He avoided meeting Aurora's eye -- as well he might. She didn't imagine this kind of situation was covered in Emily Post. It must happen a lot, though, in the Soviet Union: bumping into persons who had tortured you or murdered members of your family. [loc. 3279]
First in new trilogy 'Bomblight', Polostan is the story of Dawn Rae Bjornberg, also known as Aurora Maximovna Artemyeva. Dawn is the daughter of a Russian communist and an anarchist cowgirl from Montana. After a childhood in Leningrad, where she's tended by a veteran of the Red Women's Death Batallion, she spends her teenage years trailing around the USA after her father, who is very much in favour of workers' rights. This period of Dawn's life culminates in marching to Washington as part of the Bonus Army and helping to facilitate armed insurrection against the US government. She also encounters, and flirts with, George Patton: and she attends the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago in 1933, where she works as a shoe saleswoman, hears Niels Bohr lecturing, and has a brief fling with a young man named Dick (who may be Richard Feynman). Then off to Russia via San Francisco, to resume her Russian identity, introduces the game of polo to the Soviet Union, and encounters Lavrentiy Beria -- not in a good way, though luckily she's too old for him.
I found this very readable, and quintessentially Stephensonian: behold our fearless, intrepid and engaging heroine, who hobnobs with famous men and attends an advanced physics lecture despite having spent much of her childhood avoiding school, who uses sex as a weapon or a distraction, who endures ill-treatment with dignity and an offhand quip... I did like Aurora/Dawn, though, and the famous names aren't as plethoric as in the Baroque Cycle. And I do like Stephenson's prose style, with his liking for lists and his wry observations. Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy is going!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 26 SEP 2024.
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