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dimitribelgium's review against another edition
4.0
The keyword to Massie, whose son also suffered from hemophilia, is sympathy. Even Bolshevik guards warmed to the tender family life of the Tsar who'd been a good constitutional monarch, but was unwilling until too late to reform his inherited autocracy.
Written like a glittering painting, this is not factual history but a bard's tale.
Written like a glittering painting, this is not factual history but a bard's tale.
aaronreadabook's review against another edition
5.0
This was brilliant. A beautifully written narrative history/biography full of interesting characters at a turning point of modern history.
Although the Romanov's with hindsight seem quite naive, Massie is very sympathetic with them as parents dealing with a child with a horrible disease (he too had a child with hemophilia). Add to this one of the most fascinating and mysterious characters in all of history, Rasputin, it becomes a completely compelling drama.
Reading this you can't help but like Nicholas and his family, and hope that they somehow escape their terrible fate, a fate which led to decades of horror for their country.
I love Russian history but I think anyone with any interest in history at all would love this.
Although the Romanov's with hindsight seem quite naive, Massie is very sympathetic with them as parents dealing with a child with a horrible disease (he too had a child with hemophilia). Add to this one of the most fascinating and mysterious characters in all of history, Rasputin, it becomes a completely compelling drama.
Reading this you can't help but like Nicholas and his family, and hope that they somehow escape their terrible fate, a fate which led to decades of horror for their country.
I love Russian history but I think anyone with any interest in history at all would love this.
untitledlullaby's review against another edition
4.0
I think this would be better if I was more interested in Rasputin and russias history. I enjoyed the bit about the Tsar and his life but didn’t care much for rasputins bits, hemophilia, World War One bits or the revolutionary’s. I enjoyed the epilogue and found it quite funny one turned into a champagne salesman and another a janitor in New York. But this took me forever to read a hundred pages and often I would get bored that I would want to check my phone. Also the way he would describe rasputins exploits irked me
rebeccatc's review against another edition
5.0
While most biographies tend to be a bit dry and boring, this story of the Last Tsar of Russia and his family is a real page-turner. I was left with not only a better understanding of the causes leading to the communist revolution, but also felt that I knew the Romanovs as individuals. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in Russian history.
dlanciault's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
I’ve wanted for years to find the time to read this masterful work by Robert Massie. It did not disappoint. Well-researched and supported by numerous contemporaneous documents, but written so well that the narrative flows without being booked down in overly academic or clinical minutiae. Highly recommended for fans of biographical histories.
palnic26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
deniqd's review against another edition
2.0
Although an interesting real story, there were too many details for everything and it made a slow and boring read.
rachelb36's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
The animated film Anastasia got the entire story wrong, sadly. The writers didn't even try for accuracy, apparently - very sad to me, because I really liked that movie.
Massie details the true story here, and though I normally don't like history texts, I liked this one. His writing is very readable, and I learned a lot. (Particularly about the events leading up to the war; and about Rasputin and how he came to be involved with the Imperial family. I didn't even know that Nicholas and Alexandra had a son, let alone that he suffered from hemophilia.)
At over 500 pages, though, it was still far too long for me. I felt that 50-100 pages could have easily been omitted by paring down unnecessary details of persons not central to the story.
Also, I was quite appalled when Massie at one point described Rasputin as having "good-natured aggression" right after stating that he would grab women and "start undoing buttons" without any kind of preamble or permission. Rasputin was accused of attempted rape many times, and it is not okay to write this violence off. There is no such thing as "good-natured" sexual assault or harassment.
The animated film Anastasia got the entire story wrong, sadly. The writers didn't even try for accuracy, apparently - very sad to me, because I really liked that movie.
Massie details the true story here, and though I normally don't like history texts, I liked this one. His writing is very readable, and I learned a lot. (Particularly about the events leading up to the war; and about Rasputin and how he came to be involved with the Imperial family. I didn't even know that Nicholas and Alexandra had a son, let alone that he suffered from hemophilia.)
At over 500 pages, though, it was still far too long for me. I felt that 50-100 pages could have easily been omitted by paring down unnecessary details of persons not central to the story.
Also, I was quite appalled when Massie at one point described Rasputin as having "good-natured aggression" right after stating that he would grab women and "start undoing buttons" without any kind of preamble or permission. Rasputin was accused of attempted rape many times, and it is not okay to write this violence off. There is no such thing as "good-natured" sexual assault or harassment.
skelleybean's review against another edition
5.0
You know a history book is written well when the writer can place hope in you that the ending will be happy, even though you already know how it ends. Through this book I felt all kinds of emotions-- joy at the love between the couple, anger at the Empress for trusting Rasputin, and of course despair and sadness at the murder of the family. The thing I find most amazing of all is how the people didn't know-- and how, once the people did know, how they trusted their government after being lied to for so long. This book makes me want to read even more about the Romanovs, especially this family in particular. Even though I know the end, I keep reading in hopes that there is some happiness to be found in this tragedy.