A review by hildalev
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

1.0

I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, even though I have one or two books of this genre that I really love. I prefer to live in the "how" rather than in "what if". About the first third of the book, I didn't like this one either because it is advertised as something where you can feel the happenings of the last days of the last tsar through the eyes of a mere kitchen boy, but all I could see through the lines was a middle-aged American writer with his American views and style. Now, I was raised on the great Russian literature, where there is a distinct representation of "simple people", countrymen or kitchen boys. They may not have the intellectual knowledge, but they have a big heart, a big soul and a big philosophical wisdom. And even if this kitchen boy fled to America and learned more facts, this simple wisdom, this heart doesn't just go away. To me, he sounded much more like a researcher, not the person who thinks back and in a way projects himself back into this kitchen boy. He piles up facts, like: this is now in this museum and that is in that museum, and you, reader, can check it out afterwards. And I don't need facts, I learned them at school. And from the news. I want a believable character. Later in the book, I think, he gets a bit more philosophical, a bit more Russian. And the prospective changes very much of course at the end of the book when we realize that he was actually on the other side for a while. On the Red side. The Reds are more people of action and are more eager to give critics to the tsars, even if they end up to be on their side in the end. So that made me more in peace with the representation of the character, even if he still doesn't seem quite Russian to me and too researcher-like. But what I absolutely loved was the detective part of the story. It was exiting and still unexpected, even though I learned of course at school the rumors about Mary being alive. All in all, even tough parts of the story weren't how I felt them, I was left with a positive experience and with more knowledge both about the theme and about myself. And that's what I like about books.