LYING TOGETHER My Russian Affair

There’s nothing subtle about the narration of Kimberly Breault, but there’s really nothing very subtle about this memoir about an American living in the new Russia. Cohen lays out to public view her relationship with her Russian fiancé, including the abuse, drugs, and sex into which it degenerates. Cohen’s career as an investigative journalist takes her to the seedy sides of a country that is fraught with violence as it struggles to redefine itself and its transition to capitalism. Breault presents Cohen as a trouper who knows what she wants and is not going to give up her ambitions. She is less successful with her presentation of Kevin, which gives him a raspy, strained voice, and her characterization of Cohen’s mother, which is a bit over the top. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]