The Kitchen Boy : A Novel of the Last Tsar (original 2002; edition 2004)

ebook version

My blog post about this book is here. ( )

After Misha’s wife dies, he feels it’s his time soon and records his memories about what happened in 1918 and leaves the tape to his granddaughter Kate.

Misha, or Leonka as he was called, went into captivity with the Romanov family and worked as their kitchen boy. He becomes involved in the family’s escape plans and comes to care for the family. The same day that the Romanovs are executed, Leonka is removed from the family but manages to escape. He runs back to the house and sees what happened to Romanovs.
After Misha’s death Kate becomes convinced that there is something wrong with Misha’s story.

I have to say I was bit disappointed with this but it wasn’t bad either. It was kinda slow going, which isn’t surprising since they were arrested after all. But I couldn’t connect with the characters at all. They didn’t have enough time and most of the book we hear Leonka’s thoughts about the family.

There we used lot of Russian words and sentenced and even if English translation was after it, it was really confusing and annoying. I mean since they’re Russian one would think they speak Russian, right?

And I didn’t like that last secret in the end at all. I didn’t see the need for it and why a person who we haven’t heard about? I’m trying not to vent it out here for spoilers but I was so annoyed.

It was quite enjoyable but I guess I had higher expectations for it. ( )

The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander focuses on the last, secluded, and trapped days of the Romanov family before they are ultimately assassinated in 1918 as told by the kitchen boy, Leonka. Their lives were routine as royals with set times for dinners, etc., but in captivity, there days are even more regimented as they are expected to present themselves for inspection at certain hours, attend church services, and eat meals at certain times. In fact, their lives are so routine, including that of the kitchen boy, the only highlights are wheeling the youngest, male heir about the home and imagining games until the Bolsheviks deign to open a window.

Shifting from the 1990s to the early 1900s, the narrator takes readers through the final days of the Tsar and his family and often interrupts his own story — being told on audio tape to his granddaughter, Katya — to interject the outcome of certain events or to provide other tangential historical information. This disjointed narration often pulls readers out of the story, but once the narrator gets into the final three days of their captivity, the story moves rather quickly. Moreover, the kitchen boy’s story is so complex that it takes a long time to unfold and by the end, readers will either have guessed the truth of the Romanov’s last days or they will feel betrayed by the narrator’s unreliability.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2013/02/the-kitchen-boy-by-robert-alexander.html ( )

Enjoyable, worth reading