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ckjaer88's review against another edition
4.0
Great biography, really well-written and shows the different sides of this prominent woman. Normally I'm quite critical about how bios are written; if they seem too familiar with the historic person I can't take them all that seriously. But this one is very matter of fact, and most emotional statements are followed by the actual letters or drafts. Now since I haven't studied the woman, Russias history or any of the other players in her world, I'm taking all the facts on good faith. I'm not going to give it five stars, mainly because I haven't read any other bios of Catherine II, so I don't have any competitors to compar it to.
sierraseawitch's review against another edition
4.0
When I was on a walking tour of St. Petersburg our guide introduced me to Catherine the Great with this: "She usurped the throne from her incompetent husband who some people think she later killed, which, you know, she probably did."
While that particular story is not so simple, no other statement so clearly marked the feeling Russian's have about Catherine the Great even two centuries after her death. She started as an outsider, did a lot of questionable things, but is held with pride in Russian hearts. I knew I needed to learn more about her, which led me to this book.
"Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" is an incredibly fascinating, intimate, and exhaustively researched biography about a monarch we learned far too little about in school. I began this booking knowing little to nothing about Catherine the Great and finished it feeling like an expert due to the amount of detail Robert K. Massie poured into these 600 pages.
I began this book on my last day on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and wish desperately that I had read this book prior to entering Russia. It gave me a crisp look into a significant period of Russian history that is still relevant today in Russia's artistic reputation, architectural monuments, and patriotic spirit.
As much as I enjoyed this book I must warn you that it is not for the faint of heart. Most biographies have to be very tenuously stitched together, particularly if the subject lived over two hundred years prior. Not so with Catherine the Great. Massie and other biographers are lucky that her life was so thoroughly documented by herself and those around her. That is what makes this royal biography singular. There is very little speculation made on Catherine's experiences and feelings because, well, she wrote it down herself.
I would recommend this book to anyone visiting Russia, interested in European culture of the 18th Century, and anyone looking to learn about a highly celebrated badass female monarch who isn't England's Elizabeth the First.
While that particular story is not so simple, no other statement so clearly marked the feeling Russian's have about Catherine the Great even two centuries after her death. She started as an outsider, did a lot of questionable things, but is held with pride in Russian hearts. I knew I needed to learn more about her, which led me to this book.
"Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" is an incredibly fascinating, intimate, and exhaustively researched biography about a monarch we learned far too little about in school. I began this booking knowing little to nothing about Catherine the Great and finished it feeling like an expert due to the amount of detail Robert K. Massie poured into these 600 pages.
I began this book on my last day on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and wish desperately that I had read this book prior to entering Russia. It gave me a crisp look into a significant period of Russian history that is still relevant today in Russia's artistic reputation, architectural monuments, and patriotic spirit.
As much as I enjoyed this book I must warn you that it is not for the faint of heart. Most biographies have to be very tenuously stitched together, particularly if the subject lived over two hundred years prior. Not so with Catherine the Great. Massie and other biographers are lucky that her life was so thoroughly documented by herself and those around her. That is what makes this royal biography singular. There is very little speculation made on Catherine's experiences and feelings because, well, she wrote it down herself.
I would recommend this book to anyone visiting Russia, interested in European culture of the 18th Century, and anyone looking to learn about a highly celebrated badass female monarch who isn't England's Elizabeth the First.
fantasyfunk's review against another edition
3.0
This book is hard to place on a scale. At times, it’s a 5 and other times it’s a 2 or even a 1. After some debating in my head I’m going to give it a 3.5, but it’s not enough to round it up to a 4.
This book started off as a 5 and I loved it. The story of Catherine (then Sophia) growing up, being picked as the bride for the heir to the Russian Empire, and her years spent in Russia was great. Massie interspaced entries from her own memoirs into these years and it really added a great personal flavor to the history. Granted I didn’t know that story going into this book but it’s a very interesting look at a girl getting out from under her family and turning into a strong woman.
Then Catherine becomes Empress and the book takes a huge nose-dive. Just when I thought it was going to really get interesting. Instead of continuing the solid chronological narrative, the author suddenly decides to tackle broad topics related to Catherine’s reign – her legal code book, her various lovers, Poland, philosophy, art etc. All important things to her rule but it’s a very jarring switch. Plus he bounces around in the timeline until I have no real sense of when these things are happening. The crème de la crème occurs when suddenly there’s a chapter on the French revolution and the death penalty.
The author eventually jumps back towards a chronological narrative but he never recovers the strength of the beginning. There’s still a lot of year jumping so that it feels like you learn about something only to go back in time and build the years up to it. Not the smoothest read for sure and while I was more interesting in the historical events, I never felt like I got a solid look at Catherine’s full reign as Empress.
Before you know it, Catherine is an old woman. Like I really had a holy shit moment of why is her health failing suddenly?! What do you mean she’s in her 60s and her grandson is like 17 and people think she wants him to be heir?! HE WAS JUST BORN?! Then she’s gone and that’s the book. I really could have used a legacy chapter here or even a little bit of what happened next to the family.
Honestly I think Massie tried to tackle too much in one book. It’s understandable given her amazing life and the interesting journey she took to the Russian throne. It was definitely a 5 star read for me. I wish he would have sorted out her life as Empress and folded broad issue topics into the narrative as they occurred as a second book. I can recommend the first part of this book. If you want to learn about Catherine pre-Empress, it is definitely an intriguing story. Just don’t expect to be too excited about her life as Empress.
This book started off as a 5 and I loved it. The story of Catherine (then Sophia) growing up, being picked as the bride for the heir to the Russian Empire, and her years spent in Russia was great. Massie interspaced entries from her own memoirs into these years and it really added a great personal flavor to the history. Granted I didn’t know that story going into this book but it’s a very interesting look at a girl getting out from under her family and turning into a strong woman.
Then Catherine becomes Empress and the book takes a huge nose-dive. Just when I thought it was going to really get interesting. Instead of continuing the solid chronological narrative, the author suddenly decides to tackle broad topics related to Catherine’s reign – her legal code book, her various lovers, Poland, philosophy, art etc. All important things to her rule but it’s a very jarring switch. Plus he bounces around in the timeline until I have no real sense of when these things are happening. The crème de la crème occurs when suddenly there’s a chapter on the French revolution and the death penalty.
The author eventually jumps back towards a chronological narrative but he never recovers the strength of the beginning. There’s still a lot of year jumping so that it feels like you learn about something only to go back in time and build the years up to it. Not the smoothest read for sure and while I was more interesting in the historical events, I never felt like I got a solid look at Catherine’s full reign as Empress.
Before you know it, Catherine is an old woman. Like I really had a holy shit moment of why is her health failing suddenly?! What do you mean she’s in her 60s and her grandson is like 17 and people think she wants him to be heir?! HE WAS JUST BORN?! Then she’s gone and that’s the book. I really could have used a legacy chapter here or even a little bit of what happened next to the family.
Honestly I think Massie tried to tackle too much in one book. It’s understandable given her amazing life and the interesting journey she took to the Russian throne. It was definitely a 5 star read for me. I wish he would have sorted out her life as Empress and folded broad issue topics into the narrative as they occurred as a second book. I can recommend the first part of this book. If you want to learn about Catherine pre-Empress, it is definitely an intriguing story. Just don’t expect to be too excited about her life as Empress.
susannavs's review against another edition
4.0
What an interesting woman! Not Russian, yet she ruled in her own right. It was very interesting how she repeated the mistakes that Empress Elizabeth had made, and also - probably - followed in her footsteps in marrying "beneath" her. I had no idea she was such a collector and had so many lovers. I really like Massie's writing and enjoyed learning more about one of Russia's more well known rulers.
irreverentreader's review against another edition
4.0
A thorough and interesting biography, covering several different aspects of the Catherine's reign. I particularity enjoyed learning about her desire for all things art and enlightenment-a facet that wasn't touched on in my college Russian history class. Only thing I didn't like was that it wasn't necessarily in chronological order and therefore jumped around, which made for a bit of repetition. It probably could have been 100 pages shorter.
elempr's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. I was worried it would be too dry, but Massie somehow manages to include a plethora of factual information while simultaneously making the book an engaging telling of Catherine's story. I also appreciated Massie's insights as to the strengths and weaknesses of key players in the story, particularly Peter, Johanna, and Princess Dashkova. Massie presents individuals in shades of gray, avoiding the 2D characterizations so common other biographies. He paints Catherine not only as a thoroughly capable, intelligent woman who governed with compassion, but also as a person who was good-tempered, appreciated the arts, and loved to laugh.
I also appreciated most of Massie's digressions, though some readers may not. For me, it was enlightening to read brief accounts on Voltaire and Diderot, two philosophers Catherine greatly admired, because it helped me better understand her relationship to these men and their ideas. However, I found his discussion of the French Revolution extremely odd. For one thing, Massie launched into this discussion abruptly and with little transition, so that after a while I was wondering how this tied back to Catherine the Great. But what I found most confusing was Massie's brief, but disturbing musings on the guillotine - particularly his exploration of whether the severed heads of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette may have retained consciousness for some agonizing seconds. This had absolutely nothing to do with Catherine, and should have been cut by Massie's editor.
Overall, however, I thought this was a great book.
I also appreciated most of Massie's digressions, though some readers may not. For me, it was enlightening to read brief accounts on Voltaire and Diderot, two philosophers Catherine greatly admired, because it helped me better understand her relationship to these men and their ideas. However, I found his discussion of the French Revolution extremely odd. For one thing, Massie launched into this discussion abruptly and with little transition, so that after a while I was wondering how this tied back to Catherine the Great. But what I found most confusing was Massie's brief, but disturbing musings on the guillotine - particularly his exploration of whether the severed heads of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette may have retained consciousness for some agonizing seconds. This had absolutely nothing to do with Catherine, and should have been cut by Massie's editor.
Overall, however, I thought this was a great book.
pfmack's review against another edition
5.0
Empress Catherine II of Russia was an enigma of her time. Although born Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst, a minor German Princess of little importance to the massive empire of Empress Elizabeth, she rose through rebellion to become the most beloved ruler of Russia since Peter the Great. Massie brilliantly recounts the many trials, tribulations, and heartaches that eventually produce Catherine the Great. We are quickly drawn into the often sad and equally harsh life of Catherine, whose “good fortune” at being betrothed to the future ruler of Russia, was overshadowed by the failures of her marriage (most importantly, the inability to produce an heir) and the almost constant displeasure of Empress Elizabeth. However, Catherine is able to rise above these obstacles to grab the throne from her husband just months after he is pronounced Czar. The major strength of this work is Massie’s ability to focus on the humanity and complexity of the Russian court. No person is one dimensional, not even Catherine’s childish and inept husband Peter. Catherine’s inability to live up to her enlightenment ideals (specifically, her inability to end serfdom) is also not spared the author’s critical scrutiny. Despite its length, Massie has written a superb biographical work that is almost impossible to put down. Catherine the Great is highly recommended for anyone that enjoys historical nonfiction and biography.
ceroon56's review against another edition
4.0
Reread. Had too after watching that goofy Hulu series!
kathiej's review against another edition
5.0
Such an amazing woman. I should have read this earlier in my life. She took nothing much and made quite a bit of everything around her.