The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander

The Kitchen Boy, for the most part, is a (fictional) first-person account of the captivity of the Romanov family in the weeks preceding and including their murder in July of 1918. Robert Alexander pieces together details from Romanov diaries and letters as well as witness accounts to create a realistic portrait of the last Russian Imperial family.

Why do I read books like this?

While reading this book, I came to a point at which I had to wonder. Did I really want to become emotionally attached to these people and then continue on to read through their demise which, from history and pop-culture, I knew was coming? But, as many have found in the past 90 years, the mystery surrounding the denouement of the Romanovs is too enticing to resist.

This book left me both satisfied and not. I was satisfied with the portrayal of the family neither as martyrs or as enemies of the Russian people but as a simple, loving family that had the misfortune of being monarchs in a world quickly leaving autocracy behind. Alexander mournfully paints a picture of a man and woman passionately in love, four daughters with beauty, charm, and individual dreams, and a sickly, young son who treasures bits of wire and flattened coins.

What left me dissatisfied was that, even though I enjoyed trying to work out the mystery to the very end, when Alexander finally unveiled the truth, there was no time left to soak it in and to rearrange the facts I had misplaced.

I felt a bit cheated because the opportunity for me to figure out the truth myself was never made available. In whole, I think that was the point: that even when everything is laid out for you, it is never what it seems.

Nevertheless, the story is satisfying in that it answers (fictitiously, of course) the most famous questions that remain even now. Was there really a secret plan to rescue the Romanovs? What happened to the missing Romanov jewels? And most importantly, where are the two bodies that were absent from the grave that was unearthed in 1991?

Even apart from all the mystery, this book is a colorful picture of the broader Russian spirit and the tragedy that characterized Russian history in the past century. The images conjured are vivid and heart-breaking.

If you are one of the thousands intrigued by the Romanov mystery or if you are captivated by historical mystery in general, I recommend this book to you.

Many of the events described in this book are disturbing and graphic, and in general, this book is not intended for children. Were this book a film rated in America, it would probably receive an R rating. Please take this into consideration.