Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I don't even know what to think about this book.

If you had learned another language for maybe four or so years at school, and you decided to write a story, I think you could feasibly come up with something like Colonel Stierlitz.
There are no real characters, just names with relationships to other names. There are so many bizarre things that happen, without any explanation. I honestly couldn't follow it, the scene changes were so dramatic and Stierlitz is so unreliable as a narrator that I just kept turning the pages wanting to know where it wound up.
This book really struck a chord with me - if you're looking for something with a distinct start, middle and end, forget about it. But if you want to feel like you're watching a war through a pinhole, I would recommend this book to you.

In terms of conventional novels, I would give this a 2/5 because I don't think it will satisfy a lot of readers. But I'm going to give it 4/5 because I love the kind of confusion that it gave me. ( )

I received this book from a Librarything giveaway.

I tried to like the story. I really tried.
But it just seemed like it was rambling on and on without any meaning.
The thought of a zombie Stalin was interesting.
But I didn't like the way it worked out.
I had to give up and put the book down after the first few chapters. ( )

I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
I am not the right reader for this book. I generally enjoy Russian literature, though I am not familiar with Semyonov’s character, but when I read the book synopsis about it cutting deeper into human consciousness, how the character is a ghostly remnant, and zombie Stalin haunting the city, I was expecting something a lot deeper and atmospheric. It just seems really choppy, abrupt, and nonsensical to me. ( )

Thanking the author for this opportunity to read and review Colonel Stierlitz.

"Max Otto von Stierlitz (Russian: Шти́рлиц, IPA: [ˈʂtʲirlʲɪts]) is the lead character in a popular Russian book series written in the 1960s by novelist Yulian Semyonov and of the television adaptation Seventeen Moments of Spring, starring Vyacheslav Tikhonov, as well as in feature films, produced in the Soviet era, and in a number of sequels and prequels. Other actors portrayed Stierlitz in several other films. Stierlitz has become a stereotypical spy in Soviet and post-Soviet culture, similar to James Bond in Western culture." (Source: Wikipedia)

Robin Wyatt Dunn plays with the ghostly remnant of Semyonov's literary character and how! From page one on, it is superfast paced! So fast, it's crazy! Stierlitz is a handful. If I wouldn't have stepped on the brake, I would have turned out just as insane as he is! Or was this just a dream? I'm still not sure. What on the other hand is a lot clearer, is why we didn't see the zombie Stalin more on the foreground. Although this was something I initially wished for, before I understood he actually symbolizes how he somehow still tints Russia today.

Fascinating, but probably not to everyone's taste... ( )

This is one of several books I requested in the month of May from Library Thing Early Reviewers Group; I only wish I had won something else. I saw the description of the book and thought it sounded interesting; I also read other posts that talked about how the character of Colonel Stierlitz has existed in Russia for some time. I had high hopes. Unfortunately, the book just wasn't for me. I don't necessarily need a linear story line to enjoy a book, but it would be nice to have some sense to the story. This to me kept me wondering if the whole story was a hallucination, a dream, or what. Characters die and come back to life. People take other forms. Okay, that's fine. I get the whole zombie and/or shape shifting phenomenon. but it still just never made a cohesive whole to me. Sorry. Maybe at 52, I've aged out of this type of novel. ( )