A review by messbauer
A Woman Loved by Andreï Makine

1.0

Makine's dreamlike, painterly prose is certainly present here (once again translated by Geoffrey Strachan), but the story he uses it to tell is simply unenjoyable. The setting is quite bleak, the characters oddly flat, and there are way too many convenient coincidences that are obviously contrived to get the plot where it needs to be. I also did not enjoy Makine's depiction of a nymphomaniac Catherine the Great, especially after reading an actual history on her.