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kshilvock's review against another edition
2.0
Okay book, wonderfully written. It was just so depressing to read! Everyone is screwing everyone over, no compassion, being completely selfish and ruled by the power of power itself. Just got really frustrated with the book and how the author seemed to agree with the characters' actions. Made him seem a little cynical and power-happy himself. Just an observation. Overall: wonderfully written with, alas, a deeply sickening history as the story.
kimberussell's review against another edition
4.0
What I knew about Catherine going into this book: She was a man-hungry woman who died while having sex with a horse.
This book was 100% effective in disproving all of my Catherine knowledge. She was a wise, witty, and educated leader who used every awful experience delivered by her AWFUL childhood/teen-hood/20s-hood to get what she wanted. She loved philosophy and the arts. She was just as progressively minded -- if not more so -- than her peers at the time. And her lovers gained attention not because of existence or number, but because they were younger.
Massie's extensive research is evident. You read about how things officially happened, and then he uses letters and accounts from Catherine and others to learn about how things probably happened.
The war history passages were hard for me to get through, because that isn't my thing. And it's not really necessary to understand all of it in depth in order to see what the victory/defeat delivered. So don't feel bad about not committing it all to memory. The number of other characters is overwhelming, but you eventually remember the major players.
Massie ends his acknowledgements in this touching fashion: "Finally, I must acknowledge the extraordinary pleasure I have had in the company of the remarkable woman who has been my subject. After eight years of having her a constant presence in my life, I shall miss her."
This was an "I *should* read this" book rather than an "I *want* to read this" book. I'm very glad I read it anyway, because even at over 500 pages, it was a treat.
This book was 100% effective in disproving all of my Catherine knowledge. She was a wise, witty, and educated leader who used every awful experience delivered by her AWFUL childhood/teen-hood/20s-hood to get what she wanted. She loved philosophy and the arts. She was just as progressively minded -- if not more so -- than her peers at the time. And her lovers gained attention not because of existence or number, but because they were younger.
Massie's extensive research is evident. You read about how things officially happened, and then he uses letters and accounts from Catherine and others to learn about how things probably happened.
The war history passages were hard for me to get through, because that isn't my thing. And it's not really necessary to understand all of it in depth in order to see what the victory/defeat delivered. So don't feel bad about not committing it all to memory. The number of other characters is overwhelming, but you eventually remember the major players.
Massie ends his acknowledgements in this touching fashion: "Finally, I must acknowledge the extraordinary pleasure I have had in the company of the remarkable woman who has been my subject. After eight years of having her a constant presence in my life, I shall miss her."
This was an "I *should* read this" book rather than an "I *want* to read this" book. I'm very glad I read it anyway, because even at over 500 pages, it was a treat.
blackcatbinx29's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
4.5
The book is fantastic and very well done. However, I had to take off 0.5 because the narrator said all dates as May 3(three) instead of May 3rd(third) and that is simply not correct.
carcar2's review against another edition
4.0
Well, I didn't finish it yet... I might, I might not. Firstly though, it is really well written. Why may I not finish it... well it may be a stupid reason but the author starts talking about a war/conflict with the country of Turkey. Not Turks. The country of Turkey. I know he must have done a ton of research for this book and stuff but WTF???? There is no country of Turkey during Catherine's time, Turkey doesn't exist until 1900's and this royally pissed me off. He does sometime refer to them as the Ottomans but why not all the time? How was this not caught and dealt with prior to publishing? He's got Prussia right and it doesn't exist anymore... Is he just so Euro-centric that he can't even do some minimal research to figure out he can't refer to Turkey as it didn't exist then!!!! The Ottoman Empire was massive and took up a lot of history and he can't even name it correctly??? So anyway, I start to doubt the book and his ability to include correct information.
Sorry for the rant but that really ticked me off. Enough that I probably won't be finishing it.
Sorry for the rant but that really ticked me off. Enough that I probably won't be finishing it.
asl4u's review against another edition
4.0
Really good book - I wish the book on the Romanov's was audio and at the local library...
itsokayitsofficial's review against another edition
1.0
What. The. Hell?
The first third of this read is, in a word, amazing. Picking the book up with little-to-no interest in the subject the writer managed to make me not only fall in love with Catherine, but also sparked a profound interest in 18th century Russia and the European nobility in general. Massie paints an unbelievably intimate portrait of Catherine as a person with such great and illustrative writing that, even with the knowledge that this is a historical biography, I found myself rooting for the various characters and burning through the pages to see what happens next. Seriously, just an awesome read. Magical and all that, 6 stars, etc etc.
But prepare for disappointment. Like dropping-your-favorite-ice-cream-onto-the-pavement-on-the-hottest-day-of-the-year-disappointment,
because the next 2/3 of this book is totally and completely different.
Messie openly draws and quotes heavily from Catherine's own memoirs, but in a really good way. The writer does a great job of utilizing them and other sources and I never once thought "why am I reading this, I'll just read Catherine's own memoirs". The second, and I mean the very SECOND, that Messie runs out of Catherine's source material (which only covers up to the point she takes the throne) this book takes a nose-dive. The writer doesn't even try to recreate the previous narrative and instead the book begins to read like the same old, tired "famous figure" biography that only talks about the person through their actions on and through those of the people around them. While still well written, it's an extremely, extremely disappointing read. It feels much like getting to know Catherine personally and then watching a 30-minute PBS documentary on her in the space of a couple pages. Worse still the writer goes from a very linear progression of time to bouncing all over the period of Catherine's reign. For a couple pages he's talking about Catherine's love affair 25 years into her reign and the next about Russia's diplomatic moves in Poland 15 years earlier. After spending so much time reading about Catherine grow into a young woman it's really jarring to be told that all of a sudden she is 60-years old and in the twilight of her reign. Talk about context collapse.
But wait, there's unfortunately more...
At about the 80% mark the wheels really start to come off as Massie stops writing about Catherine altogether. Literally. He wanders off on a 20-page history of the French Revolution and at the 85% mark launches into his own personal treatise on capital punishment. The book had so devolved at this point that I went to the Barnes and Noble to make sure that my Kindle version wasn't a corrupt file and that the physical version read the same way. Seriously.
So, in summation:
The first 1/3 of this read = one of the best biographies I have ever read, hands down, full stop.
The rest of this read = terrible, if only because of what preceded it was so amazing. The writer basically says "welp, the good shit is gone, so...you know...here's whatever..."
The first third of this read is, in a word, amazing. Picking the book up with little-to-no interest in the subject the writer managed to make me not only fall in love with Catherine, but also sparked a profound interest in 18th century Russia and the European nobility in general. Massie paints an unbelievably intimate portrait of Catherine as a person with such great and illustrative writing that, even with the knowledge that this is a historical biography, I found myself rooting for the various characters and burning through the pages to see what happens next. Seriously, just an awesome read. Magical and all that, 6 stars, etc etc.
But prepare for disappointment. Like dropping-your-favorite-ice-cream-onto-the-pavement-on-the-hottest-day-of-the-year-disappointment,
because the next 2/3 of this book is totally and completely different.
Messie openly draws and quotes heavily from Catherine's own memoirs, but in a really good way. The writer does a great job of utilizing them and other sources and I never once thought "why am I reading this, I'll just read Catherine's own memoirs". The second, and I mean the very SECOND, that Messie runs out of Catherine's source material (which only covers up to the point she takes the throne) this book takes a nose-dive. The writer doesn't even try to recreate the previous narrative and instead the book begins to read like the same old, tired "famous figure" biography that only talks about the person through their actions on and through those of the people around them. While still well written, it's an extremely, extremely disappointing read. It feels much like getting to know Catherine personally and then watching a 30-minute PBS documentary on her in the space of a couple pages. Worse still the writer goes from a very linear progression of time to bouncing all over the period of Catherine's reign. For a couple pages he's talking about Catherine's love affair 25 years into her reign and the next about Russia's diplomatic moves in Poland 15 years earlier. After spending so much time reading about Catherine grow into a young woman it's really jarring to be told that all of a sudden she is 60-years old and in the twilight of her reign. Talk about context collapse.
But wait, there's unfortunately more...
At about the 80% mark the wheels really start to come off as Massie stops writing about Catherine altogether. Literally. He wanders off on a 20-page history of the French Revolution and at the 85% mark launches into his own personal treatise on capital punishment. The book had so devolved at this point that I went to the Barnes and Noble to make sure that my Kindle version wasn't a corrupt file and that the physical version read the same way. Seriously.
So, in summation:
The first 1/3 of this read = one of the best biographies I have ever read, hands down, full stop.
The rest of this read = terrible, if only because of what preceded it was so amazing. The writer basically says "welp, the good shit is gone, so...you know...here's whatever..."
literarylauren333's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0