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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Fascinating look into the life of the family of the last tsar of Russia! Just don’t dwell too much on the many people (with difficult Russian names!) on the fringes of the story.
I started reading Zadie Smith's novel "NW" and came to the part of the book where an animal dies. I hate it when that happens! So I put the book aside & decided if I felt like it, I would come back to it. The book I read while waiting was "The Romanov Sisters," which tells me that I can't handle fictional animals dying in books, but the violent real-life deaths of an entire family are just fine to read about!
I read "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert Massie when I was a history-obsessed teenager, so when I heard about this book I thought it would be interesting, and it is. I have no particular love for royalty, though I enjoy reading about historical personalities more than events and theory, so I've certainly read a lot about various royal families. That said, I understand the events of the Russian Revolution. May it be a lesson to us all, and lead us to understand that extreme income inequality doesn't work, and will lead to pain and violence and death.
Nicholas and Alexandra were rather obtuse people who didn't see what was happening around them, and didn't understand what the results might be. I don't think they were cruel, malevolent people. I think it's unfortunate that their son was a hemophiliac, as this led them to withdraw from political figures who might have helped them, and from life in general, as they sought to protect him. The people who needed to see them, couldn't, and this led to an even greater perception that the tsar & his family were completely uninterested in the common people, and led to a lot of gossip and unfriendly publicity about them.
I feel very sad that George V of England didn't make a much greater effort to rescue the family, who might have lived out their lives on some English estate - though Nicholas and Alexandra both had vowed never to leave Russia, I think they would have, given the right opportunity. Maybe what happened to them was inevitable, and Alexey (their son) was never going to live to be very old, because of his illness.
But the daughters could have had fairly normal lives outside of Russia. It was interesting to read about their different personalities, and how they reacted to the huge changes that overtook them at the outbreak of World War I. They were no more deserving than anyone else, but no less so, either. Their gentleness, their ability to weather change, their caretaking of one another, their brother and mother, their sense of humor, and their ability to find joy in the smallest things and the most repetitive tasks, made them come to life for me. This was a well written and compassionate multiple biography.
I read "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert Massie when I was a history-obsessed teenager, so when I heard about this book I thought it would be interesting, and it is. I have no particular love for royalty, though I enjoy reading about historical personalities more than events and theory, so I've certainly read a lot about various royal families. That said, I understand the events of the Russian Revolution. May it be a lesson to us all, and lead us to understand that extreme income inequality doesn't work, and will lead to pain and violence and death.
Nicholas and Alexandra were rather obtuse people who didn't see what was happening around them, and didn't understand what the results might be. I don't think they were cruel, malevolent people. I think it's unfortunate that their son was a hemophiliac, as this led them to withdraw from political figures who might have helped them, and from life in general, as they sought to protect him. The people who needed to see them, couldn't, and this led to an even greater perception that the tsar & his family were completely uninterested in the common people, and led to a lot of gossip and unfriendly publicity about them.
I feel very sad that George V of England didn't make a much greater effort to rescue the family, who might have lived out their lives on some English estate - though Nicholas and Alexandra both had vowed never to leave Russia, I think they would have, given the right opportunity. Maybe what happened to them was inevitable, and Alexey (their son) was never going to live to be very old, because of his illness.
But the daughters could have had fairly normal lives outside of Russia. It was interesting to read about their different personalities, and how they reacted to the huge changes that overtook them at the outbreak of World War I. They were no more deserving than anyone else, but no less so, either. Their gentleness, their ability to weather change, their caretaking of one another, their brother and mother, their sense of humor, and their ability to find joy in the smallest things and the most repetitive tasks, made them come to life for me. This was a well written and compassionate multiple biography.
I read Nicholas and Alexandra many years ago and really enjoyed it. So the Romanov Sisters wasn't going to give me any information that I hadn't already known or been familiar with from Massie's book. That being said, The Romanov Sisters was a pleasant refresher. Rappaport's writing style is very readable and very enjoyable. I still get verklempt thinking about the horrors those girls endured during the revolution.
This is a good intro to the life of the last ruling Tsar of Russia and his family.
This is a good intro to the life of the last ruling Tsar of Russia and his family.
A very thorough description of the lives of the Romanov Sisters through the eyes of a Russian White Regime apologist. But at least I now know a lot about the sisters' favorite officers?
I enjoyed this straightforward biography of the four Romanov sisters – Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. They didn’t live very long; the eldest was in her early 20s when they were murdered by the new Bolshevik regime.
Except for their position, they were very ordinary young girls – devoted to their parents, conventionally religious, not particularly ostentatious. During the first world war, they all worked in a hospital, and did everything from rolling bandages to assisting at operations. They really could have been anybody, but instead, they happened to be members of the royal family of Russia at a time of enormous change.
The book also gives an interesting portrait of Nicholas, who seems like a modest family man who really has little interest in ruling, but accepts it as his duty. He really should have been a farmer, as he loved outside work. And Alexandria seems a bit neurotic and high-strung, but mostly devoted to her husband and children.
Grigori Rasputin is part of the scene too, and the book doesn’t try to pass judgement on him. We see him mostly through the girls’ eyes, as a trusted friend of the family who manages to perform some healing magic every time their fragile little brother (a hemophiliac) goes through a health crisis.
The background – a divided and tumultuous Russia – is part of the story. But this book is definitely not about that. It’s about the little oasis that this family created for themselves, even when under house arrest in Siberia. This is a portrait of four young girls who had no reason or desire to harm anyone. Their only sin was a certain cluelessness about where the world was going – and this book conveys that too, but gently.
Except for their position, they were very ordinary young girls – devoted to their parents, conventionally religious, not particularly ostentatious. During the first world war, they all worked in a hospital, and did everything from rolling bandages to assisting at operations. They really could have been anybody, but instead, they happened to be members of the royal family of Russia at a time of enormous change.
The book also gives an interesting portrait of Nicholas, who seems like a modest family man who really has little interest in ruling, but accepts it as his duty. He really should have been a farmer, as he loved outside work. And Alexandria seems a bit neurotic and high-strung, but mostly devoted to her husband and children.
Grigori Rasputin is part of the scene too, and the book doesn’t try to pass judgement on him. We see him mostly through the girls’ eyes, as a trusted friend of the family who manages to perform some healing magic every time their fragile little brother (a hemophiliac) goes through a health crisis.
The background – a divided and tumultuous Russia – is part of the story. But this book is definitely not about that. It’s about the little oasis that this family created for themselves, even when under house arrest in Siberia. This is a portrait of four young girls who had no reason or desire to harm anyone. Their only sin was a certain cluelessness about where the world was going – and this book conveys that too, but gently.
Modern TMZ: Trash. Historical TMZ per Helen Rapport: Treasure. It seems many have critiqued the book for being dull, but I found this particularly fascinating and gobbled it down in the blink of an eye. I think this book really sheds light on the humanity of the imperial family. What happened to them is a true tragedy. And, respectfully, to whoever said that this book didn’t include “the most interesting thing about their life – their death,” please seek therapy. What a horrific thing to say about people.
I listened to this as an audiobook. I haven’t read a historical book before but this was so interesting to learn about these historical figures from multiple different points of views as the author referenced many letters written by the Romanov sisters and others close to them.
Excellent subject matter in the Romanov sisters:Tatiana, Olga, Maria and Anastasia. There isn't much literature on this fascinating family. This book is extremely well-researched and brings the the early 20th century to life for those of us who can only obtain information from the written word.
It was unfortunate that the Romanov family led such an isolated life, for this one attribute, history could have unfolded with an entirely different outcome. Alexandra, the mother, appears to be the catalyst for the downfall. Her health issues, and her insistence for isolation for the family.... and her ties to Rasputin bred disaster for the family. It is amazing the number of times that Rasputin appeared to intervene for the sickly Alexas, the heir and only male child of the Romanov's.
If you like a history accounting that reads more akin to fiction then this is for you. I don't think that The Romanov sisters would sit well as a history book though.
The audio book could have been better. It reads continuous with almost no chapter spacing.
Best quote from the book and best to end my summary with this one:
“For her, and for other loyal retainers and friends left behind, the memory of those four lovely sisters in happier times, of their many kindnesses, of their shared joys and sorrows – the ‘laughing faces under the brims of their big flower-trimmed hats’ – would continue to linger during the long, deadening years of communism.22 As, too, would the memory of their vivacious brother who daily challenged his life-threatening disability and refused to be cowed by it. And always, hovering in the background, a woman whose abiding virtue – and one that, perversely, destroyed them all in the end – was a fatal excess of mother love.”
This book describes the four Grand Duchesses lives before they were brutally murdered. All events lead up to the events before their massacre (this book does not go into great detail of their murder). It's a very informative, educational book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rappaport does an excellent job portraying the four Romanov sisters. The author's writing style is easy to read and carefully brings each sister to life both as a separate entity and as a member of this fascinating family. The author does counter stereotypes and presents them as complicated multifaceted young women. The book is extremely well researched, well written, and informative. In truth, I found them in the end to be brave and courageous and would recommend this book for reading by women of all ages, but particularly those in their later teens and twenties.