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Title: Good premise but weak development
Review: Overal premise and approach are interesting, and a couple of scenes and some descriptions are noteworthy. But...The book is generally very slow. The story unfolds in such tempo that it lulls reader into sleep. The setting doesn't give a feel of Paris at all, a giant vortex of Bohemean life and huge center of culture, for the way it's described - it all might've happened somewhere in a small town in Ohio.Characters remain somewhat flat and quite faceless, except Pankratov (but, as we know, oddish old cranks is quite easy material to describe in literature).Generally the book is a way too straightforward and, as it lacks true intrique, twists and any tension, it leaves an impression of uninspired work that the authour managed to deliver through a lengthy spell of his own boredom.
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