The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar

by Robert Alexander | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0142003816 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/11/2015
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, March 11, 2015
I got this good-condition softcover from a local Salvation Army thrift shop - and on sale day, yet! I've read a lot about the deaths of Tsar Nicholas and his family, with the real-life story being more intense than any fiction - but this is a novel looking at those events from the viewpoint of a humble kitchen boy.

There's a framing device, too, with scenes set in 1998 as the narrator, now an old man, writes his memoirs - with gradually-increasing references to his one great lie and to a series of secrets that seem bound to unravel in the modern-day segments. But the majority of the story details the lives of the Romanovs and their small household in the final weeks of their captivity. The kitchen boy describes the appearance of secret messages suggesting a possible rescue, the casual cruelties and occasional kindnesses of their guards, the different ways in which the family reacted to their situation, and the growing sense of horror as their eventual fate is revealed.

And, yes, there are twists - which, alas, are undercut a wee bit as History Marches On. The book was written (and its modern-day segments set) in between the discovery of the remains of most of the family and the eventual discovery of the final two missing bodies, so its plot focuses on the mystery of those last two individuals. I didn't have a problem choosing to suspend disbelief, though, and would rather have liked to have the book's version of events turn out to be true {rueful grin}.

The author has done a lot of research, with many of the passages featuring excerpts from actual letters, notes, and reported conversations; the fictionalized elements of the story are a relatively small percentage of the total.

[There's apparently a film adaptation in production, though I didn't see anything about the release date.]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, May 11, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (5/11/2015 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

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I'm sending this to BCer maggiesma in Washington, as part of the US/Canada wishlist tag game. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by maggiesma at Vancouver, Washington USA on Sunday, May 17, 2015
This arrived yesterday. Thanks for tagging me.

Journal Entry 4 by maggiesma at Vancouver, Washington USA on Thursday, June 2, 2016
Interesting book with many details, but an ending that seemed rushed.

Journal Entry 5 by maggiesma at Jan's Dog Grooming in Vancouver, Washington USA on Saturday, July 16, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (7/16/2016 UTC) at Jan's Dog Grooming in Vancouver, Washington USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On book shelf.

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