The first audiobook I listened to where both a male and a female reader were employed in the telling of this incredible story. There was, frankly, no better was to have this tale of the Russian Revolution told, as Alexander relates the events of that time from both the aristocracy and the peasantry: both are given a voice.
I do not recall the name of the woman, an actual figure from history, who began as the wife of one of the Romanov ruling class. She loses the pageantry of her position, devotes her life to God, opens a nunnery to serve the poor, and is killed regardless of the good work done, simply because she was a member of the Romanov family.
The man who was the peasant, he began his time in the story with an honoring reverence to the Czar - as, I understand it, many of the Russian peasantry of those days did - only to lose that respect, replacing it with a virulent hatred, after Russian soldiers are ordered to fire into a crowd of unarmed peasants. That hatred is turned on its side after the Bolsheviks who assume control of the country turn to be as wicked as the Czar. So there is a real character arch going for both these two characters, the hallmark of exceptional story telling.
It was an experience to see this historical event of the Russian Revolution played out – what precipitated it, as well as the fallout that resulted – from both these differing sides. I grew as a person, just as the two major characters grew over the course of this historical tale. Well done.
I do not recall the name of the woman, an actual figure from history, who began as the wife of one of the Romanov ruling class. She loses the pageantry of her position, devotes her life to God, opens a nunnery to serve the poor, and is killed regardless of the good work done, simply because she was a member of the Romanov family.
The man who was the peasant, he began his time in the story with an honoring reverence to the Czar - as, I understand it, many of the Russian peasantry of those days did - only to lose that respect, replacing it with a virulent hatred, after Russian soldiers are ordered to fire into a crowd of unarmed peasants. That hatred is turned on its side after the Bolsheviks who assume control of the country turn to be as wicked as the Czar. So there is a real character arch going for both these two characters, the hallmark of exceptional story telling.
It was an experience to see this historical event of the Russian Revolution played out – what precipitated it, as well as the fallout that resulted – from both these differing sides. I grew as a person, just as the two major characters grew over the course of this historical tale. Well done.
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