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heroineinabook's review against another edition
1.0
How a story that begins with the end of the Romanovs, the killing of Rasputin, and told from the viewpoint of a teenager who entices the beloved son could be yawn inducing is perhaps a mystery, but there you go. I made it through 67 pages before giving up as I was neither titillated nor engaged by the content. The characters are flat, the exposition was repetitive, and it felt like someone had whipped through Wikipedia to get descriptions and recarved them into their own words. Harrison has been applauded by her use of language and world building, but as this is my first introduction to her, I saw none of the magic that apparently makes her beloved.
Do not recommend.
Do not recommend.
erincataldi's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED this book!! It was easily the best historical fiction I've read all year. One of the reasons I loved this book so much was the fact that it took place in St. Petersburg and I just visited there over the summer and knew pretty much all the palaces and sites they described. It was like reliving my trip!
The story follows Rasputin's daughter, Masha, as she copes with the brutal death of her father and the overthrow of the Tsar. She and her sister are exiled along with the Tsar's family and in their confinement she becomes close with the Tsar's son, frail Aloysha. To pass the time as they await their fate, Masha weaves beautiful stories for the bedridden tsaravvitch, about the history of her family, her father's past as a healer and the young love of Nikolay and Alexandra (Aloysha's parents and former rulers of Russia).
It's beautiful, sad, and exquisitely written and it will inspire you to check out more about this horribly misunderstood chapter of Russian history. Too often we villify Rasputin as a sorcerer (in Hollywood and in history) but this tale humanizes him and his family and brings to life the distressful last days of the Tsar's family (we all know what happens, but we still power through in this novel hoping that magically history will indeed change itself and save their family).
An absolute must read. You won't regret it!
The story follows Rasputin's daughter, Masha, as she copes with the brutal death of her father and the overthrow of the Tsar. She and her sister are exiled along with the Tsar's family and in their confinement she becomes close with the Tsar's son, frail Aloysha. To pass the time as they await their fate, Masha weaves beautiful stories for the bedridden tsaravvitch, about the history of her family, her father's past as a healer and the young love of Nikolay and Alexandra (Aloysha's parents and former rulers of Russia).
It's beautiful, sad, and exquisitely written and it will inspire you to check out more about this horribly misunderstood chapter of Russian history. Too often we villify Rasputin as a sorcerer (in Hollywood and in history) but this tale humanizes him and his family and brings to life the distressful last days of the Tsar's family (we all know what happens, but we still power through in this novel hoping that magically history will indeed change itself and save their family).
An absolute must read. You won't regret it!
kdurham2's review against another edition
3.0
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Each story that Masha told Alyosha built the history of their parents and their country and then the end happened where they told of the fall of Alyosha's father and family. I am so thankful that the author added Alyosha's journal to complete the story, so the reader wasn't left wondering about the details that occurred once Masha and Alyosha were separated. I definitely wondered throughout the book what I could note was historically accurate and what was fiction - I love when a book keeps me guessing.
Each story that Masha told Alyosha built the history of their parents and their country and then the end happened where they told of the fall of Alyosha's father and family. I am so thankful that the author added Alyosha's journal to complete the story, so the reader wasn't left wondering about the details that occurred once Masha and Alyosha were separated. I definitely wondered throughout the book what I could note was historically accurate and what was fiction - I love when a book keeps me guessing.
kathleenww's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting novel, and at times, it was very compelling reading. Masha, Grigory Rasputin's older daughter, is ensconced with the Romanov family after her father's hideous death, as they are taken prisoner by the Bolsheviks. She has become acquainted with the family over the years since her father has been very close to the Tsarina and the Romanov's only son, Aloysha, who is afflicted with hemophilia.
While Harrison is a very thoughtful writer with an wonderful prose style, I really felt like there were times in the story that she was really reaching. I understand adolescents will think about sex, and try to experiment. The few paragraphs of the novel addressing that aspect of the friendship with Aloysha and Masha just seemed too anachronistic and not true to life, as well as some of the other similar incidents in the book. I have not read very much about the Romanovs, only in a fictional setting, so I have no real clue as to what the relationship might have been like, although I do trust Harrisons' research and fascination with the Romanovs.
I did not know much about Rasputin's family going into this book, so I am intrigued. I will probably read more about the Romanovs and the Rasputins in the future, since their story is truly a fascinating one, and I felt some disappointment in this novel, it left me feeling like something was missing. I never quite felt I made a real connection with Masha, who tells her story in the novel. I read Robert Alexander's The Kitchen Boy a few years back, and it just really sang, whereas this novel left me feeling flat and unsatisfied at the end. Not a flop, but somewhat of a disappointment. I think Romanov buffs will want to read it for the different spin on Rasputin it presents. But story wise, it was weak for me, overall. The ending felt rushed and forced, and the story itself didn't flow. I was usually able to put the book down and simply forget about it.
While Harrison is a very thoughtful writer with an wonderful prose style, I really felt like there were times in the story that she was really reaching. I understand adolescents will think about sex, and try to experiment. The few paragraphs of the novel addressing that aspect of the friendship with Aloysha and Masha just seemed too anachronistic and not true to life, as well as some of the other similar incidents in the book. I have not read very much about the Romanovs, only in a fictional setting, so I have no real clue as to what the relationship might have been like, although I do trust Harrisons' research and fascination with the Romanovs.
I did not know much about Rasputin's family going into this book, so I am intrigued. I will probably read more about the Romanovs and the Rasputins in the future, since their story is truly a fascinating one, and I felt some disappointment in this novel, it left me feeling like something was missing. I never quite felt I made a real connection with Masha, who tells her story in the novel. I read Robert Alexander's The Kitchen Boy a few years back, and it just really sang, whereas this novel left me feeling flat and unsatisfied at the end. Not a flop, but somewhat of a disappointment. I think Romanov buffs will want to read it for the different spin on Rasputin it presents. But story wise, it was weak for me, overall. The ending felt rushed and forced, and the story itself didn't flow. I was usually able to put the book down and simply forget about it.
stevienlcf's review against another edition
4.0
Kathryn Harrison brings a fresh perspective to familiar history by scrupulously and sensuously retelling the end of the Russian monarchy through the eyes of Masha Rasputin, the 18 year old daughter of the peasant mystic healer from Siberia,Grigory Rasputin. After the "mad monk" was brutally murdered amidst rumors of his demonic power over Russia's fate, Masha and her younger sister become wards of Tsar Nikolay and his family. The tsarina believes that Masha can, like her father, preserve the health of her beloved Alyosha, a hemophiliac.
While the royal family and its retainers are under house arrest, Masha invents stories to amuse the ailing Alyosha. They spin stories both real and imagined about the courtship of Nikolay and Alexandra, who were ill-suited for the demands of public life. With a political crisis looming, the pair are hastily married a mere 18 days after Tsar Alexander's death. Immediately after the wedding, it became clear that "the two were doomed to always do wrong no matter how pure their intent." Masha reveals that her father suffered unrelenting grief after the death of his first infant son, and found himself in a monastary where the abbot explained that his life would be entertwined with Russia's rulers, and that he would die a martyr. Despite the fact that he was unwashed and illiterate, Rasputin seduced numerous women and was a proficient healer, eventually bringing him to the attention of Alexandra who had been "bargaining" with God to not take her bleeding son.
When the Tsar and his family are transported to Tobolsk in Siberia, purportedly for their own safety (although the isolation made it impossible for loyal royalists to free them) Masha wanders throughout Europe with with her husband, the "charlatain" Boris. Rasputin had wed Masha to Boris before Rasputin's murder as he foretold that Russia would descend into civil war and he thought that Boris could help Masha escape the country. Several years after the tsar and his family are executed, Masha, who is now performing as a horseback acrobat and a lion tamer in circuses around the world, receives delivery of the journal that Alyosha kept the moths before he and his family were executed.
A tender new perspective on familiar historical events.
While the royal family and its retainers are under house arrest, Masha invents stories to amuse the ailing Alyosha. They spin stories both real and imagined about the courtship of Nikolay and Alexandra, who were ill-suited for the demands of public life. With a political crisis looming, the pair are hastily married a mere 18 days after Tsar Alexander's death. Immediately after the wedding, it became clear that "the two were doomed to always do wrong no matter how pure their intent." Masha reveals that her father suffered unrelenting grief after the death of his first infant son, and found himself in a monastary where the abbot explained that his life would be entertwined with Russia's rulers, and that he would die a martyr. Despite the fact that he was unwashed and illiterate, Rasputin seduced numerous women and was a proficient healer, eventually bringing him to the attention of Alexandra who had been "bargaining" with God to not take her bleeding son.
When the Tsar and his family are transported to Tobolsk in Siberia, purportedly for their own safety (although the isolation made it impossible for loyal royalists to free them) Masha wanders throughout Europe with with her husband, the "charlatain" Boris. Rasputin had wed Masha to Boris before Rasputin's murder as he foretold that Russia would descend into civil war and he thought that Boris could help Masha escape the country. Several years after the tsar and his family are executed, Masha, who is now performing as a horseback acrobat and a lion tamer in circuses around the world, receives delivery of the journal that Alyosha kept the moths before he and his family were executed.
A tender new perspective on familiar historical events.
wimzie's review against another edition
4.0
Harrison's weaving of points in time can take a bit to adjust to. The reader already knows the outcome of the story before they begin, but Harrison lures you in with Masha's honest and observant perspective.
jasmyn9's review against another edition
5.0
An interesting tale of the fall of the Tzars in Russia. Not told by any of the familiar characters, it is instead told by the daughter of Rasputin. Sent away to live with the young royals after her father is murdered, she presents an interesting viewpoint of what "really" happened when it all fell apart. One of the best historical fiction pieces I've read.
bellatora's review against another edition
2.0
Harrison is good at the “history” part, but not quite so adept at the “fiction” part. She’s got a talent for presenting historical events in a clear and evocative manner. And her presentation of historical figures – when you get rid of all the bizarre trappings she’s added to them – seems to be mostly an honest, humanized portrayal.
But this is a book in search of a plot, which I don’t think it ever found. It’s like Harrison came up with an idea “A partly intellectual, partly physical love affair between Rasputin’s daughter and Alexei (“Aloysha" in this book), the haemophilic heir of the Russian Empire.” And then she tore up biographies of Rasputin and the Romanovs and threw the pages in the air and then inserted whatever page she picked up into the narrative. Which is to say – it’s not chronological and there are random skips in the narrative to the pasts of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra and to the pasts of Rasputin.
The thing is, Harrison is not a bad writer. Each individual segment is well-written. It is just so jumbled together that it feels muddled and pointless. And what I would call the “main” storyline – the relationship between Masha Rasputin and Alexei Romanov - was just weird. First of all, it was so focused on them that all the other characters are completely extraneous. The last Tsar and Tsarina are background figures and the four grand duchesses (Alexei’s sisters, including the infamous Anastasia) are not even background figures, referred to almost entirely as OTMA (their initials) as if they are one hive-mind unit and are about as active in the story as pieces of furniture. As if afraid she will steal the protagonist’s thunder, Harrison excludes Anastasia as a character entirely. Masha’s own sister barely figures in, and her only characteristics are: she’s a compulsive liar and she prefers the company of OTMA to Masha. Maybe that’s why Masha leaves her behind in revolutionary Russia when she escapes the country and is not sorry at all that she basically left her to die (which she does).
The other thing is, Harrison seems to feel that if Alexei Romanov has to die young, he can at least get laid before it happens. Which. Okay. I guess I can see that. Still bizarre. Especially since he was 13 when he died. This means that he and Masha might have begun their frantic fumblings back when he was all of about 12 (I think Harrison bumps him up to 14 for this book, though). And she was 18. I do not think that this is usually fodder for romance (and can you imagine the uproar if their genders were swapped?). Given the fact that Masha and her sister were not in reality invited by the Tsarina to live with the royal family and so this whole illicit Masha/Alexei relationship is totally made up by Harrison, it is even more bizarre.
But this is a book in search of a plot, which I don’t think it ever found. It’s like Harrison came up with an idea “A partly intellectual, partly physical love affair between Rasputin’s daughter and Alexei (“Aloysha" in this book), the haemophilic heir of the Russian Empire.” And then she tore up biographies of Rasputin and the Romanovs and threw the pages in the air and then inserted whatever page she picked up into the narrative. Which is to say – it’s not chronological and there are random skips in the narrative to the pasts of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra and to the pasts of Rasputin.
The thing is, Harrison is not a bad writer. Each individual segment is well-written. It is just so jumbled together that it feels muddled and pointless. And what I would call the “main” storyline – the relationship between Masha Rasputin and Alexei Romanov - was just weird. First of all, it was so focused on them that all the other characters are completely extraneous. The last Tsar and Tsarina are background figures and the four grand duchesses (Alexei’s sisters, including the infamous Anastasia) are not even background figures, referred to almost entirely as OTMA (their initials) as if they are one hive-mind unit and are about as active in the story as pieces of furniture. As if afraid she will steal the protagonist’s thunder, Harrison excludes Anastasia as a character entirely. Masha’s own sister barely figures in, and her only characteristics are: she’s a compulsive liar and she prefers the company of OTMA to Masha. Maybe that’s why Masha leaves her behind in revolutionary Russia when she escapes the country and is not sorry at all that she basically left her to die (which she does).
The other thing is, Harrison seems to feel that if Alexei Romanov has to die young, he can at least get laid before it happens. Which. Okay. I guess I can see that. Still bizarre. Especially since he was 13 when he died. This means that he and Masha might have begun their frantic fumblings back when he was all of about 12 (I think Harrison bumps him up to 14 for this book, though). And she was 18. I do not think that this is usually fodder for romance (and can you imagine the uproar if their genders were swapped?). Given the fact that Masha and her sister were not in reality invited by the Tsarina to live with the royal family and so this whole illicit Masha/Alexei relationship is totally made up by Harrison, it is even more bizarre.
wendycity's review against another edition
4.0
I found myself going back to the internet to learn more about the history of Rasputin and the Romanov's, and of Maria -- the basic facts of the story are all true, with fictionalized extrapolation. Remarkable woman, fascinating historical moment.