The Kitchen Boy

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD!

A fascinating re-writing of history, filling in the gaps of a terrible tragedy. I was tempted to give up this book in the middle, because the day after day recounting of waiting for rescue and living on pins and needles was tedious after a while. I'm really glad my friend encouraged me to stick with it, though - the ending made it truly worthwhile.

For a century, there has been mystery and rumors surrounding the murders of the last Romanovs. Part of that was intentional on the part of their killers, the Bolsheviks - no proof of death means no martyrs for the royalist cause. The lack of proof allowed rumors to fly - though their deaths were presumed, maybe someone managed to survive and escape? Maybe their are living in exile, in secrecy, the true heir to the throne? There have been books and movies spinning stories about this possibility for decades because the idea is both romantic and idealistic. This family did not deserve death, so surely it would be more poetic, more fitting, if one of them managed to live through the tragedy.

The author paints an fascinating portrait of the royals, and while sympathic to the family as a whole, he doesn't pull punches regarding the blame shouldered Nicolai and Aleksandra in the demise of the Russian empire and their own family. If only Nikolai had been more far-sighted, realized his country was headed to a constitutional monarchy (like much of the world), and agreed to sign over some of his ruling authority. If only Aleksandra's love and obsession over her sick son hadn't consumed her wholly, allowing her to be used by people like Rasputin and villianized by nearly everyone around her. If only they had left the country at the first sign of trouble, instead of naively and stubbornly staying until it was too late. Unfortunately, hindsight can't save lives, it can only inform the future.

Misha/Leonka/Volodya is a fascinating character, and is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. Part of the mystery of this story is we believe what we, as readers, are being told: "Here is the truth. Everything else before was a lie, but now I'm being honest." But where does the lie stop and the truth begin? There were some inklings that perhaps Misha was still concealing someone's identity in his story, but even when he went as far as to say, "She can't know I'm not really Misha," my best guess was that he was, in truth Alexei, the lost prince. Finding out that he was, in truth, Volodya, aka the young blonde guard mentioned several times in passing, was a shock. That reveal definitely made Misha's guilt make more sense. It didn't ring true to me that the Kitchen Boy would truly feel at fault for the murders, even if he did misplace one of Nikolai's notes. But as a guard, as the person who drew close to the family in order to coerce them into an escape, who helped stage a fake rescue correspondence to justify their execution, who was in the room participating in the actual shooting, Misha's guilt is was more reasonable. That is a lot to live with. Yes, he ended up saving Maria, and becoming her protector, her family, her life; but even that is messed up in a way. With her riches, he ended up living a life of luxury, with a beautiful and loving wife who forgave his his misdeeds, a son, a granddaughter. In the end, it's up to the reader to decide whether one can truly be forgiven for their terrible deeds.

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