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Pushkin and the Queen of Spades
Windsor Armstrong has a problem: her brilliant boy, Pushkin X, has become a football superstar and is planning to marry a Russian lap dancer. In Windsor's opinion, Pushkin is throwing away every good thing she has given him. When she was an unwed teen mother, Windsor attended Harvard, leaving her shady Detroit roots behind. She raised her son to be fiercely intelligent, well-spoken, and proud. Now he lives for pro football and a white woman of no account. Outraged by her son's decisions but devoted to loving him right, Windsor prepares to give up her last secret: the identity of Pushkin's father.
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2004
2 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Alice Randall
19 books169 followersAlice Randall (born Detroit, Michigan) is an American author and songwriter. Randall grew up in Washington, D.C.. She attended Harvard University, where she earned an honors degree in English and American literature, before moving to Nashville in 1983 to become a country songwriter. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is married to attorney David Ewing.
Randall is the first African American woman to write a number one country hit. Over 20 of her songs have been recorded, including several top ten and top forty records; her songs have been performed by Trisha Yearwood and Mark O'Connor.
Randall is also a novelist, whose first novel The Wind Done Gone is a reinterpretation and parody of Gone with the Wind. The Wind Done Gone is essentially the same story as Gone with the Wind, only told from the viewpoint of Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister Cynara, a mulatto slave on Scarlett's plantation. The estate of Margaret Mitchell sued Randall and her publishing company, Houghton Mifflin, on the grounds that The Wind Done Gone was too similar to Gone with the Wind, thus infringing its copyright. The lawsuit was eventually settled, allowing The Wind Done Gone to be published. The novel became a New York Times bestseller.
Randall's second novel, Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, was named as one of The Washington Post's "Best fiction of 2004."
Randall is the first African American woman to write a number one country hit. Over 20 of her songs have been recorded, including several top ten and top forty records; her songs have been performed by Trisha Yearwood and Mark O'Connor.
Randall is also a novelist, whose first novel The Wind Done Gone is a reinterpretation and parody of Gone with the Wind. The Wind Done Gone is essentially the same story as Gone with the Wind, only told from the viewpoint of Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister Cynara, a mulatto slave on Scarlett's plantation. The estate of Margaret Mitchell sued Randall and her publishing company, Houghton Mifflin, on the grounds that The Wind Done Gone was too similar to Gone with the Wind, thus infringing its copyright. The lawsuit was eventually settled, allowing The Wind Done Gone to be published. The novel became a New York Times bestseller.
Randall's second novel, Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, was named as one of The Washington Post's "Best fiction of 2004."
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 22, 2019
Randall's novel is dedicated To Daddy and Detroit. The first line "Look what they done to my boy!" And then we join Windsor Armstrong in a dark sketchy bar where she has gone to drink and disappear. You might want to sit down next to her and let Windsor read you her story. Feels like that whatever place you choose to read the book: Windsor's story has you pinned. As she examines her life, rearranges her memory, claws at identifying herself in a way that can make way for her son's upcoming wedding, we're there. Ordering another Cutty. This book is personal, painful and profound. Randall cuts open her psyche, and shares it with us.
September 10, 2007
This book was slow b/c of the approach the author chose. It is a lot of internal monologue and a cyclical time structure. The book hits its stride about midway when the kaliedescopic stories the author has been telling about her childhood, as well as the kaliedescopic stories she has been telling about her life as a mother start to line up and the reader has a sense of the linear time frame of these events. Before the story clicks, it's a bunch of interesting stories that you know hang together somehow, but you're just not sure how. After it clicks, the novel is quite moving and engaging. I found one excerpt quite shocking--when the father explains why the daughter could never be "turned out"--but also moving. I skipped a lot of the internal monologue/internal conversation as some of it just didn't intrigue me as much as the characters interacting. Overall it was a good read, even if I had to push to get through the initial chapters.
November 25, 2010
Really, really good. Gritty. Honest. Amazing.
Alice Randall is one of my son's profs this semester -- and next as well. Lucky him. She is a Vanderbilt treasure.
Alice Randall is one of my son's profs this semester -- and next as well. Lucky him. She is a Vanderbilt treasure.
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April 15, 2019I've read this before and remember none of it. So again I shall go.
December 25, 2019
I really did not know what to think of this book, or even if I liked it. It's rather dense in places and requires the reader to be fully present and on their toes. I took a long (9 months?) break in the middle of reading before coming back to it and finished it mostly out of stubbornness... but once I convinced myself to actually sit down and read it, I was engaged.
Written in the first person, the book really captures its narrator's pedantic, slightly neurotic personality, which makes it in turns engaging and exhausting. Despite it being positioned as a soul-baring exercise, Windsor Armstrong seems at time an unreliable narrator of her own life story - which is, again, fascinating and confusing by turns.
I'm not sure whether I recommend this book. It's certainly an experience to read!
Written in the first person, the book really captures its narrator's pedantic, slightly neurotic personality, which makes it in turns engaging and exhausting. Despite it being positioned as a soul-baring exercise, Windsor Armstrong seems at time an unreliable narrator of her own life story - which is, again, fascinating and confusing by turns.
I'm not sure whether I recommend this book. It's certainly an experience to read!
November 26, 2018
I thought this was highly amusing. Our main character, Windsor Armstrong, names her son Pushkin after the black Russian writer and has high hopes for him. She disapproves of his life choices, including playing football and dating a white stripper. But she's hiding a few unwise life decisions of her own... (I'm guess on the read date, but it had to be either 2004 or 2005.)
January 11, 2026
It was just ok. Not a waste of time. There were some good parts and then some really mid.
November 9, 2009
Pushkin and the Queen of Spades: A Novel, by Alice Randall, is an extraordinarily rich novel whose richness is partially but not entirely founded on the references she makes to other literary works.
The name "Alice Randall," was not familiar to me, but I was peripherally aware of another book she has written, The Wind Done Gone, because it was the subject of a well-publicized copyright violation lawsuit brought by the Estate of Margaret Mitchell; Ms. Mitchell, of course,is the author of Gone With the Wind. Upon ordering The Wind Done Gone from my local library, I saw that Ms. Randall had written Pushkin, as well, and decided to check it out.
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin is the poet who, in Russian language and literature, occupies a higher place in the pantheon than does Shakespeare in English language and literature. (I prefer to interpret this fact as meaning that Russian language and literature has fewer great luminaries than does English. Make of that what you will). Pushkin wrote two novellas that Ms. Randall mines in her own novel, Pushkin. The more well known is The Queen of Spades, which tells the story of a grasping German living in Russia and serving in the Russian military, who seeks to win at cards by terrorizing an old Countess into telling him her supernatural secret. She does so before she dies of fright, and he plays the cards at the gambling table, only to find out, at the last card (where he has staked everything), that the old Countess has struck back at him from beyond the grave: he names the ace but the Queen of Spades comes up. The less well known is Peter the Great's Negro, an unfinished novella, telling the story of Pushkin's own great-grandfather, Abraham Hannibal. Abraham was an African, kidnapped (perhaps from Ethiopia) and sold into slavery, to be purchased and raised as god-son by Peter the Great, czar of Russia. Pushkin tells the story of his ancestor's dalliances with a French Countess in France, and then, upon return to Russia, of his upcoming nuptials -- at Peter the Great's orchestration -- to a high-born Russian lady. The novella ends there, with Abraham's doubts that his future white bride will ever come to love him, a black man.
And so we come to Ms. Randall's novel. She tells the story of a black woman, Windsor, who was born in Detroit of gangster royalty, raised in Washington D.C. by a manipulative and vicious mother, impregnated by rape before she started her freshman year at Harvard, and who bore the baby, named him "Pushkin" (in honor of the great Russian poet with a black ancestor), and eventually became a tenured professor at Vanderbilt. Pushkin, Windsor's son, grows up to be an NFL star. The ostensible conflict arises when Pushkin announces his intention to marry white Tanya, a pole dancer who immigrated from Russia. This story -- Windsor's story -- is a good story in its own right. She traces her own ancestry, vividly evoking her father and other members of her family, and grounds herself as a black scholar, having grown up in our own imperfect, racist America, who now has achieved a place in the "ebony tower." She struggles with her feelings about the rape that culminated in the birth of her beloved son, and with her feelings about her son's choice of mate. (A portion of this may well be autobiographical; see the Wikipedia entry on Alice Randall).
And since Windsor is a scholar, significant portions of the tale are told with references to other literary works, enriching the story with their own stand-alone meanings. There is a pivotal reference to Gone With the Wind, Ms. Randall's own bete noire, important comparisons to Shakespeare's Othello, copious references to Peter the Great's Negro, and one -- glancing -- reference to The Queen of Spades. Windsor compares her mother, who orchestrated Windor's rape, to the Queen of Spades, that is, to the old Countess who takes her revenge on Pushkin's protaganist from beyond the grave.
I feel as though I am missing something here -- clearly Pushkin's The Queen of Spades means more to Ms. Randall than the mere use of the word "spade" as a deragatory synonym for "black" -- but I do not see the parallels. Of course, Windsor herself, as Pushkin's mother, may play the "Queen of Spades" role in this novel, but in order for that to work, just as for the comparison to Windsor's mother to work -- Windsor must rewrite the ending to Pushkin's Queen of Spades as she rewrites --nay, completes -- the unfinished novella of Peter the Great's Negro. In Windsor's story, her own machinations and her mother's machinations may well turn out to bear happy fruit, whereas the old Countess's revenge completely ruined Pushkin's protaganist. All in all, though, a good -- interesting and thought-provoking -- read.
The name "Alice Randall," was not familiar to me, but I was peripherally aware of another book she has written, The Wind Done Gone, because it was the subject of a well-publicized copyright violation lawsuit brought by the Estate of Margaret Mitchell; Ms. Mitchell, of course,is the author of Gone With the Wind. Upon ordering The Wind Done Gone from my local library, I saw that Ms. Randall had written Pushkin, as well, and decided to check it out.
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin is the poet who, in Russian language and literature, occupies a higher place in the pantheon than does Shakespeare in English language and literature. (I prefer to interpret this fact as meaning that Russian language and literature has fewer great luminaries than does English. Make of that what you will). Pushkin wrote two novellas that Ms. Randall mines in her own novel, Pushkin. The more well known is The Queen of Spades, which tells the story of a grasping German living in Russia and serving in the Russian military, who seeks to win at cards by terrorizing an old Countess into telling him her supernatural secret. She does so before she dies of fright, and he plays the cards at the gambling table, only to find out, at the last card (where he has staked everything), that the old Countess has struck back at him from beyond the grave: he names the ace but the Queen of Spades comes up. The less well known is Peter the Great's Negro, an unfinished novella, telling the story of Pushkin's own great-grandfather, Abraham Hannibal. Abraham was an African, kidnapped (perhaps from Ethiopia) and sold into slavery, to be purchased and raised as god-son by Peter the Great, czar of Russia. Pushkin tells the story of his ancestor's dalliances with a French Countess in France, and then, upon return to Russia, of his upcoming nuptials -- at Peter the Great's orchestration -- to a high-born Russian lady. The novella ends there, with Abraham's doubts that his future white bride will ever come to love him, a black man.
And so we come to Ms. Randall's novel. She tells the story of a black woman, Windsor, who was born in Detroit of gangster royalty, raised in Washington D.C. by a manipulative and vicious mother, impregnated by rape before she started her freshman year at Harvard, and who bore the baby, named him "Pushkin" (in honor of the great Russian poet with a black ancestor), and eventually became a tenured professor at Vanderbilt. Pushkin, Windsor's son, grows up to be an NFL star. The ostensible conflict arises when Pushkin announces his intention to marry white Tanya, a pole dancer who immigrated from Russia. This story -- Windsor's story -- is a good story in its own right. She traces her own ancestry, vividly evoking her father and other members of her family, and grounds herself as a black scholar, having grown up in our own imperfect, racist America, who now has achieved a place in the "ebony tower." She struggles with her feelings about the rape that culminated in the birth of her beloved son, and with her feelings about her son's choice of mate. (A portion of this may well be autobiographical; see the Wikipedia entry on Alice Randall).
And since Windsor is a scholar, significant portions of the tale are told with references to other literary works, enriching the story with their own stand-alone meanings. There is a pivotal reference to Gone With the Wind, Ms. Randall's own bete noire, important comparisons to Shakespeare's Othello, copious references to Peter the Great's Negro, and one -- glancing -- reference to The Queen of Spades. Windsor compares her mother, who orchestrated Windor's rape, to the Queen of Spades, that is, to the old Countess who takes her revenge on Pushkin's protaganist from beyond the grave.
I feel as though I am missing something here -- clearly Pushkin's The Queen of Spades means more to Ms. Randall than the mere use of the word "spade" as a deragatory synonym for "black" -- but I do not see the parallels. Of course, Windsor herself, as Pushkin's mother, may play the "Queen of Spades" role in this novel, but in order for that to work, just as for the comparison to Windsor's mother to work -- Windsor must rewrite the ending to Pushkin's Queen of Spades as she rewrites --nay, completes -- the unfinished novella of Peter the Great's Negro. In Windsor's story, her own machinations and her mother's machinations may well turn out to bear happy fruit, whereas the old Countess's revenge completely ruined Pushkin's protaganist. All in all, though, a good -- interesting and thought-provoking -- read.
November 23, 2011
Years and years ago, I read Randall's "The Wind Done Gone", a (not sure if you'd call it a parody) of "Gone with the Wind". You might recall there was quite a bit of controversy about the book; Mitchell's estate sued Randall for unauthorized use of Mitchell's work (ring a bell with any Harry Potter fans?) In the end,Randall prevailed and the book was published.
I found "Wind Done Gone" a hoot and actually quite well-written.
Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago; I was browsing the library Audio book shelves and came across "Pushkin and the Queen of Spades". Interesting title, no? It's about Windsor, a 40-something African American woman, highly educated (a Professor at Vanderbilt) and fiercely devoted to her race, who discovers that her only child, a 20-something professional football player whom she named after an African American poet who (supposedly, I'm not sure as I've not researched this) invented the modern Russian language, is about to marry a white Russian lap dancer. The entire book is written as a letter/memoir from Windsor to her son Pushkin. It goes back and forth between Windsor's (dysfunctional) childhood, her college days at Harvard, the circumstances around Pushkin's conception, her love of Pushkin the Russian, etc., etc.
Frankly, I should have stopped listening to this after the 1st CD. Although well written, it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a rant on white people. Although tolerable in "Wind Done Gone", I found it way over the top in this story.
I plowed on, though; parts of it were engaging enough even as I rolled my eyes at others.
Around disk 8, Windsor is summarizing "everything" for Pushkin in what basically amounts to a rap poem. This went on for TWO disks and, by the time I got to disk 10 (the last disk), I'd had enough and stopped listening. So, for me to get to almost the end and give up, that should tell you that it really, really sucked!
I found "Wind Done Gone" a hoot and actually quite well-written.
Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago; I was browsing the library Audio book shelves and came across "Pushkin and the Queen of Spades". Interesting title, no? It's about Windsor, a 40-something African American woman, highly educated (a Professor at Vanderbilt) and fiercely devoted to her race, who discovers that her only child, a 20-something professional football player whom she named after an African American poet who (supposedly, I'm not sure as I've not researched this) invented the modern Russian language, is about to marry a white Russian lap dancer. The entire book is written as a letter/memoir from Windsor to her son Pushkin. It goes back and forth between Windsor's (dysfunctional) childhood, her college days at Harvard, the circumstances around Pushkin's conception, her love of Pushkin the Russian, etc., etc.
Frankly, I should have stopped listening to this after the 1st CD. Although well written, it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a rant on white people. Although tolerable in "Wind Done Gone", I found it way over the top in this story.
I plowed on, though; parts of it were engaging enough even as I rolled my eyes at others.
Around disk 8, Windsor is summarizing "everything" for Pushkin in what basically amounts to a rap poem. This went on for TWO disks and, by the time I got to disk 10 (the last disk), I'd had enough and stopped listening. So, for me to get to almost the end and give up, that should tell you that it really, really sucked!
February 5, 2013
I have no idea what I read. But I'm finished. The book started out with a mother grappling with upcoming wedding of her son to a Russian woman. The story uncovers how she came to have a son at a young age; her relationships with her parents and her love for Alexander Pushkin. There was A LOT of poetry type writing, as well as the story going back and forth between the present and future. Whew! I haven't given up on Alice Randall. I'm planning to read Ada's Rules.
March 13, 2012
Interesting book, I didn't like Windsor very much when I first met her. I thought she was a bigot, a snob, and way, way too judgmental. The more I read of her story and her background the more I softened towards her, at the same time she softens towards Tanya her beloved son's fiancee.
December 29, 2014
I wrote some of my reflections of the book and how I looked at it as a writer on my blog: https://cornerstorepress.wordpress.co...
August 11, 2007
starts slow, but pretty good
April 30, 2009
"...anything you have enough time to go back to, has time enough to change." - Alice Randall
December 19, 2010
read this for bookclub. Thought-provoking. Worth reading!
August 19, 2014
The scenes in Detroit brought back memories.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews