Ebook ALIX AND NICKY, by Virginia Rounding
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ALIX AND NICKY, by Virginia Rounding
Ebook ALIX AND NICKY, by Virginia Rounding
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Review
“[Rounding] paints a vivid portrait of a sensual and intellectual woman.†―Washington Post on Catherine the Great“An engrossing bio [Grade:] A†―Entertainment Weekly on Catherine the Great“Brings Catherine alive, and not least in her relations with the men she drew to her side.†―Foreign Affairs on Catherine the Great“[The author] captures the distinct experience of each of these women and offers a vivid portrait of their world, in both its splendor and its seaminess.†―The Boston Globe on Grandes Horizontales“Ms. Rounding skillfully describes the rise and fall of second-empire Paris, combining historical accuracy with a thoughtful analysis of the dangers of the demi-mondaine . . . Evocative, lively, and ultimately heartbreaking.†―Richmond Times-Dispatch on Grandes Horizontales“Well-researched, intelligent, and compassionate.†―Kirkus Reviews on Grandes Horizontales
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About the Author
VIRGINIA ROUNDING is a translator and writer who lives in London. She studied Russian at the University of London. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Catherine the Great and Grandes Horizontales.
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Product details
Paperback: 420 pages
Publisher: Griffin; First edition (January 22, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250022193
ISBN-13: 978-1250022196
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.8 out of 5 stars
30 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,982,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
I opened Alix and Nicky expecting a focus on the very great and undeniable love between the last Russian Tsar and his Empress. At first I was somewhat put off by the large amount of material on Russian political, social, and military developments during Nicholas II's reign and by the discussions of Russian Orthodox theology, but then I realized that all of that was linked to the imperial couple's great love story and that it all does, indeed, have a place in this book.Most people with an interest in Russian history are probably aware of the basic outline of Nicholas and Alexandra's love story: how the Russian tsarevich fell in love with Queen Victoria's shy granddaughter and eventually convinced her to change her religion and marry him, their adored family of four pretty girls and one hemophiliac boy, Alexandra (and to a lesser extent Nicholas)'s dependence on the corrupt holy man Gregory Rasputin, and their eventual overthrow and murder during the Russian Revolution. Its all been ably chronicled many times, most enduringly by Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra. Virginia Rounding covers this material again, but with plenty of new and sometimes surprising information that challenges long held assumptions. For example, Nicholas may not have been the intellectual dullard he's usually made out to be, and he was far more resistant to Alexandra (and Rasputin)'s demands during World War I than popularly believed. For her part Alexandra loved Nicholas to the point of obsession, but her self absorption and focus on her own ailments meant her daughters were alternately neglected or emotionally controlled almost to the point of abuse, while her son was spoiled and pampered. The Tsar and Empress's strong Orthodox faith gave them enormous comfort, but also tended to enhance his fatalism and her determination to preserve Russian autocracy.I've read quite a bit about Nicholas II and his family over the years, but I was surprised by the amount of information I didn't know, chiefly in the form of anecdotes about the children, that is included in Alix and Nicky. This is particularly interesting since most of Rounding's sources are secondary and she apparently did no archival research. I was amused by the story of the Grand Duchesses' adventurous day out on their own on the Isle of Wight in 1909, and I was intrigued by the frightening vision of a "horrible man" Maria and Anastasia suffered as small children. Unfortunately the Notes at the end are somewhat rudimentary, making it difficult to determine the sources of some of these stories. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is the last one, in which Rounding does a fine job analyzing the family's final days in the light of Orthodox spirituality, interspersed with quotes from the books of Amos and Obadiah, which Alexandra read the day before she and her family were murdered.
I think this biography is, above all, a psychological study into the characters of Alix and Nicky. In that respect, I think the book fares pretty well and does not disappoint. What I particularly like about this book is that it does not paint a rosy picture of the last tsars, but highlights both their strengths and weaknesses. I had rather mixed feelings regarding Nicky and Alix throughout the book, it appears their virtues were, in Nicky's case, his discipline, hard work, charm and love of the Christian faith, in Alix's case this latter virtue plus her unbending devotion to whatever she firmly believed to be the right thing. However, their weaknesses would be utterly disastrous for the fate of their reign (e.g. their inclination for mysticism and the psychic which would lead them to be fooled firstly by the charlatan Monsieur Philippe and secondly to be lead astray by the wicked Rasputin). Even at an early stage of the book you already get the impression of the main opinion regarding Nicky - as a charming man, but rather weak and (so the accusation went) indecisive as well. I was rather suprised at reading this, since no hard proof of these weaknesses is really presented till much later during WWI, when the tendency of Nicky to succumb to the mental bullying of Alix and/or Rasputin is made fairly apparent. All in all, I probably ended with a more negative view of the last tsars than I did of a positive one. Their failures to reign responsibly would lead to catastrophic events and unimaginable suffering for the Russian people. Having said that, it would be obviously foolish to lay all the blame for the failures of his reign on the Tsars' feet since a lot of the blame lay elsewhere - social inequalities, corruption and incompetency on the part of the ruling class being the main ones; however the book does not deal with these issues, so I would suggest the reader to consult other sources explaining these themes for further insight into Nicky's reign. I thought the book was pretty readable in the sense that the sentences have a natural flow and are not tedious to read, despite the advanced language employed by the author.Now as regards the aspects of the book that I did not like (and hence the three star rating):1. The book is, utterly inexplicably, not ordered in chronological order. The first chapter occurs as late as 1913 (!) merely five years before the Tsars' assassination. This seems utterly baffling if one considers that right at the beginning of the book are introduced characters and events which are only explained in further detail until considerably later in the book. Example: very early on Ania Vyrubova and Rasputin appear in the narrative before they have even been introduced. I had the good luck of having read a good number of pages at random sections throughout the book before I actually started from the beginning, so I had a pretty good idea who these characters were (well I suppose pretty much everyone knows about Rasputin). The next few chapters follow the same pattern, with no clear chronological progression (although each chapter does include a specific chronological range). I would strongly advise the reader to ignore the author's ordering of chapters and just follow the logical chronological progression.2. The book contains an unnecessary amount of lengthy extracts from Alix's letters. Alix's letters are extremely tedious to read because of her poor writing style, using disconnected sentences and employing a conversational style - occasionally it's even difficult to understand what she's trying to say. Some of her letters almost take up a full page, and only a very limited amount of that letter might contain useful and interesting information for the reader; the author could have just included short, relevant excerpts from her letters. This issue becomes particularly prominent in the last third of the book; at some points I was even wondering whether the author was merely trying to fill up pages in order to fulfill a required page count. In contrast, with Nicky's letters, the author does the logical thing of just including relevant excerpts, besides which Nicky' writing style is much more readable.3. The book contains too little information on some CRITICAL events of Nicky's reign, and too much information on things of little importance. Two events that proved fateful during Nicky's reign where the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 and obviously, WWI. No information is provided on the reasons for Russia's involvement in the former war, of Nicky's attitude to the progression of the war or of his reaction to the naval disaster at Tsuchima. Worse, the only information provided to the outbreak of WWI is that Austria presented an unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia and a few sentences later we find that Germany declared war on Russia. How all this came about is left to the reader's imagination; important information on the thoughts of top generals, the war and foreign ministers regarding the possibility of war is left out (there was a general consensus that Russia was not yet ready militarily to face a war, nor was there any desire among the ministers and Nicky to start a war, as fate would have it, Russia ended up getting involved anyway). The author could surely at least have included the manifesto on the declaration of war, detailing the reasons for joining the war (for the defense of a fellow Slav nation - Serbia - and "to safeguard the honor, dignity, and integrity of Russia, and her position among the Great Powers". I believe including in greater detail the reasons for Russia's involvement in both of the aforementioned wars would have helped to better understand Nicky as a person, his beliefs and attitudes, he who was after all very much at the center and a main player in all of these events. In contrast to the sparse amount of information given on these important events, there is included some information that seems superfluous and trivial considering the length of the book (it might be OK for a 1000 page biography). e.g. relating in detail the fate of the Alexander palace or of a ball in 17th century costume attended by the Romanov dynasty.All in all, despite the above weaknesses I still rather enjoyed reading the book, and although it may not be the best book out there (certainly better than a good number of other biographies of the last Romanovs) I would still recommended it to other people. Reading or watching documentaries on the topics mentioned above would probably help the reader in better understanding the background and signficance of the events played out during Nicky and Alix's reign.
Jolene SingleterrryI found this book very detailed as it is based on first and secondary sources. Comparing it to Last of the Romanovs, I found it more detailed into the life of Alexei who never got to be czar. It also commented on the strange lack of reaction to the deaths of the Romanovs by the British royal family. George V and Czar Nicholas looked like twins after all.The strange hold of Ania Vyrubova, a protegee of the infamous Rasputin is also explored. She was not a relative and more like a lady in waiting who the royal family allowed to infringe in their lives and on their lives.Again comparing the Last of the Romanovs, there is no mention of the violation of the royal bodies after their deaths as there is in the former book. I find this omission unexplainable after all the other detailed minutia in the book. Is the author somehow schemish on this subject?Nevertheless, this book was an enormous amount of work to pull together all these sources that were gathered , examined and verified.One truly feels that the Romanovs were doomed by history and timing and the mystery of why the entire family was wiped out is a surely shameful commentary on the Russian revolution.Worth reading.
About half way through reading it. I've read several books on Nicholas and Alexandra and this book provides new information and tells old stories in a new way. I'm really enjoying it, but it might not be a good book for first time exposure to this story. For that I would recommend Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie.
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