Adrienne Sharp

I just loved this coming of age story about Esme. Her family may not have been a conventional one but it was her family. Her father was a strong presence in her life. Again, he may not have won any "best father of the year" awards but he still loved Esme.

Esme got her beauty from her mother. This proved to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It attracted men like Nate. He had the whole mobster/gangster vibe about him. He is the type that could eat Esme up and spit her out but Esme showed show more strength until the end.

I was vibing with all of the characters. They really brought to life the story. Thus making it such an easy and enjoyable time reading this book. The Magnificent Esme Wells is a memorable book filled with engaging characters that will stick with you even after the last page has been read! show less

The danger with historical fiction is that an author can take history and literally make it fantasy if not careful. This is not the case with Adrienne Sharp's The True Memoirs of Little K. One quick Internet search showcases how much of Ms. Sharp's tale dovetails nicely with the facts. This heightens the element of plausibility in these "True Memoirs", adding to the reader's overall enjoyment and fascination with the last years of the Czar.

Kschessinska is quite the character. She is selfish, show more egoistic, arrogant, and extremely self-centered. She is a true prima donna. However, she is extremely honest, and therein lies her charms and validity as a narrator. Instead of hiding behind her righteousness, Kschessinska tells her story, faults and all, without apologizing or defending her actions or opinions. Her actions and opinions are downright infuriating at times, and yet she is still sympathetic. As a result, there is an implicit trust and intimacy between the reader and Kschessinska that emphasizes the turmoil of Czarist Russia around the turn of the century and beyond while highlighting the difficulties one faced in remaining neutral, let alone staying alive, during the various revolts.

The downfall of the Romanovs is a well-known story, but The True Memoirs of Little K brings new life to this infamous tale. The reader sees the pressures faced by Czar Nicholas from the fringes of the elite. Of even more interest is the idea that had Kschessinska not made certain choices - to become the czar's mistress, to align herself so publicly with the Romanov family - she may not have been in such immediate danger. That being said, Ms. Sharp excels at showing the reader just how pervasive the danger to anyone not supporting the Soviets truly was. There is no glossing over a glorious revolution or pretending the situation is more than it was. In the spirit of her total honesty, Kschessinska does not mince words when it comes to the brutality of the Soviets or the conflicting sympathies of the people. The reader leaves The True Memoirs of Little K with a clear understanding that the revolutionaries took full advantage of a terrible situation, namely the huge shortages and famines that occurred during World War, to achieve their goals even though a majority of the Russian people ultimately did not want what the Soviets were offering. It is a tragedy of epic proportions.

Adrienne Sharp's re-envisioning of the fall of Czarist Russia is extremely well-researched and well-written. There are enough historical facts to lend credence to Kschessinska's tales of Nicholas and Alexandra. While she may not be the most likable of characters, the reader does not doubt her story and even begins to question the history books on what are the true facts behind Nicholas' dalliance with his mistress. The world has been fascinated with the Romanov family since their tragic demise. The True Memoirs of Little K helps explain and perpetuate that fascination.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Nicole Bonia of Linus's Blanket and Picador Books for my review copy. show less

This is Esmes story, a story full of glitz and glsmour, but also sorrow and heartache. A mother who is a show girl in B films and a father who is an inveterate gambler and risk taker. Not a stable childhood, moving from place to place, not stable but definitely interesting. Enter sorrow and Esme and her father end up in Las Vegas. Last Zvegas in the fifties was just rmerging, the strip becoming a gamblers paradise. Huge hotels bigger than life shows, men who own it all, some resl, dome not. show more Bugsy Siegal, Mickey Cohen, these Jewish big money men who own it all. It is here that Esme will finish growing up, where her father will work in the money cages in the casinos.

I loved this, it was a fantastic mix of the best and worst of Vegas. Where people dream big and make or break a fortune. Where Esme will become larger than life until.........The writing is wonderful, descriptive, visual and honest. We meet future stars, a young Judy Garland and other headliners. Because when big money beckons, they will come. I adored Esme, she is truly magnificent, she manuevers through this life style, gives in to it when she has too, but adores her father, and manages not to become jaded. She has regrets, finds trouble or trouble finds her, because once Vegas has you, it is not easy to get out. Remember, one way or another, the house always wins.

ARC from Edelweiss. show less

This turned out to be a better novel than I feared in the first 100 pages or so. True, the author makes her real-life narrator, ballerine Mathilde Kschessinska, a rather unsympathetic character: 'Mala' is selfish, self-absorbed, able to juggle romantic dalliances with several Romanov grand dukes simultaneously and unable to see beneath the glittering surface to the ugliness beneath. She's so caught up in her envy of Empress Alexandra (she had been Tsar Nicholas's mistress before his show more marriage) that she can't see beyond that; similarly, she has such absolute self-confidence as to dismiss anyone who can't appreciate her greatness as silly.

As the novel progressed, I never got to like Mala or feel that she was "real" as a character, but I did get swept up in the broader narrative, especially as the tsar's plans for her son become evident to Mala and I ended up racing through the last 100 pages or so to see how Sharp resolved her creative license. While I didn't always enjoy the fact that Mala, as narrator, takes an omniscient view, looking back over her life at age 99 and interrupting her reminiscences with commentary, I found it grew on me and became less jarring as time passed. Cautiously recommended; you'll enjoy it more if you like historical fiction and have a basic familiarity with the time & place. 3.4 stars show less