# Polostan - Author: Neal Stephenson - Genre: #### Kindle Highlights #### Notes A fictional historical drama about a girl, Aurora, that is born during the communist wave of the 1930s. It details her life & exploits being born into a challenging world with her parents being as equally challenging. Her father a Russian communist loyalist & her mother an independent Midwestern American. It explores what it means for her to have to navigate a world on her her own when she is not her own. Her mother dies from cancer early in her life when Aurora is around 16-17. Her father a year or so later during a failed invasion of the US Capitol. The story goes further to detail her experiences as a fugitive from the US government due to her participation of the failed invasion that she really wanted no part in. Unfortunately she gets briefly involved with a young man, Dick, from New York during the Chicago's World Fair and becomes pregnant. From there, she attempts to go to her remaining family back in the Midwest only to unfortunately have a miscarriage during the train ride back. Events for her become even worse when she's essentially held under duress by a religious woman & her perverted pastor of a husband. Aurora escapes with the unforeseen help of mothers family in a wild shootout from the court. Only to eventually make her way back to Russia where she faces even more grave challenges. From being thought of and treated as a spy to then actually having to become one for Russia, the events are terrible & would break anyone else. A whirlwind adventure of pain, suffering and perseverance. Definitely a worthwhile read & I look forward to the next in the trilogy.