Well, I liked this volume more than the second, even though this one didn't have the killer ending, like vols. I and II both did. I guess I liked the focus moving toward Lena and away from Lina; also the plight of mid-life, facing the decisions of one's twenties, and the tale expanding to take in more politics, feminism, etc. The themes set up by the first two volumes also become more evident--language, gender roles, identity in general, politics and class--and I guess I enjoyed the growing clarity of idea over the recounting of event, which is usually romantic melodrama for the most part.

The segue from this volume to the next signals that the whole thing should have been one epic, Russian novel in four volumes, as they used to be called. This made me realize how classically formed the novel is, a bildungsroman a la feminile.

I also noticed--because of Lena's Florence period, the city in which I've lived for the last 25 years--how little evocation of place there is in the novel. It's all thoughts, dialogue, people, and emotions. Pretty much exactly the opposite of my own writing. Still, I respect it although it's not my usual thing.