Ludmilla, Ludmilla, Ludmilla .... not sure I want to say more than that about this. A gritty story with so much historical overtone that the story of the people - which I guess was DBC's way of linking the personal with the polical - successfully bored me to tears. I didn't care about the separated freaks. I didn't care about the beautiful Ludmilla. Perhaps the only character I cared about was the little sister.

I usually enjoy a book which gives me an insight into a political or historical situation. In this case I became irritated by the scratchy characters and the try hard out there character creation. What depth was there anway to the political situation. So what was I left with? Empty characters, none of the Vernon God Little gritty dialogue, nada, nothing.

Don't bother reading it.