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Zoya

Zoya

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Sprawling Saga of a Novel
Review: DANIELLE Steel's Zoya looks like a big, sprawling saga of a novel, imbued with latent delights and gaily wrapped in a warm invitation to open and explore its enticing contents. And as we very well know, Steel never fails to deliver the kind of yarns that keep you turning the pages at an unflagging pace, the kind you can spend the weekend holed up with and put down feeling as though you have woken up from a deep and wonderful spell. From the cathedrals, domes, spires and ancient elegance of an Imperial Russia plunged into bloody revolution to the graceful splendour and swirling artistic excitement and bustle of Paris in the 1920s and ultimately to the cut-and-thrust world of corporate New York, Steel has managed to weave a tapestry of tragedy, hardship and triumph, of love and loss, and of searching and fulfilment without the obfuscating irrelevancies and loose ends that seem to plague novels of such genre.

Zoya is a sweeping saga of the crumbling or moribund glamour of the Russian aristocracy. Countess Zoya Ossupov, the fiery protagonist of the saga, was brought up in the opulence and extravagance of a St. Petersburg palace, a charmed and wondrous world that existed nowhere else, the vanishing world of Tsarist Russia. Hers was a magical life of palaces and balls, of men in brightly hued uniforms and beautiful women apparelled in elegant gowns and bedecked with diamond necklaces. But dark clouds are gathering in the horizon and as the Revolution engulfs Russia and all that it stands for, Zoya's whole family and those whom she holds dear are mercilessly massacred in the ensuing turmoil.

Leaving home and fortune behind, Zoya manages to escape to Paris with her aged, but spunky grandmother, the Countess Evgenia Ossupov, with whatever jewels they could salvage sewn into the linings of their clothes. Amidst the chaos and turbulence of a nation torn asunder, Zoya's fairytale world, like sandcastles in the air, crumbles to smithereens.

Paris was a whole new experience for her, filled with new principles, new responsibilities and new people. It was a constant struggle for survival and basic necessities were in dire scarcity. Under the shadow of the Great War and in time, Zoya falls passionately and fatefully in love and moves to a more affluent lifestyle in New York with the American captain, Clayton Andrews. However, her world comes crashing down again without warning during the Great Depression when Clayton commits suicide, leaving her with debts to settle and two children to raise. The Second World War looms ominously ahead, bringing with it more violent upheavals. The rising tides of war in Europe ebbs and flows as people and relationships are forced apart and flung together. Thus presented, Zoya sounds like a melodramatic parable. Yet, despite the heaviness of style, it is skilfully narrated. Steel is good at catching a historical mood and at describing the complex interrelationships between ordinary people thrown together by the winds of change in a world in turmoil.

Zoya is a story of hope and restored faith, a testament to the resilient and triumphant human spirit and to the restorative powers of love and that coming to terms with one's past, one's life and one's relationships is always a painful process. The path to glory and bliss is not one strewn with primroses but also with trials and tribulations. You will truly be enamoured by the subtly drawn, indomitable character of Zoya, one of Steel's more compelling female characters yet, an enchanting and audacious redhead whose eyes dance with emerald fire as you keep up with her fluctuating fortunes and battle for survival from the majesty and decadence of St. Petersburg to New York.

Despite its timeworn tale and the fact that it hardly breaks any new ground in literary wizardry, Zoya is a pretty engrossing potboiler and for this it owes to its narrative consistency, which is well-handled and tempered with restraint such that the incessant flow of events is kept in clear perspective till the very end. Much of the fascination with Zoya can be traced to its effective intermingling of high romance with undeniably well-drawn characters that linger in one's memory long after putting the novel down, well-woven descriptive passages, poignant moments and a richly-detailed backdrop of varying moods and ambience. The spirit and soul of the eternal and timeless city of Paris has been captured in a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours.

If you have enjoyed Steel's previous novels, you will definitely derive many hours of pleasure from digesting Zoya too. After all has been said, one is still inclined to regard the novel as a rather faithful though constipated version of its pulp.

You somehow know what to expect from a Danielle Steel novel. Yes, by reprising the tried-and-tested formulas that had served her well through the years: flawed characters, tangled lives and redemption. Those with an avaricious appetite for escapist fiction will find her book an interesting and compelling read. Somehow, by working within the conventions of her genre, her novel works, because there is something comfortingly familiar about each new Steel novel in that we know what we are going to get. Assuming no literary pretensions, she entertains us the best way she knows. And it all somehow makes sense.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Zoya
Review: Excellent, old fashion DS. One of her best books. Very entertaining and keeps you glued to the book

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful entertaining journey
Review: I hate to admit it, but I like Danielle Steel. Sure, we can criticize her prose which can be downright silly but no one can argue the fact that she is a professional when it comes to story-telling. Her novels read like epic screenplays and readers are taken to worlds far away with stories about characters which are moving and keep the pages turning. I have read only 5 of Ms. Steel's novels but "Zoya," to date, is the best. "Zoya" is the story of a Russian girl who flees her Russian homeland with her grandmother during the revoloution. She goes to Paris where her dreams of being a dancer are fulfilled and romance enters her life. The novel moves from Paris to New York where we are allowed to watch Zoya for 80 years. Ms. Steel brings to life all the feelings of Russia and romance eventhough, as we said, they may not be articulated well. This reader felt all the tears, laughter and joy Zoya experienced throughout her lifetime. Novels can either teach or entertain - so what if there is no lesson to be learned from the novels Danielle Steel writes? I can't think of too many people who can come up with stories like she can - so hats off to Ms. Steel!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome! Enthralling! Gripping! Steel at her finest!!
Review: I have read Danielle Steel before and it was easy to put down her other novels, but this one was so gripping that i finished it in one sitting. Danielle Steel puts you right in the middle of this wonderful novel and makes it seem so real!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Very Depressing
Review: I love Danielle Steel and never thought there would be a book I didn't like. But Zoya was quite depressing. It seems like every other page someone died. Everytime the main character got close to someone they passed away. I usually keep all of her books once I've read them, but not this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing,Terrific,Unbelievable,Moving, Awesome!
Review: I love this book! I haven't read one that is as good as Zoya for a very very long time if ever! I started reading this 500 page novel on a Saturday and couldn't put it down (by no means was my sat. wasted however!)I was laughing and crying through out this entire book. I would recommend it to anyone!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Zoya
Review: I must say that this is an intriguing book to read, thoroughly enjoyable, and very earnest in the feelings it conveys. However, as a Romanov afficionado I fundamentally oppose putting words into the mouths of the Tsar's family. Also, some glaring mistakes were made in their descriptions:

First, Joy was NOT Maria's (Mashka's) dog, nor was it a female! HE was a liver spaniel and belonged to Tsarevich Aleksei, Marie's younger brother. The reason I know he couldn't be a girl is, first, accounts of those who knew him and the family, and, second, the fact that "JOY" in Russian sounds positively like a male name.

Marie herself had a pet mouse, her sisters Anastasia had a Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Jemmy (though some say he originally belonged to Tatiana), Tatiana had a French bulldog named Ortino (who was a girl), and Olga had a cat named Vaska.

Also, somehow it seems improbable that a COUNTESS, which is rather low a title in Russia (Grand Duke and Prince come above it!) could be a cousin to the Tsar.

No blood was shed in the days of the Revolution, nor in the Bolshevik coup d'etat; the book says that "hundreds of people were dead by the end of the day."

Finally, the book depicts the Revolution as happening in a snap, and immediately Bolshevik. That is very, very wrong indeed. All of 1917 and part of 1916 endured strikes and random violence in Petrograd. Plus, after the Revolution came a summer of non-Bolshevik rule, though they were, of course, very powerful already...

However, the book was very good outside of that. Though again, another comment, most White emigres tended to keep up the Russian language and culture in their children, while Zoya doesn't do this... She could, of course, be called an exception, but somehow the fact that her children don't speak Russian sounds weird.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Zoya - Life her very name
Review: I read Zoya when I was thirteen. That may seem young to many, but for me it came at the right time. Truly, I have gained so much inspiration and knowledge from this character. To me, Zoya has come alive. She is not a name on paper, but instead she is "life her very name." She is so much apart of my life and what I do - Honestly. She is a role model for me. I have read this book twelve times in English and three times in French, it is my favorite story in the world, and I thank Danielle Steel for writing this and influencing my life so very much.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Zoya - Life her very name
Review: I read Zoya when I was thirteen. That may seem young to many, but for me it came at the right time. Truly, I have gained so much inspiration and knowledge from this character. To me, Zoya has come alive. She is not a name on paper, but instead she is "life her very name." She is so much apart of my life and what I do - Honestly. She is a role model for me. I have read this book twelve times in English and three times in French, it is my favorite story in the world, and I thank Danielle Steel for writing this and influencing my life so very much.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Totally stunning!
Review: I would like to thank Ms Danielle Steel for this wonderful book. I read it in 2 days. I've read many books by this author, but this one without a doubt is the best! I am from Russia myself and was shocked by the fact how much an American author knows about Russian history. Are the events described in the book true? In Russian schools in my schooling time (1979-89) they tought us that it was great that Revolution happened; that everyone should be equal and that it was good that Tsar Romanov had to give up his royalty and was killed. We belived them at the time. Now I know how hard it was for the royal family and that they were real people too and had to go throught a lot. I cryed through the whole book. Zoya's life went through my eyes like I was there with her. This book is really wonderful.


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