ARA Review by EfrenObrien1 of The Cruel Romance

[EfrenObrien1]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Cruel Romance.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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I have recently finished reading The Cruel Romance by Marina Osipova. The novel is an epic and dramatic story of a young lady who struggles to live and love during the tragic years of World War II in Russia (then the Soviet Union). For me, this is a difficult review to write because while the story was poignant, passionately written “from the heart,” it was also confusing to the point where the plot got absorbed by the exhaustive narrative of the story.

The basic summary of the story is as follows: In 1941 following Germany’s invasion of the Balkans and the Soviet Union, a small village approximately 80 miles from Moscow attempted to survive, as its men were pulled away to the war front and the cold winter was settling in. A young woman, Serafima and her mother Glafira lived in a thatched hut in this small village. Serafima’s love interest Victor (or Vitya), also from the same village is a lieutenant in the Soviet Army and is preparing for war at the beginning of the novel. Victor goes off to the war and Serafima and her mother remain behind. Very quickly into the novel, the German Army comes and occupies Serafima’s village. Two German Officers, a lieutenant named Werter and a major by the last name of Schuette take over and occupy Serafima’s hut in the village. Serafima and her mother are forced to serve (cook, laundry, maintain the home…) and endure varying abuse from the two German Officer’s. While Werter just follows orders and is sympathetic, Major Schuette is especially mean, hateful and violent towards the two women.
The story becomes difficult to follow fairly early on, because the narrative centers on Serafima’s thoughts, feelings and perceptions, and difficulties of surviving a brutally harsh Russian winter, and the experience of being captured and essentially at the mercy of the abusive Germans. Context, understanding of the characters feelings and depth to the story is further explained through the letters written by the young German Lieutenant Werter to his mother and sister in Berlin, and the letters of Serafima and Victor to one another during the winter of ’41 and into ’42. There are no battle scenes, however the reader learns in one of Werter’s letters that the evil Major Schuette suffers a violent death during battle in Russia. The narrator also indirectly infers that Serafima is raped by the Major prior to the Major's death. For me, this occurred too often. The plot is not directly stated...but events are revealed after the fact from the descriptions and behavior of Serafima as a victim of rape and abuse, or from the letters written by the other characters.
The story continues as the war rages on with Serafima becoming aware of her pregnancy through rape, her efforts to deal with this unwanted pregnancy, conceal the pregnancy from Victor through her letters…and the near savage condemnation she endures from her own mother, townspeople and co-workers because she is unwed and pregnant. Despite all of her efforts not to give birth to a bastard child …Serafima gives birth to a baby boy. She names the baby Vanechka.

The story continues as the war rages on and Vanechka is cared for by Glafira (with a change of heart who comes to accept and deeply love the child), and a local Kindergarten teacher Anna Konstantinovna, who notices that Vanechka has an unusual talent for music for such a young child. As the Second World War draws to conclusion, Victor returns back to his village to see Serafima and becomes aware of Vanechka (now three and a half years old) and condemns Serafima in the most abusive manner as well for bearing and raising a bastard child. Serafima, who has come to love Vanechka deeply, is heartbroken and dismisses Victor at this time.


The remainder of the story describes how the main characters deal with the war’s end and their difficulties during the immediate years following WWII. Werter returns to Berlin right after the war and must deal with the psychological scars of his own sister’s death and his mother’s depression. Serafima raises Vanechka unmarried and watches as Vanechka becomes a child prodigy who plays violin and performs many concerts with Anna Konstantinovna. Victor (who becomes a ranking officer in the notorious NKVD) makes a final attempt to woo and marry Serafima but insults Vanechka again and wants to exclude Vaneshka from their future married life. Serafima then breaks down and admonishes Victor, permanently excluding him from her life. An older man, Semenitch, attempts to marry Serafima but she rebuffs his advances. Finally, Serafima meets a man through her school, Yakov, who pursues her for romance – but Victor (still with the NKVD and unable to let go of Serafima) interferes. The story ends amazingly with the main characters coming together again by chance in the small Russian village, and Serafima finally discovering who the real Father of Vanechka is. At the end all questions are answered and everyone’s future is revealed through the Epilogue and the story is concluded.

I have a basic knowledge of World War II, the battles fought in Russia during that time and the sad events which impacted the people living in the Soviet Union and Germany. From what little I know, words cannot describe the loss of life, suffering, and heartache both populations endured during those years. But this book succeeds in painting a limited picture of it. This story depicts a brief sliver of the war shown through the eyes of those involved with a small Russian village, and their efforts to survive and love during this extremely difficult period. This is a passionate and touching story, but for me the plot was difficult to follow at times due to the author's excessive narrative - which considering the characters of this novel, is probably understandable. The story has a natural flow to it, and the vocabulary is very effective. I rate the story 4 out of 5, and would absolutely recommend this novel to others.

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