Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final da...
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Mar 27, 2008
Adrianne
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For the first 170 pages, I felt like the Alexander was beating a dead horse by focusing on the same four points over and over again. 1)Leonka was the kitchen boy, 2)Although Tsar and Tsaritsa had many failings, they were good people that deeply loved their family and Russia, 3) The conditions the Romanovs were kept in were terrible with little hope of escape, and 4)Misha hated himself for how history unfolded. Seriously, I was sick of these points being described again and again. Yet, I didn'
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Mar 28, 2008
Leanna
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Robert Alexander’s The Kitchen Boy is a fictionalized account of the Romanovs’ last days. Several historical records mention a kitchen boy working for Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra during their captivity in Yekaterinburg. These references inspired the novel.
Misha is the kitchen boy. In the late 1990s, he lives in the United States and has recently lost his wife. Before dying himself, he makes a tape for his granddaughter, explaining exactly what happened to the Romanovs on the More...
Misha is the kitchen boy. In the late 1990s, he lives in the United States and has recently lost his wife. Before dying himself, he makes a tape for his granddaughter, explaining exactly what happened to the Romanovs on the More...
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May 25, 2008
Sera
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I really loved this fictional account of the end of days for the Romanov family. Interwoven with real letters and other historical facts, the novel is about the young kitchen boy who worked for and supported the Romanov family while they were imprisoned by the Red Army. This book would be better read by those people who have some understanding of Nicholas II and his family prior to reading the book so as to be able to separate fact from fiction.
Alexander weaves a gripping tale of More...
Alexander weaves a gripping tale of More...
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Feb 06, 2009
Bettie
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The simplistic writing style seems to be the norm for historical-fiction nowadays and maybe it's to ensure the writing doesn't get in the way of the premise but the impact can be construed as patronising at times. Anyway, I am scooting through this and am just at the point where Nicholas reads The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which he considers useful, and the point is made that he never gets to realise that it was a hoax of colossal obnoxiousness.
Another thought that could be w More...
Another thought that could be w More...
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Mar 21, 2009
Clare
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 13, 2009
Marcy
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"One day he commands one-sixth of the world, the next he isn't even in charge of a single pane of glass." So starts the hypnotic, suspenseful tale of The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar. This tale is told through the eyes of the kitchen boy, who essentially became a part of Nicholas' family when they were imprisoned in the Ipatiev House in Siberia. He witnessed the deaths of the Tsar's family and felt responsible throughout his life for their deaths. Leonka, the kitchen boy,
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Feb 05, 2008
R.
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This book was fairly popular a few years back and I just finally got around to reading it. I have always been slightly enthralled by Russian culture and this book provided an easy read centered on the Romanov family's last days. The bulk of the book provides a detailed and sympathetic account of the families last days imprisoned in Siberia. The last part of the book is the true "historical-fiction" part that weaves an interesting and surprising twist on the fairly straight forward p
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May 17, 2008
Hirondelle
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What is the truth in fiction, in history and in historical fiction? This book made me think of it.
Something unusual but which I liked a lot in this book was the sense of research, the main narrator besides drawing on his personal experience also has a lifetime of researching those events and people he knew and drawing that into the narrative. I enjoyed that particularly specially how it is worked into the plot.
It took me quite a bit to actually finish this book, the p More...
Something unusual but which I liked a lot in this book was the sense of research, the main narrator besides drawing on his personal experience also has a lifetime of researching those events and people he knew and drawing that into the narrative. I enjoyed that particularly specially how it is worked into the plot.
It took me quite a bit to actually finish this book, the p More...
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Nov 15, 2007
Mara
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This little book packed a powerful punch! The author built an amazing tale from the mystery surrounding the execution of Tsar Nikolai, the last Tsar of Russia, and his family. Extremely suspenseful, ominous, and mysterious through to the last page. Particularly impressive considering the bulk of the story took place within limited space (a house in Siberia), time (approximately 2 weeks), with limited action (the family was under house arrest), and a known ending (telling you they are executed
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Dec 16, 2009
Alissa
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Having known neither anything about the Romanovs nor anything at all about Russian customs or the language, I found this book an excellent primer in those historical details many people are already familiar with. The way that the fiction is depicted within the well-researched, factual occurrences is well done, and very creative. At times, Alexander's writing style is....is annoying, but thankfully there are many dry spells of this "ellipsical" habit. The end is pretty gory (as only
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 12, 2009
Katie
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If I could I would give this a 3.5. I think it is worth reading. It is about the Romanov's last days before they were all brutally massacred. (I know, very uplifting.) I read this about a year ago and I still occasionally find myself thinking about what happened to Anastasia. You know, they never found her body. Creepy. Anyway, I was bothered that there was never an explanation of what was fiction and what was accurate. I don't like that. I like to know what parts I read are true and wh
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Feb 19, 2009
Julie
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I hate reading books in which you know the ending, and even though there were some surprises at the end, while I was reading it I didn't know that, so everytime the narrator referred to the horrible, bloody deaths that were to come, I felt like not reading. Combine that with the fact that I don't have much of an interest in Russian history, and I didn't find this book very compelling. However, it was still pretty interesting, so when I was bored or when my brain needed the kind of stimulation
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Jun 07, 2011
Dania
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This was an interesting, fictionalized take on the imprisonment and assassination of the Romanov family. It was believable, up until the very last pages when a character discovers she is the granddaughter of one one of the Romanov children. Preposterous. This would have been a fine story if it focused on the life of the kitchen boy as a servant to the Romanovs during their imprisonment, and as a witness to their execution. But, it took a crazy turn and became pure fantasy. Reading this book afte
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Jan 05, 2011
kari
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The story of the last Tsar of Russia and his family as seen through the eyes of one of their servants, the kitchen boy, Leonka. The details of the daily life, the hopes and fears the family endured in their last days, are played out with warmth and sympahty. The Tsar is portrayed as a loving family man and the portrait created of him and the Tsaritsa and their children is beautifully drawn.
It's written in such a way that you can feel the tension getting worse as the end nears and you'll b More...
It's written in such a way that you can feel the tension getting worse as the end nears and you'll b More...
Dec 23, 2010
Bernard
rated it: 
Our bishop's wife thought I would like this book since I'm a reader. Normally I would agree. In fact, I would be ecstatic about reading a new book especially one featuring the Romanov family.
As a teenager, I was fascinated by the ghastly history of the last Tsar of Russia and his family who were murdered by the Commies. The intrigue of the possibility of a living Romanov against all the odds was exciting! Regardless how they ruled, it was a horrendous way to die.
I r More...
As a teenager, I was fascinated by the ghastly history of the last Tsar of Russia and his family who were murdered by the Commies. The intrigue of the possibility of a living Romanov against all the odds was exciting! Regardless how they ruled, it was a horrendous way to die.
I r More...
Aug 04, 2010
Megan
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Jan 26, 2010
Allegra
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The Kitchen Boy by: Robert Alexander is a fictional novel about the last Tsar. It is told in the perspective of Lenoka, the kitchen boy, about the Tsar and his family's stay in the "house of special purpose" in Siberia, many years later via tape recording by Lenoka, to his grandaughter Kate. In the beginning of the book Leoka is not really a main character, until he becomes the secret spy for Tsar Nickolai II. Throughout the course of the book, Lenoka has to keep pausing because he say
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Jan 09, 2010
Joanna
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This was a great book. A well-wrought story, beautifully realized, and exceptionally well told. It is also a fascinating narrative trick to take a story (the last days of the Romanovs) with a known ending, and create all the suspense in the matter of how that particular ending comes about. In this novel, of course, the missing graves of two of the children have given rise to rampant historical speculation and grandiose what if dramas. But Alexander spins truths and half truths and flight of
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Dec 09, 2009
Krissie
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Feb 22, 2010
Robert Alexander brings to life the Romanovs' kitchen boy Leonka, whom the Bolsheviks mysteriously spared and who in turn vanished into the bloody tides of the Russian Revolution. But what did the young boy see in those final days of the Imperial Family? Would he know the truth of the secret letters smuggled to the Tsar? Where thirty-eight pounds of tsarist jewels are to be found? Why two bodies of the Romanov children are missing from the secret grave that was finally discovered in 1991?"
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Jan 05, 2011
Karen
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This fictional account of the last days of the Romanov family of Russia gives a glimpse of what the royal family members were really like set in the background of the Bolshevik revolution. The story is told by an aging man in Chicago who is re-living his days as the kitchen boy for the Tsar’s family who was kept with the family in their exile.
Although the horrific ending of the book and what occurs on July 16, 1918 is already known, the author creates an interest in the characters a More...
Although the horrific ending of the book and what occurs on July 16, 1918 is already known, the author creates an interest in the characters a More...
May 25, 2011
Jennifer
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Jul 16, 2011
Jgrace
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The Kitchen Boy – Robert Alexander
4 stars
Mikhail Semyonov has a confession to make. It’s a long story that he records on a cassette tape for his granddaughter to hear after his death. He claims to be the last living witness to the murder of the Romanovs. His confession details the Siberian confinement of the Tsar and his family from early June in 1918 until their murder in mid-July. It’s an intimate, painstaking report of a close, devout family in a desperate situation. Mikhail was More...
4 stars
Mikhail Semyonov has a confession to make. It’s a long story that he records on a cassette tape for his granddaughter to hear after his death. He claims to be the last living witness to the murder of the Romanovs. His confession details the Siberian confinement of the Tsar and his family from early June in 1918 until their murder in mid-July. It’s an intimate, painstaking report of a close, devout family in a desperate situation. Mikhail was More...
Feb 03, 2010
Sherrie
rated it:
I knew nothing about Tsar Nicolas, the Romanov family or the Russian Revolution before reading this book, but I was enthralled by the story. It was a fast and easy read, yet completely captivating.
Here's proof that you can still enjoy a story, even if you know how it ends before you begin.
I fell in love with the Romanov family, especially their loyalty to each other and their faithful servants, despite their horrible and erroneous reputation, and their questionable assocation with th More...
Here's proof that you can still enjoy a story, even if you know how it ends before you begin.
I fell in love with the Romanov family, especially their loyalty to each other and their faithful servants, despite their horrible and erroneous reputation, and their questionable assocation with th More...
Oct 24, 2009
Awallens
rated it:
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of
Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanovs' young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims to be the last
living witness to the Romanovs' brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family. Does he hold the key to the many questions
surrounding the fa More...
Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanovs' young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims to be the last
living witness to the Romanovs' brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family. Does he hold the key to the many questions
surrounding the fa More...
Jun 08, 2011
Camela
rated it:
Loved it! I love historical fiction. I get to learn more about history AND I get a great story. This is one of those books. And even though I knew it was going to end very badly, I still wanted to see it through. I especially enjoyed getting immersed in the Russian psyche. (from first reading)
I'm excited to be sharing this book with a new book club. Yes, I enjoyed it that much.
I'm excited to be sharing this book with a new book club. Yes, I enjoyed it that much.
Oct 14, 2010
Nastya
rated it:
The story is about the last witness of the murdering of the last Russian Tsar's family. He is a kitchen boy and he serves to the Family at the Ipatiev House. They all kept as imprisoners and guided by Bolsheviks They are people who want to stop reigning of the Tsar. After while the Family started to recieve a notes in French language from people, who want to save them. Notes were recieved trough the kitchen boy and gave a hope to escapin from that house. I like this book because it reminds me my
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Mar 07, 2009
Heather
rated it:
Really clever story of the final days in the House of Special Purpose told from the perspective of the young kitchen servant, who describes his role in a failed escape plot alongside the torturous daily life of the family under house arrest.
Although we know the ending all too well, the author has created a page-turner with as many plot twists and subtle hints as a good murder mystery. I majored in Russian/Soviet history so my standard for accuracy is quite high, and this book passes More...
Although we know the ending all too well, the author has created a page-turner with as many plot twists and subtle hints as a good murder mystery. I majored in Russian/Soviet history so my standard for accuracy is quite high, and this book passes More...
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Oct 16, 2010
Carrie
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This was incredibly interesting until the very end. There were a few stylistic things that I didn't like such as the use of ellipses, which was frequent, and using Russian words or phrases then translating them directly after. Both seemed to be a way to take up more space and word counts.
There was a great deal of redundancy throughout the work which made it drag terribly at points, there was also a lot of useless information, things that didn't matter to either history or the storylin More...
There was a great deal of redundancy throughout the work which made it drag terribly at points, there was also a lot of useless information, things that didn't matter to either history or the storylin More...
Jun 29, 2009
Anne Hawn
rated it:
While this was a work of fiction, it was consistent with most of the known facts about the Tzar and his family. I have long been fascinated with the events that led to the murder and I enjoyed the way this put some flesh onto the known facts, and then presented a fictitious speculation as to the ending of the story. Because the bones of two of the children; Alexi and one of the sisters were not found with the rest this was always grist for the fiction mill.
In each of the books on t More...
In each of the books on t More...
