A review by bookcrazyblogger
The Woman of a Thousand Names, by Alexandra Lapierre

4.0

The Woman of a Thousand Names follows the true story of Moura Zakrevskaya, the favored and spoiled youngest daughter of a noble Russian family. The novel follows her throughout her life alongside a history of Russia from just before the Revolution through to post-WWII. Moura is what’s known as a White Russian, part of the Russian nobility. She’s also intelligent, beautiful and charismatic. The novel follows her as she makes stupid decisions by having affairs with men in power and also follows her ability to survive in Revolution-era Russia, when the Bolsheviks were busy executing all of her known associates. Basically what could have been a very cool story (Moura being accused of being a double/triple/quadruple agent) not to mention the history, turned into a recitation of how many powerful and famous guys she got dicked down by. This is a woman who could have done something great with what was happening but she was too weak to actually pick a side, choosing instead to have sex with any guy who looked at her. The novel is dry in places and I was frustrated by the main characters complete lack of doing anything with her life but the history was fascinating to read about.