Sometimes I love the works of Edward Rutherfurd - sometimes not. 'Russka' fell somewhere in the middle for me. Like Rutherfurd's other novels, Russka attempts to tell the story of a city (or country) by following a number of fictional families from pre-history to the present day and sets their stories against the backdrop of historical characters and events. I found this book to be very slow-going in parts, especially at the beginning.
Rutherfurd is known for his extensive research and this was most evident while reading the book. I never felt a connection to the families, however. I'm not sure what the problem was but there wasn't a single fictional character that I would have wanted to have a coffee or a chat with. However, the 'history' part was very engrossing, especially as the story headed into more modern times. Maybe Russia is just too large a country with too much history to fit into 950 pages and do any era justice.
I usually like to read in the evening and sometimes go to bed early just so I can read a few extra chapters. I was happy enough to keep reading Russka but the book never made me want to go to bed early so I could read more - except on the last day of reading when I saw the end approaching and kept reading so I could be finished with it.
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