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A review by pammyj1883
The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage by Keith Gave
3.0
I wish there were half stars, because I'm inclined to give it 3.5 stars.
It's a very interesting read -- especially if you're a fan of hockey, or remember living through the high times of Red Wings in the late nineties. The first half is intriguing as it documents the difficulties in getting the Russian players to the US. The second half is a more or less standard account of the Red Wings winning Stanley Cups, and while it has a big heap of nostalgia loaded onto it, the book feels like it looses a little steam.
(Having seen the documentary this book coincides with -- the documentary captures the feel of the era bit better, even if the book goes into more detail about things.)
My biggest issue is the writing style, which is more like a collection of newspaper articles than an overarching narrative. It could have used a better editor. Facts and stories become redundant as the narrative skips around in time, often going over the same thing multiple times. There are times when I wish we could have gotten more details. And there was even an instance when the same two sentences were repeated twice, only in a different format -- clearly someone forgot to delete the original two sentences when revising. The whole thing feels a bit messier than it needed to be.
Overall, though, it's an interesting read, and one I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys stories about hockey.
It's a very interesting read -- especially if you're a fan of hockey, or remember living through the high times of Red Wings in the late nineties. The first half is intriguing as it documents the difficulties in getting the Russian players to the US. The second half is a more or less standard account of the Red Wings winning Stanley Cups, and while it has a big heap of nostalgia loaded onto it, the book feels like it looses a little steam.
(Having seen the documentary this book coincides with -- the documentary captures the feel of the era bit better, even if the book goes into more detail about things.)
My biggest issue is the writing style, which is more like a collection of newspaper articles than an overarching narrative. It could have used a better editor. Facts and stories become redundant as the narrative skips around in time, often going over the same thing multiple times. There are times when I wish we could have gotten more details. And there was even an instance when the same two sentences were repeated twice, only in a different format -- clearly someone forgot to delete the original two sentences when revising. The whole thing feels a bit messier than it needed to be.
Overall, though, it's an interesting read, and one I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys stories about hockey.