed from the action, and reminded me of how I feel when reading Gibbon vs. how I usually feel while reading a modern novel. But then something will happen in the novel that grips me absolutely--that makes me laugh, or makes me nod in recognition, or makes me delight in the language itself.

If the word "erudite" doesn't sound like a criticism, you are likely to enjoy reading this novel. If you want to be challenged rather than entertained, you are likely to love this novel. There is much here to entertain, to be sure, but the experience of reading Masha Regina is more like engaging in an at times serious, at times rambling conversation with the author, than it is like sitting back and letting the author do all the work for you the way most novels do.… (meer)

Middle of the road. Really this is for someone who wants to spend time in figuring out what is going on, commit to rereading, and generally thinking a lot about the character. Which is to say, not really my cup of tea. I don't mind wallowing in literary fiction, trying to peel back layers, but at times it just felt like too much work. It held interest, mostly, but overall it just felt like a summary of life, with important details expounded upon at length.

For the right kind of reader, no doubt this would be a great read, but not for me.… (meer)