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I am Anastasia; The Autobiography of the Grand Duchess of Russia.
The exciting story of Anastasia, the Grand- Duchess of Russia. Written by Anastasia herself.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 5, 2015
Title: I Am Anastasia: The Autobiography of the Last Grand Duchess of Russia
By: Notes by Roland Krug von Nidda. Translated German by Oliver Coborn
“Anastasia” starts her autobiography with background information on her childhood, and the weeks leading up to the execution. She narrates the bloody scene, how she “survived”, and how she was saved. During that time, she eventually takes on the name Tchaikovsky, after one of the men who saved her. (Part of the book where it is more like Eugenia’s account.) “Mrs. Tchaikovsky” is now in Germany, and attempts to take her life on a bridge when she admitted into the Dalldorf mental institute for an extended period of time. Because she has no identification papers, and is not willing to say her name, she is identified as “Miss Unknown”. While she was being hospitalized, a patient in Dalldorf claimed that the unknown woman was Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna. This claim was proved wrong by a former maid-in-waiting. After much talk about how she did seem to look like one of the grand duchesses,“Miss. Unknown” somehow realizes that she is not Tatiana, but Anastasia. Moved to a host family, many extended members of the imperial family are brought in from where “Anastasia” rests, trying to decipher if she is infact the last grand duchesses. (part of the book where it is more like Franziska Schanzkowska's)
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As I read the book, not knowing it was entirely fake, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The “first hand” descriptions on the behavior of people, living conditions, and other facts about the time period were very interesting to me. In addition, I wanted to know what happened at the Ekaterinburg execution. I did have my suspicions in the beginning, but I ignored them. Which turned out to be the biggest mistake in my reading career. I now strongly believe that you should always look into something before you read it, to see if it is factual or not. Since the book is very old, and was translated, I did have difficulty reading some of the text, but that only added to my ignorant bliss that it was “more real”. I felt like this book was a very large eye opener for me, and I have read more accurate books on the Romanov’s.
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The book I Am Anastasia, though a fake account, deserves a 3.85/5.00 Stars. It is worth a read, if you know it is made up and enjoy finding the little “loopholes” the writer took to make a convincing stroy. The (totally avoidable) disappointment on my part took away some of the feelings of the book after the fact, but I enjoyed it while I was reading, and I walked away with more information than I started with.
By: Notes by Roland Krug von Nidda. Translated German by Oliver Coborn
“Anastasia” starts her autobiography with background information on her childhood, and the weeks leading up to the execution. She narrates the bloody scene, how she “survived”, and how she was saved. During that time, she eventually takes on the name Tchaikovsky, after one of the men who saved her. (Part of the book where it is more like Eugenia’s account.) “Mrs. Tchaikovsky” is now in Germany, and attempts to take her life on a bridge when she admitted into the Dalldorf mental institute for an extended period of time. Because she has no identification papers, and is not willing to say her name, she is identified as “Miss Unknown”. While she was being hospitalized, a patient in Dalldorf claimed that the unknown woman was Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna. This claim was proved wrong by a former maid-in-waiting. After much talk about how she did seem to look like one of the grand duchesses,“Miss. Unknown” somehow realizes that she is not Tatiana, but Anastasia. Moved to a host family, many extended members of the imperial family are brought in from where “Anastasia” rests, trying to decipher if she is infact the last grand duchesses. (part of the book where it is more like Franziska Schanzkowska's)
.
As I read the book, not knowing it was entirely fake, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The “first hand” descriptions on the behavior of people, living conditions, and other facts about the time period were very interesting to me. In addition, I wanted to know what happened at the Ekaterinburg execution. I did have my suspicions in the beginning, but I ignored them. Which turned out to be the biggest mistake in my reading career. I now strongly believe that you should always look into something before you read it, to see if it is factual or not. Since the book is very old, and was translated, I did have difficulty reading some of the text, but that only added to my ignorant bliss that it was “more real”. I felt like this book was a very large eye opener for me, and I have read more accurate books on the Romanov’s.
.
The book I Am Anastasia, though a fake account, deserves a 3.85/5.00 Stars. It is worth a read, if you know it is made up and enjoy finding the little “loopholes” the writer took to make a convincing stroy. The (totally avoidable) disappointment on my part took away some of the feelings of the book after the fact, but I enjoyed it while I was reading, and I walked away with more information than I started with.
January 2, 2020
Didn’t finish the book. Interesting but I know how it ended.
June 15, 2019
Anderson's actual writing, her use of imagery and unique descriptions, and the subject of her novel, is impressive. There are certain lines in the novel that made me stop simply to admire her craft.
Unfortunately, she tries to employ a setting shift between chapters, that is not only ineffective but also confusing. There are writers who can master this technique, but it is a difficult style to do well, and Anderson is not one of them. The shifts happen so often, even a skilled reader needs to create a timeline in order to establish the order in which events take place, and unfortunately it becomes a distraction from her writing skills. It would be interesting to know the desired effect Anderson wants this to have on the reader, other than making them work too hard to organize the context of the story.
I look forward to reading one of her other novels to see if her craft shines through using an alternative structure.
Unfortunately, she tries to employ a setting shift between chapters, that is not only ineffective but also confusing. There are writers who can master this technique, but it is a difficult style to do well, and Anderson is not one of them. The shifts happen so often, even a skilled reader needs to create a timeline in order to establish the order in which events take place, and unfortunately it becomes a distraction from her writing skills. It would be interesting to know the desired effect Anderson wants this to have on the reader, other than making them work too hard to organize the context of the story.
I look forward to reading one of her other novels to see if her craft shines through using an alternative structure.
April 4, 2019
I liked this book for all of the reasons I enjoy historical novels. I learn from the personal perspectives beyond the factual information we learn in school. The back and forth of dates was excessive. I don’t mind present to last, but the 1 week earlier, 2 months earlier, etc. etc. etc. was too much. I thought the ending was great. The author did a great job of holding the suspense.
June 4, 2020
Slow in the beginning, gradually more interesting. It seems as though the author didn’t know how to end the book so she just threw in something that didn’t really add anything to the story and then ended it.
The author goes back and forth between different time periods in the book, but does not seem to tie things together very well.
The author goes back and forth between different time periods in the book, but does not seem to tie things together very well.
September 20, 2019
This book was super, super interesting. I love learning about this family and what they went through. And I loved the follow up by the author afterwards as well. What I didn’t love is how it is written. It’s basically written backwards and for me that was really confusing. I did not enjoy that.
May 10, 2018
I enjoyed this but the jumping around was a little excessive.
July 27, 2018
A bit silly maybe but I liked the way the book was organized and it’s sent me down a Romanov rabbit hole!
May 8, 2019
Not quite my style. Have read about the subject many times before... so was rehash. The parallel story on Anna was not very inspiring either unfortunately.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews