Book Club Reflection: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I promise this is my last post about Child 44. I’ve already done the book review and the movie review. Last is the book club reflection. If you recall, I wasn’t a big fan of the book (mostly because of the narrator) and I thought the movie was okay but was disappointed by a few missing parts that I thought made the book bearable. It seems I was alone in my opinion because my book club found it gripping.

The scary thing is how many of the details of the murderer were real! There was a murderer known as the Butcher of Rostov who had a similar background to Leo’s brother. His name is Andrei Chikatilo and he killed from 1978 to 1990 before being executed. There was an HBO series about him called Citizen X. Reading about him in Wikipedia, it’s terrifying how similar the case Leo chased is to this man’s life story.

Tom Rob Smith was born in London and went to Cambridge. He’s written for British TV shows and found out about Chikatilo while researching for a show he was writing about. Child 44 is his debut novel.

We learned a lot about life in Soviet Russia, assuming what we read is all true. The biggest takeaway was the fear and status of a criminal state that these people lived in every day. One of our members read that the mentality of turning people in, the fear of persecution, is returning to Russia again under Stalin and this book comes at a good time to remind people how damaging that can be.

There were parts of the book that were really hard to believe. Surviving the escape from the train was a big one for us (and maybe why it was cut from the movie). Vasili ending up in the basement at exactly the right moment was a bit convenient as well. We didn’t understand why he was able to take on such a big role in the investigation in the first place. His status didn’t seem to deserve that.

I brought up my biggest complaint about the book, which was Leo’s motivation. He had no children so he wasn’t afraid for their safety: why did he begin the investigation? Why did he feel such a personal connection to these crimes? We decided he felt guilty, likely as far back as his war service. He also had a major shift in his worldview when Raisa was charged. He was traumatized by the idea that his family could be the target of suspicion and rough treatment. If that could happen to him, what else could happen in life? He wanted to do something to make the positive impact he thought he was making as a KGB. When he realized officials were lying about interrogations and that there was no virtue or honor in his position, he changed and started to see the world differently.

Raisa’s charge was a big change in the book. We wondered who turned her name in because we seriously doubted that the veterinarian actually gave her name. I thought it was his commander trying to see how far he would go for the state. Others wondered if it was Vasili or the doctor she refused to sleep with.

Leo and Raisa adopting the girls at the end seemed a little too ‘pretty,’ wrapping the story up with a nice bow on top. We thought about it and it’s a new beginning for Leo. He was adopted by two parents who originally meant to do him great harm. Leo didn’t have it out personally for the girls, but it’s easy to see why they might be afraid of him. He knew from experience that they could grow to have a good relationship. He was living proof of that.

Our next read is The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier which I’ve almost finished! I love her writing.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

‘Child 44’ Movie- Raisa is so awesome

Image via IMdB

I knew I wasn’t going to finish the audiobook for Child 44 before my book club met to talk about it so I went ahead and watched the movie. I know, I know- the bibliophile’s greatest sin. I did finish the book, however, a few days later so I can fairly draw some comparisons between the two.

Things I Thought Were Awesome

Raisa. Maybe it’s because I adored Noomi Rapace in the Millenium trilogy, but I thought Raisa rocked. She was a lot stronger of a person in the movie, helping in the train fight and in the final fight (which, granted, didn’t really happen in the book).

Changes That Didn’t Really Bother Me

No car crash and other scenes removed. As I started to notice these small scenes missing, I was at first upset, but in the end, they weren’t needed. Leo’s car crash, escaping under the train, they all built tension but that tension was already there. Taking them out of the movie didn’t detract from the plot or characters at all so I was okay with it in the end.

Things That Were Taken Out and I’m Still Wondering Why

Finding out about other murders. I thought that finding the bodies made Leo more invested in the mystery. Having someone tell him about them ruined that motivation so I felt it feel a bit flat.

Seeing Child 44s body. It was a huge point in the book that he hadn’t seen the boy’s body, just heard about the mutilations. I thought seeing it removed that and to me, it made no difference. It felt like the filmmakers just wanted to show a dead body to keep the ‘action adventure’ level a bit higher.

Things That Changed Too Much

Knowing he was the orphan from the beginning. This upset me before the credits were over. Finding out that Pavel and Leo were the same was a big turning point in the book, though, we don’t know about Pavel’s brother and honestly, that was taken out of the movie so why do we care that Leo’s real name is Pavel at all or that Leo is adopted? We really don’t care at all. I thought it was a dumb thing to add in unless it becomes important in the sequels.

The brothers. OH MY GOSH! How could they cut this, it was the best part of the book! Knowing that the two men are long-lost brothers is the motivation behind the murders and it ruined the movie for me. It was so twisted to hear why he murdered and having that taken out completely was stupid! Ugh, so mad about this one.

My husband says I was predisposed not to like it after I hated the book. Was it just me? Reader, what did you think of the Child 44 movie?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 4-May-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I hope to get back to Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling soon. It’s sitting on my bedside tale for now.
I’m making great progress with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I’m about four hours from the end and in the midst of the final battle. I got the eaudio back and the battle is great listening during my long runs!
I got through a bit of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson but nothing to brag about. I’ll be working on this one for a while!
I’m really enjoying The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier. I always love her books so no surprise to me here. I’m hoping I can tear through this one and get back to Harry!

 

Recently finished: I finished two books! The first was Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith which I got through just a few days after my book club meeting last week. I was so close to finishing in time, but it slipped past me. Oh well. I wasn’t a big fan of the book. My review went up yesterday where I explained why I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. I’ve still got a book-to-movie review and a book club reflection to write on this one so it will be around for a bit.
The other book I finished was Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones which I loved! The book was really well written and I loved the characters. A full 5 out of 5 stars. My review is already up for this one so check it out.

Reading Next: I’ll be grabbing my next book club selection, The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. I haven’t decided if I’ll do the physical or audio copy yet, but I’m leaning toward audio so I can fee myself up to finish Harry and work on some other books I’ve been waiting to read.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Book Review: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2/5)

I think there have been books I rated highly because the audiobook had a wonderful narrator. However, this is not one of those cases. I hated the narration for this book and it might affect how I feel about it, but I’m still going to say this wasn’t in a genre I typically enjoy anyway and I might have disliked it with a good narrator or reading the physical book.

Cover Image via Goodreads

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Summary from Goodreads:

Stalin’s Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law, but when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State’s obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer–and a country where “crime” doesn’t exist.

There were too many times in this book where I had to suspend my disbelief and it became too much for me. The first was early on when there was a ‘truth oil’ that was injected into prisoners. It sounded straight out of Harry Potter. Then we had a drug-addicted police officer who never took drugs again through the rest of the novel. I was poised to not like it from the beginning. My book club has met since and argues that these two things are real and could happen, but I still thought it was too much and I had already given up from there. I’ll say that everything wrapped up nicely and it was well plotted to be sure, but I gave up on it by the second prologue (you only get one!).

The characters were really well done. Most of them had more than one layer to them which made reading farther into the book really fun. I hated Vasili, but that doesn’t mean he was a bad character. Leo probably changed the most. His belief in the state was almost unbelievable at the beginning and it was interesting to see that break and how it developed. It felt like the was the only ‘true’ Soviet left for a lot of the novel.

I think Raisa was easily my favorite and she changed the most through the book. I wish she’d been a stronger female character, but I admired her dedication and love for her husband. I thought Smith worked in well that she was afraid of Leo and that her actions weren’t those of a loving wife early on so that when she admitted that she didn’t love him, all the points she drew upon, wich fro Leo’s perspective were minor and not worthy of note, they seemed harsh. She was well written in.

The story wasn’t something I could relate to, but I did sympathize with some of the characters in other ways. I felt that Leo was like myself, very practical and trusting. Many times, I could anticipate what he would do before he did it. He was fiercely loyal to his wife and family and I admired that. I admired his determination to solve the case.

Image via BookFans.net

I thought the train escape was great. It was really innovative and the characters were lucky, but it came at a cost to them. They had to kill, maim, and fight tooth and nail (ha!) to escape and I could see it happening. It was also a turning point for Leo because he realized the average person didn’t like the state either. They were willing to keep quiet and risk death to let Leo and Raisa escape. I thought the tooth part was a bit much and it made me gag, but it was still well done.

I can’t say I had a single least favorite part of the book, but there were a lot of coincidences I thought were too perfect and times when I wanted Leo and Raisa to have the smallest win and the book just tore them down. No description of the killer from the eyewitness was a rough one to read. There were some other parts when I thought things were too perfect, like getting to the company records so easily or their fake papers being overlooked. Small things that should have derailed it completely. I also didn’t understand why Leo was so determined to find the killer. I didn’t get his vested interest in the case. He had no children to protect and wasn’t close to any of the victims. Why was he so driven?

The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris. To be honest, it was terrible. He read the narrative in his normal voice, but every character was given a Russian accent that grated on me. He wasn’t able to differentiate the voices of the characters as well as I think he could have done without the accent and it seemed completely unnecessary to me. I would have liked it better read to me straight and I think the reading is one of the biggest reasons I couldn’t stand the book.

Loyalty was the biggest theme I got out of this book. Leo was loyal to the state, the only character who was. Vasili and Raisa are loyal only to themselves. But for Leo and Raisa, this changes as the book goes on. He loses his loyalty to the state and he and Raisa become loyal to each other. Other characters have their own loyalties but sticking to those loyalties seems the only way to survive in Soviet Russia.

Writer’s Takeaway: Smith did a great job of connecting all the loose ends of his plot. I was getting angry toward the end when the prologue didn’t seem to be connecting to the rest of the story. There were small things like Raisa’s relationship with Ivan that I wanted to connect and why Child 44 was important enough to make the title. Smith did a great job bringing these things together and it shows that he is a great editor of his own work to be able to do this. Kudos.

Overall, not my cup of tea and I doubt I’ll continue with the rest of the series. Two out of Five stars.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Related Post:
Review of “Child 44” by Tom Rob Smith | Rhapsody in Books Weblog

WWW Wednesday, 27-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’ve just put aside Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling so I can start a new book. I hope to get back to it soon, I was getting to the meat of it!
I’m really hoping to start back with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin very soon! Maybe on disk, but it will take me a while to find where I am. We’ll see.
I was so embarrassed about my minimal progress with In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson that I made a point of reading it this week. I’m at 13% now, so much better but still behind.
I wasn’t able to finish Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith before my book club met. I was close, one disk left, but I watched the movie in order to see how it ended. I’ll still finish it, though. I’m looking forward to comparing the book and movie.
It’s not the ideal running book, but I’ve made good progress with Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones while running this past week. I’m getting toward the end so I hope to finish it soon.
I started  The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier on Monday night. Not too far into it yet so no comment but I do love this author! Yes, I realize I have WAY too many books going at once. I hope to clear this list up really soon.

Recently finished: Just one. I finished the quick read of The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling and wrote a review which I posted Monday. It’s not much, but it’s something!

Reading Next: No plans again. I’m going to try to get through my massive list before I take on anything new!

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 20-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’ still making my way through Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling and thoroughly enjoying it. There’s so much I’d forgotten about and I’m having a great time reading it all again.
Unfortunately, still on hold with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. I’m not happy about it. Urg.
I think I read three pages of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. This is just the nature of me and ebooks, we’ll see how it goes.
I’m getting worried about finishing Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith before my book club meets. It’s really not a book for me, I’m not a fan of the thriller genre and this narrator is still grating on me with terrible Russian accents. Blah.
I’m enjoying Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones while I wait to get Martin back. I was hoping to put this one aside and finish Martin if I got the hold back quickly, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Sigh.

Recently finished: I’m sad to say I haven’t finished anything! I need to buckle down and focus on some of these books but my semester will be over in another two weeks and I’ll be a lot more available then… until the next semester starts. Ugh.

I posted my review of Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg. A lot of you were asking about that so go check it out!

Reading Next: I’m still planning on The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier. I’ll put Potter aside for this one so my ‘currently reading’ list is only going to grow, much to my chagrin. I put too many things on hold. Ugh.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 13-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: It’s been great to work on Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling lately. I love this story and there’s so much I’ve forgotten since I last read it. I’m half way through now!
I wasn’t doing too well with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin and then I lost the hold! I still have the physical audiobook but I have to finish Child 44 first so as of now, this one is unfortunately on hold.
I don’t think I’ve read any of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson since last week. Being on vacation slowed that down a lot. If you’ve been here a while, you know I’m slow on ebooks anyway. This one will take a while.
Slow progress still on Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. I’m still not enjoying it much at all. The narrator does a terrible Russian accent for each character and I can’t see any semblance of a plot yet. It’s very meandering and there were two prologues which turned me off right away.
While I’m waiting to get A Clash of Kings back (again), I started listening to Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. This is a book that appeared on the book calendar I had in 2013 that grew my list exponentially. I’m glad I found it on eaudio.

Recently finished: Hoping my loss of Martin would only be 24 hours while the system reset, I took Mallory Ortberg’s Texts from Jane Eyre with me on a business trip. It was really fun and passed the hour drive quickly. Review to come next week.

Two reviews to share! I posted my thoughts on Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut on Friday. I liked it enough though I probably would have liked it more had I read it in a shorter time-span. Three out of Five stars.
I also reviewed Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller while I loved. I’m excited to talk to my book club about this one in a few weeks and see if anyone else felt the same.

Reading Next: Next will likely be The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier for my book club. This is one I’ve had on my shelf for a while because I’m a fan of Chevalier’s books. I suggested it for the book club and they said yes! Hahaha! I’m hoping to finish Potter before I start this, but no promises with how long it takes me to get through one of those in Spanish.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 6-April-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’ve been able to return to Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling for the past few days which has been nice. Even in that short reprieve, I missed Harry. This is my comfort food.
I’ve been able to make some headway with A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin during my workouts. It’s not the best pump-up track, but hearing about all the war feels motivating, haha.
Honestly, I haven’t read much of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. There hasn’t been a lot of time for me to read on my phone with the vacation time we’ve had. I guess that’s a good thing? I’m enjoying my vacation so I haven’t had a ton of time for my phone.
I just started Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith and haven’t made much progress with it. I thought I’d listen to it when I drove across the state but my husband and I talked instead. Oh well. I’m on disk 1 of 11 still. We’ll see how this goes, I’m not a huge fan so far.

Recently finished: I was able to finish Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller while on my vacation. It was really good, I gave it a full 5 stars! I’m excited to talk about this one with the book club.

My review of Brooklyn went up last Thursday and as I told y’all last well, I really enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought.

Reading Next: No plans now. I’d like to finish Harry before I worry about starting anything new. I’m bogged down with audio right n ow so I won’t be picking another out anytime soon.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 30-March-2016

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: Still holding on Harry Potter y el misterio del príncipe (Half-Blood Prince) by J.K. Rowling. I’m hoping to pick it up gain soon but I’ve been moving slowly through physical books lately.
I’m back to A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin on audio. I actually have the eaudio and the CD audio right now but I’m going to stick to eaudio so I can listen to it more for a while. I’ll probably switch back and forth a few times before I finish it, haha.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller. The main character, Sheldon it great and I really enjoy the parts he narrates. Maybe I’ll get a bit more reading done on my mini-vacation next week.
I was at my in-laws when I finished my ebook and the next one available was In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. I’m a big fan of Larson’s so I’m excited to read this one. I owned a copy but lent it to a co-worker who got fired before he returned it to me! I think it’s never coming back so the ebook is a good option.

Recently finished: Waiting for Easter dinner to be reading, I finished Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I know it took me a long time but I’m just happy to have finished it. I liked it but didn’t love it. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Review to come!
In order to meet the deadline of tomorrow, I flew through Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. I’ll post my review tomorrow but know I really liked it but found the ending a little disappointing. I’m looking forward to watching the movie soon because I think I’ll really enjoy the story

Reading Next: I had book club meeting on Monday and we got our next book, Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. I’m not usually big on thrillers but they tend to be fast reads. I’m not sure if this will be a physical or audiobook for me so we’ll see how this plays out.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!