Skip to main content

Review: The Last Days of the Romanovs, by Helen Rappaport


The Last Days of the Romanovs is the story of the last fourteen-ish days of the lives of the Romanov family during their stay at Ipatiev House (aka “The House of Special Purposes”) in Yekaterinburg (oddly, Rappaport spells it as “Ekaterinburg” here), up until their murder two weeks later, on July 17th 1918. It may be a nonfiction account, but parts of this book read as though they’re fiction.

Each chapter ostensible covers each day leading up to the murders, but the author gives her reader a lot of background information on the Revolution, the Romanov family, and the people involved in their demise. It’s a pretty readable book in the sense that the prose is fairly straightforward, and there are no footnotes to bog the reader down. Rappaport portrays the Romanov family sympathetically, as a group of people victimized by circumstance and out of control of their own destinies. This book is a good introduction to the subject, and a good work of popular history overall.

There was a lot of interesting information here; for example, I didn’t know that the Romanovs were so fluent in English (though it shouldn’t be surprising, considering George V of Britain was Tsar Nicholas’s cousin, and that Queen Victoria was Tsaritsa Alexandra’s grandmother). The book is also accompanied by two sets of reproductions of photos.

My only complaint about this well-written book is Rappaport’s rather bizarre transliterations of Russian names (I only have a year of college Russian under my belt, and that years ago, but I’m still puzzling over why the author chose to spell the Tsarevich Alexei’s name as Alexey, or why she chose to spell commandant Avadeyev’s name as “Avdeev”).

Comments

Alyce said…
It does sound like an interesting book. Those spellings of the names are a little strange, but I guess as long as they were consistent throughout the book it wouldn't bother me too much. Of course, I haven't taken Russian. :)
Oh good, I have this on hold at the library, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I haven't read much about the Romanov's and have been looking forward to this one...glad to see that it's worth reading! Really great review!
S. Krishna said…
This sounds interesting!
Jo said…
I've been fascinated by the Romanov's since I did Russian History at school. I might have to look for this.
Arleigh said…
I'm very interested in this book since I read The Kitchen Boy a few weeks ago. Thanks for the review!
Your blog has been nominated for a Sisterhood Award. Details can be found at http://pkmadsen.blogspot.com/2009/03/sisterhood-awardwatchmen.html. Love to come visit frequently.

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars

Six Degrees of Barbara Pym's Novels

This year seems to be The Year of Barbara Pym; I know some of you out there are involved in some kind of a readalong in honor of the 100th year of her birth. I’ve read most of her canon, with only The Sweet Dove Died, Civil to Strangers, An Academic Question, and Crampton Hodnet left to go (sadly). Barbara Pym’s novels feature very similar casts of characters: spinsters, clergymen, retirees, clerks, and anthropologists, with which she had direct experience. So it stands to reason that there would be overlaps in characters between the novels. You can trace that though the publication history of her books and therefore see how Pym onionizes her stories and characters. She adds layers onto layers, adding more details as her books progress. Some Tame Gazelle (1950): Archdeacon Hoccleve makes his first appearance. Excellent Women (1952): Archdeacon Hoccleve gives a sermon that is almost incomprehensible to Mildred Lathbury; Everard Bone understands it, however, and laughs