Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept is the parallel narrative of Boris Pasternak's toil to finish - and publish - Dr. Zhivago and the CIA's mission to ensure that the latter occurs. To that end, the CIA employs two secretaries, one a seasoned spy last seen blowing bridges in the European theater, circa 1945, and the other, Irina, a total novice and daughter of Russian immigrants. As for Pasternak's life in Soviet Russia, it is as bleak as can be expected, with plenty of appearances by the secret police, stints in the gulag, and a general air of menace.
Each of the stories is interesting enough, though neither of them captured my attention in a way that made me feel I simply *had* to keep reading. Much of this I attribute to the characters, who generally struck me in much the same way as Sophie Duval in Meet Me in Monaco: none were ever more than mere characters to me, and I wasn't invested in what became of them in any capacity. The spy shenanigans were fun, and the period detail - early days of the CIA, Washington in the 1950s, that kind of thing - had much to recommend them.
More intriguing is that The Secrets We Kept was inspired by true events: yes, once upon a time, the CIA agitated to publish a book in an effort to change hearts and mind. On the one hand, it's amazing to consider such pre-internet tactics; on the other hand, there's more than a hint of the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same when scanning headlines about Russian bots and social media. Hearts and minds have always been the key, it seems.
Three stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment