books I've read

Anne Hawn's books

Who Moved My Cheese?
If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans
Scientific Secrets for Self-Control
Just One Damned Thing After Another
The Vanishing
Exercises in Knitting
The Good Dream
The Very Best of Edgar Allan Poe
The Chosen
BT-Kids' Knits
Talking God
The Professor
The Christmas Files
The Finisher
Home Decor for 18-Inch Dolls: Create 10 Room Settings with Furniture and 15 Outfits with Accessories
Dracula and Other Stories
A New Song
Christy
All Quiet on the Western Front
File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents


Anne Hawn Smith's favorite books »

I'm reading 150 Books

2019 Reading Challenge
2019 Reading Challenge 19614 members
<b>Are you ready to set your 2019 reading goal?</b> This is a supportive, fun group of people looking for people just like you. Track your annual reading goal here with us, and we have challenges, group reads, and other fun ways to help keep you on pace. There will never be a specific number of books to read here or pressure to read more than you can commit to. Your goal is five? Great! You think you want to read 200? Very cool! We won't kick you out for not participating regularly, but we'll love it if you do. Join us!

Books we've read

The Help
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
The Night Circus
The Golden Compass
11/22/63
The Little Lady Agency
Catch-22
The Good Father
A Discovery of Witches
The Knife of Never Letting Go
Fahrenheit 451
Frankenstein
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
A Christmas Carol
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
The Color Purple
Matched
Cloud Atlas
The Princess Bride
The Catcher in the Rye


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Monday, June 29, 2009

The Kitchen Boy

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
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 this family, more details come to light. I feel grateful to authors like Robert Alexander who do so much research and then arrange their findings into a form that readers can enjoy. This book is well written and compelling. It is written in a clear and direct style and has a pulse that keep the reader going even though we all know the ending.

One of the things I felt this book touched on that I haven't heard much about was that Tzar Nicholas realized that he was at fault for the fate of his family and his nation. I think that he realized that his stubborn refusal to hear what his subjects were saying caused the loss of his family and his country. His most important duty was to protect both and he didn't do either. Without being maudlin about it, Robert Alexander gets that point across and then presents to us a picture of a true noble in the actions of the Tzar in captivity.


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