A Shadow in Moscow

By Katherine Reay

Dakota County Library paperback 359 pages plus author's note

Published: 2023

Genre: Christian historical fiction 

 

 

Anya (Russian in U.S.) in 1980s

Ingrid (German anti-Nazi in Germany) in 1940s through 1980s

 

There IS a *spoiler* toward the end, so if you haven't read this book and want to, stop halfway or so through this blog entry.

I wasn't able to go to our book club discussion because I was prepping for a trip into the BWCA. Too bad, because I really like this author but struggled at times to keep the two womens' story lines and ancillary characters straight. Talking about it with other readers would have been nice!

Page 26: "...Americans are generally horrible about accents and languages,  by the way. "

 

I loved this aside. I'm always impressed by Europeans (or others) who have mastered two or three languages at a minimum . . . and it's completely normal for them! I really wish I'd been more diligent in studying and using the French I learned. Americans just don't seem to care much about communicating in anyone else's language.

Page 48: "Until I landed in America,  I had no idea that papers could publish differing opinions - and so many of them.  At home Pravda gets delivered daily,  and within it,  the Party tells us the facts and what our opinion regarding those facts should be. "

That really struck me - not just the skewing of "facts," but being told how one should think about them. Even though media in America is a bit crazy, I love that we have free press!

Page 49: "Our conformity gives an illusion of power and peace as we are raised to believe our way of life is superior and virtuous.  Illusions are powerful things.  If you believe them hard enough,  they can become one's reality. "

 

"Raised to believe our way of life is superior and virtuous" - I think most of us can agree that this is not a uniquely Russian issue. I think most Americans think their way of life is superior as well. It is important to be a lifelong learner and be willing to consider others' perspectives! Also, people are really good at believing what they want to believe and / or convince themselves to believe.

Page 137: "There's a word for this,  Anya, this living two truths - one deep in your heart and one you act on every day.  Ketman. It comes from Persia. It translates to doublethink. You divide your soul as you deceive others in order to stay safe,  but you deceive yourself in the end. " (Dmitri  to Anya, 1983)

 

 I would be a terrible spy! I'm much too blatant and speak my mind without thinking!

Page 146: "She's been making my favorite dish.  I can smell the sour cherries cooking along with the veal, and it brings me back to my childhood when all was all because I didn't know any better."

 

Oh, the evocative power of smells! And I was so oblivious as a child! I love the idea of childhood innocence. Who wants children to have to grapple with evil? Let them believe all is well.

 

Page  202: "It's those everyday details that hold the greatest power over me. I remember one of them and I'm lost in the past, walking with him hand in hand, laughing at something he's just said. Something for my ears only. I wish I'd comprehended the sway of those ordinary moments each and every second I lived within them."

Those ordinary moments are powerful, indeed. Live in the moment! Be grateful for the people in your life.

Page 228: "Yet whenever I feel I've almost given up, something roars to life inside me. Call it fight, call it dissent, call it anger. Whatever it is, it rebels against capitulation. Those years in the US were mine . . . I grew through learning the philosophies and ideals of dignity and freedom; I grew within the pleasure of open debate and discussion. . . . They were real and tangible, and I lived in and among them four whole years."

 

I love this! As messy and flawed as things are in the United States, people have so many opportunities to think and wrestle with ideas without fear of penalty. (Okay, unless you're blatantly a danger to others.)

 

Page  293: "We Soviets have never been the title character of our stories. We toil, suffer, work, hurt, sacrifice, and give everything to the State; we call each other 'comrade' in the belief that the moniker makes us equal. It doesn't and never has. Ours is another's story - the tsars', the Bolsheviks', the Party's, whatever dictator rules our day. The best that can be said of us is that we endure."

This is so sad! So many people in a country where they're not able to be truly free.

Page 329: "But true choice, sacrificial choice, and the ability to think and determine what to do with those choices, will not come easy to the Soviet psyche. True choice is hard-won. It resides in faith and must be cultivated over time. We don't think along those lines. We've been trained not to."

I don't know if Reay was trying to keep the reader guessing about the Ingrid/Anya mother/daughter relationship, but it was apparent to me from the get-go. By the time THEY figure it out, I was glad they finally got to talk openly about their spy lives. Also, I was a bit disappointed that Christian faith played barely any role in the story. Dmitri going to an underground church and trying to get Anya to go was such a tiny part of the story.

Page 334: "I love music. Always have. I truly believe it captures the best essence of a culture. It helps you grasp massive ideas in a compressed time frame. Music seeps into your soul and molds you."

When Anya asks her mother if she enjoys music, it's kind of sad that they've spent over twenty years together and don't really know one another. I love this description of music and how it impacts us.

Page 353 (and elsewhere): "'The only words that left her mouth at the beginning of every 'session' were duc in altum.' At my blank stare he explained, 'It's Latin for 'push into the deep.' I knew what it meant. I just couldn't believe she had said it. It was her code phrase for me when I was young and doing the right thing was going to be hard and it was going to hurt."

I love the idea of having meaningful phrases that are repeated to a child so that they become ingrained in their thinking. Not necessarily in Latin! And this particular phrase doesn't resonate for me, but it's a great concept to help build virtues in children.

 

I need to get the September book club book, but I think I'm going to miss that discussion, too!