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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
While this book got me to look up on some Russian history which I don't remember from high school, it just wasn't a favorite for me. I just "liked" it.
The ending took me by surprise! Everyone who wants to know about Russian pride, and the history should read this book!
This was a pure joy to read, I don't know a lot about the Romanovs beside the big events. It is a very good historical drama, the voice of the narrator is very well written. I know this is a work of fiction; but it is based on real events and the imagination of the author gives us a beautiful story. As much as I loved the book, I did not see the ending so in the end it was a great mystery!
I have a friend who comes from Kyrgyzstan and regrets the fall of the Soviet Union. It is hard to understand her point of view because since I'm from Canada, I always had the image of the bad USSR growing up and I thought the end of that country a good thing. It is just different point of views and that's what history is all about; I love that, that we can understand each other even if traditionally we wouldn't have. History is full of people who paid with their lives for the revolutions that went through their countries, many victims and they weren't all perfect or devils just plain people who made mistakes and were perceived badly. For me the Romanovs, Marie-Antoinette and her king are just humans who had a sad end and knowing more about them is one thing I like about history maybe one of my next book purchase will be a biography of the last Tsar or his Tsaritsa, the The Kitchen Boy gave me the curiosity to know more.
I have a friend who comes from Kyrgyzstan and regrets the fall of the Soviet Union. It is hard to understand her point of view because since I'm from Canada, I always had the image of the bad USSR growing up and I thought the end of that country a good thing. It is just different point of views and that's what history is all about; I love that, that we can understand each other even if traditionally we wouldn't have. History is full of people who paid with their lives for the revolutions that went through their countries, many victims and they weren't all perfect or devils just plain people who made mistakes and were perceived badly. For me the Romanovs, Marie-Antoinette and her king are just humans who had a sad end and knowing more about them is one thing I like about history maybe one of my next book purchase will be a biography of the last Tsar or his Tsaritsa, the The Kitchen Boy gave me the curiosity to know more.
Review originally posted on Tsundokuholic.
Overview: The Kitchen Boy
What would the last living witness to the execution of the Romanov family have to tell us about the final days of the Russian Imperial family? Did they live in comfort? How did they spend their days in exile? Did they have any idea of the fate that marched so closely on their heels? The titular character of Robert Alexander’s The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar recollects the last month of the royal family. Brought with the family to the Ipatiev House in Siberia, the kitchen boy describes his role in the family’s murder.
The story begins in 1998 as Leonka, called “Misha” since fleeing to the U.S. after the Romanovs’ murder, begins to record his story for his granddaughter to listen to after his death. Now 94-years-old and newly widowered, Leonka knows that he must finally reveal the secrets that he and his wife have closely guarded for eighty years. As he weaves his tale of days spent inside a house with limed windows preventing glimpses of the outside world, eating meager meals, witnessing the royal family calmly ignoring constant verbal and emotional abuse from guards, and passing on secret messages of hope and freedom smuggled in by nuns, Leonka is overcome with survivor’s guilt. Out of the entire family and household staff only Leonka was spared, whisked away under the pretense of visiting his uncle mere hours before the carnage began. Leonka looks back on his memories of ill and desperately lonely Tsarevitch Alexei, the beautiful Grand Duchesses, deeply religious and caring Tsaritsa Alexandra, and the dignified and resilient Tsar Nicholas II with absolute sadness and shame.
As a 14-year-old kitchen boy, Leonka was the only servant of the royal family allowed to leave the house on errands. When the royal family received notes promising that there was a plan to free them, Leonka became the perfect courier. The notes claimed to be from members of the White army, still loyal to the monarchy. They urged the family to prepare for an imminent rescue attempt.
Leonka saw the Romanovs light up at this injection of hope: the women hurriedly sewed family diamonds into their garments in case of a quick getaway. Under the watchful and intrusive eyes of the Red guards surveilling Ipatiev House, Leonka managed to whisk the family’s responses to the priest of the nearby church. Bubbling with excitement that he and his kind but flawed former rulers would soon be free, Leonka managed to pass three notes along. Then, something went terribly wrong and sent Leonka on a lifelong mission to find some way to apologize for his part in extinguishing eleven lives.
My Thoughts
My favorite reviews to write are reviews of books I loved, and I LOVED this book. I’ve been a fan of learning about the last Romanovs since the 1997 animated movie Anastasia and used to spend many of my first days on the Internet looking up anything I could find about the family. When I saw great reviews for The Kitchen Boy I knew I had to read it.
Having a background knowledge of Nicholas II and his family made me immediately appreciate Alexander’s attention to factual historical detail. If he wrote about an event I was unaware of, a Google search confirmed it was based on actual events during June and July 1918. Alexander is a lover of Russian history himself, and it shows. The fact that he could weave a fictional tale, and a plausible one at that, around the historical documents that piece together those last weeks at Ipatiev House is remarkable. Even though we now know that Alexei and Maria were indeed killed along with their family, Alexander’s writing kept me hoping that he could change history.
Leonka/Misha’s experience with the family paints them in a sympathetic light. However, he’s not one to shy away from criticizing the Tsar and Tsaritsa’s foolish and headstrong decisions, blaming them for their own circumstances. He’s neither entirely forgiving or damning the royal family, but rather portrays them as actual humans with character flaws and a lack of foresight. In my experience, it’s rare to see historical figures given this kind of consideration in fiction. Many historical fiction novels paint famous figures in black and white, which helps lead to the public’s view of these people as good or evil. The truth is much more complex than that, and Alexander is willing to tackle it.
Knowing the fate that awaits the Romanovs makes for constant suspense in the story, but just wait until you reach the final thirty pages. I was an emotional wreck. Will Leonka finally be able to tell all his secrets and forgive himself?
Rating: 5 out of 5 Fabergé eggs
Overview: The Kitchen Boy
What would the last living witness to the execution of the Romanov family have to tell us about the final days of the Russian Imperial family? Did they live in comfort? How did they spend their days in exile? Did they have any idea of the fate that marched so closely on their heels? The titular character of Robert Alexander’s The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar recollects the last month of the royal family. Brought with the family to the Ipatiev House in Siberia, the kitchen boy describes his role in the family’s murder.
The story begins in 1998 as Leonka, called “Misha” since fleeing to the U.S. after the Romanovs’ murder, begins to record his story for his granddaughter to listen to after his death. Now 94-years-old and newly widowered, Leonka knows that he must finally reveal the secrets that he and his wife have closely guarded for eighty years. As he weaves his tale of days spent inside a house with limed windows preventing glimpses of the outside world, eating meager meals, witnessing the royal family calmly ignoring constant verbal and emotional abuse from guards, and passing on secret messages of hope and freedom smuggled in by nuns, Leonka is overcome with survivor’s guilt. Out of the entire family and household staff only Leonka was spared, whisked away under the pretense of visiting his uncle mere hours before the carnage began. Leonka looks back on his memories of ill and desperately lonely Tsarevitch Alexei, the beautiful Grand Duchesses, deeply religious and caring Tsaritsa Alexandra, and the dignified and resilient Tsar Nicholas II with absolute sadness and shame.
As a 14-year-old kitchen boy, Leonka was the only servant of the royal family allowed to leave the house on errands. When the royal family received notes promising that there was a plan to free them, Leonka became the perfect courier. The notes claimed to be from members of the White army, still loyal to the monarchy. They urged the family to prepare for an imminent rescue attempt.
Leonka saw the Romanovs light up at this injection of hope: the women hurriedly sewed family diamonds into their garments in case of a quick getaway. Under the watchful and intrusive eyes of the Red guards surveilling Ipatiev House, Leonka managed to whisk the family’s responses to the priest of the nearby church. Bubbling with excitement that he and his kind but flawed former rulers would soon be free, Leonka managed to pass three notes along. Then, something went terribly wrong and sent Leonka on a lifelong mission to find some way to apologize for his part in extinguishing eleven lives.
My Thoughts
My favorite reviews to write are reviews of books I loved, and I LOVED this book. I’ve been a fan of learning about the last Romanovs since the 1997 animated movie Anastasia and used to spend many of my first days on the Internet looking up anything I could find about the family. When I saw great reviews for The Kitchen Boy I knew I had to read it.
Having a background knowledge of Nicholas II and his family made me immediately appreciate Alexander’s attention to factual historical detail. If he wrote about an event I was unaware of, a Google search confirmed it was based on actual events during June and July 1918. Alexander is a lover of Russian history himself, and it shows. The fact that he could weave a fictional tale, and a plausible one at that, around the historical documents that piece together those last weeks at Ipatiev House is remarkable. Even though we now know that Alexei and Maria were indeed killed along with their family, Alexander’s writing kept me hoping that he could change history.
Leonka/Misha’s experience with the family paints them in a sympathetic light. However, he’s not one to shy away from criticizing the Tsar and Tsaritsa’s foolish and headstrong decisions, blaming them for their own circumstances. He’s neither entirely forgiving or damning the royal family, but rather portrays them as actual humans with character flaws and a lack of foresight. In my experience, it’s rare to see historical figures given this kind of consideration in fiction. Many historical fiction novels paint famous figures in black and white, which helps lead to the public’s view of these people as good or evil. The truth is much more complex than that, and Alexander is willing to tackle it.
Knowing the fate that awaits the Romanovs makes for constant suspense in the story, but just wait until you reach the final thirty pages. I was an emotional wreck. Will Leonka finally be able to tell all his secrets and forgive himself?
Rating: 5 out of 5 Fabergé eggs
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was a bit of a slog to get through, there wasn’t really any new information in it for me, and the fictional twist and the end left me feeling a little meh. I think it’s mostly because the same points are repeated over and over, albeit in different words and none if the characters made me root for them. It’s a shame, as I really was quite excited for this one
Difficult but worth it
Since it's about the deaths of the Romanovs, this book is of course bloody, but it is excellent. The frame story is a bit awkward at times, but most of it is fascinating and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is very well researched and includes actual historical documents.
Since it's about the deaths of the Romanovs, this book is of course bloody, but it is excellent. The frame story is a bit awkward at times, but most of it is fascinating and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is very well researched and includes actual historical documents.
And onward with my newfound obsessions with the Romanovs! I just finished reading The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller yesterday and next thing I knew, was scampering off to the library to do some research, which is where I found this little gem. It's fictional but still breathtaking in a horribly grotesque way. I've always been fascinated by history and particularly the more tragic side of history and I sped through the last days of the Romanov family with interest. I already knew what the days were like and everything that happened but Robert Alexander did a rough retelling of the historical aspect and managed to do so with a new perspective. It was difficult at times to keep in mind that the book was a work of fiction, mostly because I wanted much of it to be true, especially the beginning of the end.
I do have to say, I was not thrilled by the ending. It was a jerky twist that came out of nowhere and seemed not to fit in. There was no foreshadowing as there should have been for such a twist and I found myself annoyed and disrupted by the end. The ending was what made it an obvious fictional piece, as if the author wanted to throw it in the readers face that what he was saying was not the truth. He went a little too far in my opinion.
I do have to say, I was not thrilled by the ending. It was a jerky twist that came out of nowhere and seemed not to fit in. There was no foreshadowing as there should have been for such a twist and I found myself annoyed and disrupted by the end. The ending was what made it an obvious fictional piece, as if the author wanted to throw it in the readers face that what he was saying was not the truth. He went a little too far in my opinion.
✩✩✩/5
°。°。°。°。°。Summary°。°。°。°。°。
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander follows the narration of a young kitchen boy, Leonka, as he tells his granddaughter a story he lived. This story is that of the imprisonment and eventual slaughter of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family.
“Although we suffer horribly still there is peace in our souls”
°。°。°。°。°。Characters°。°。°。°。°。
Knowing a little bit about the Russian Tsar, Nicholas II Romanov from my studies in my Russian History class was a totally different experience than reading about him fictionalized in this book. Something that Alexander did incredibly well in this book was humanize these real life people. For example, Nicholas' wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, became an entirely different entity in my eyes after reading this book. She softened my heart and become a kind and loving mother instead of the wife of the Tsar.
The way that Alexander wrote about the royal family and made me feel so positively towards them through the course of the book only made the ending for them that much more difficult for me to read. Obviously it isn't really a spoiler, if you don't know what happened to them at this point, but the brutal murder of the royal family, (even their beloved dog!) was awful for me to read. That being said, it was brilliantly written and handled.
“You see, my love. As you've always said, after the rain-"
Sun."
After the darkness-"
Light."
And after the illness-"
Health."
Exactly," said the Tsar. "We mustn't give up faith.” (Nicholas II to his wife, Alexandra)
°。°。°。°。°。Plot°。°。°。°。°。
The point of this book is to educate as well as entertain. I actually learned a lot about the Romanov's final weeks leading up to their death. Where Alexander took the most of his creative freedom was really with mysteries that will probably never be solved regarding the Romanov's death. Where did all of the crown's jewel's go? Where are the bodies of the two of the Romanov children, Alexei and his sister, Maria, who were never recovered? This book ventures to answer these questions and gives pretty interesting answers at that!
There are moments where the story feels a little stagnant but how many interesting things can happen when you're locked in house arrest 24/7.
Other than that, I felt as though the plot progressed well, the mystery of getting answers to those unanswerable questions mentioned before kept me wanting to read more and when I did finish it, I felt like I was letting go of old friends.
°。°。°。°。°。Overall °。°。°。°。°。
3/5 Stars to start our vacation around Europe.
This book is absolutely tragic and what makes it even worse is that most of it is true! Robert Alexander does an incredible job of making us feel for the Tsar and his family. Not only was it an interesting work of fiction, but it also has a lot of historical value to it as well.