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avigail 's review for:
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar
by Robert Alexander
This extremely well written novel reads like a true life adventure story. It's a tale of the murder of the Russian imperial family in 1918 in their place of exile in Siberia, told by one of the people who was present at the time. The plot ranges from revolutionary times up to the present day, and involves a deep, dark mystery: why were two of the bodies never discovered? The reader is quickly drawn into the story, and the writing is such that, even though you know the terrible fate which awaits the last Tsar and his family, you keep hoping the ending will be different. This last part of the book is excellent with some unexpected plot twists, which brings the tale to a bittersweet conclusion.
The author often is lengthy in his writing and provides the reader with a rich feel for Russian culture and history.
While Alexander tells a fictional story he does so while drawing heavily from historical events. Real people did real things, and some of those things were heinous. Looking back through nearly 100 years of history it is easy to see what was not clear then, which is that in murdering the Romanovs the Bolsheviks were revealing their true colors as ruthless murderers, willing to do anything to grasp and maintain power. And in doing so they paved the way for profound brutality and ruthlessness that continue today.
The author often is lengthy in his writing and provides the reader with a rich feel for Russian culture and history.
While Alexander tells a fictional story he does so while drawing heavily from historical events. Real people did real things, and some of those things were heinous. Looking back through nearly 100 years of history it is easy to see what was not clear then, which is that in murdering the Romanovs the Bolsheviks were revealing their true colors as ruthless murderers, willing to do anything to grasp and maintain power. And in doing so they paved the way for profound brutality and ruthlessness that continue today.