Picture of author.

Robert Alexander (3) (1952–)

Forfatter af The Kitchen Boy: a Novel of the Last Tsar

For andre forfattere med navnet Robert Alexander, se skeln forfatterne siden.

Robert Alexander (3) has been aliased into R. D. Zimmerman.

5 Works 2,694 Members 108 Reviews 1 Favorited

Om forfatteren

Image credit: Robert Alexander

Serier

Værker af Robert Alexander

Works have been aliased into R. D. Zimmerman.

Rasputin's Daughter (2006) 677 eksemplarer
The Romanov Bride (2008) 439 eksemplarer
Deadfall in Berlin (1990) 39 eksemplarer

Satte nøgleord på

Almen Viden

Juridisk navn
Zimmerman, R. D.
Andre navne
Zimmerman, Robert Dingwall
Masters, M.
Fødselsdato
1952-08-23
Køn
male
Nationalitet
USA
Bopæl
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
St. Petersburg, Russia
Uddannelse
Michigan State University (1976 ∙ BA ∙ Russian Language ∙ Creative Writing)
Leningrad State University (Leningrad ∙ USSR ∙ St. Petersburg ∙ Russia)
Erhverv
novelist
Agent
Marly Rusoff
Kort biografi
Robert Alexander is a pen name of R. D. Zimmerman. A graduate of Michigan State University, Mr. Alexander has also studied at Leningrad State University and has lived and traveled extensively in the former Soviet Union. In researching The Kitchen Boy, Mr. Alexander gained access to Russian archives and palaces that are closed to the general public. Under his own name, he has written numerous mystery novels, including Hostage, Outburst, and Innuendo: A Todd Mills Mystery. Robert Alexander currently makes his home in Minneapolis.

Medlemmer

Anmeldelser

A visit to the perennially mysterious last days of the Romanov family. The small, but needed, redeeming twist at the end was a bit disappointing. The story did not particularly hold my attention, but it did spark my interest in exploring that part of world history.
 
Markeret
jemisonreads | 64 andre anmeldelser | Jan 22, 2024 |
2.5 stars

This book follows two main characters: Ella, the sister of Alexandra (the last Tsarina of Russia); Ella was married to another high-ranking Russian royal; and Pavel, a peasant who becomes a revolutionary. Pavel’s wife is killed early in the revolution, and he becomes involved enough to help take the life of Ella’s husband.

I might not have that exactly right. I listened to the audio and missed much of it. It just didn’t hold my interest most of the time. I did appreciate two different people doing each character. I also liked the person narrating Pavel has a Russian accent. I don’t think I knew anything about Ella before. I did find it interesting that she later created a nunnery. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the end, but I was.… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
LibraryCin | 18 andre anmeldelser | Jul 16, 2023 |
This one is going to the "Abandoned" shelf, I think.

My main problem with this book is that when you read fiction about real events you need something really powerful and captivating in the way the story is told - because actually you already know how it all ends.
So you need to be connected with things happening on every page, you need something that will build up the suspense and keep your interest up.
As a good example of it, the tv show 'The Tudors' comes to mind - you know very well how it goes, but you still keep hoping that maybe Anne will survive this time.

Unfortunately The Kitchen Boy lacks that bit of something. And even though there are hints about 'a twist in the end', I don't really care what it is - despite all twists in the world, the Romanovs' story ended the way it ended.

There are also minor problems, and although they are not so important, I can't help but rant.

First time I wanted to put the book down was when Nikolai and Alexandra started kissing in front of everyone. Like, really?

Second time I wanted to put it down (and actually did, mid-page and practically mid-sentence) was when Alexandra called Anastasia "Anya". I understand that author isn't Russian, but how difficult is it to research that the proper diminutive for Anastasia would be Nastya?
And yes, I googled specifically about Anastasia Nikolaevna - she, as any other Anastasia in Russia, was called only Nastya (and different forms of it, such as Nastenka).

Third, fourth, fifth and so on time I wanted to put the book down was when another Russian word was very weirdly spelled or incorrectly/unreasonably used.
The necessity behind putting some of those words in the text eludes me completely.
Especially I don't get why it's important to use 'kommunizm' instead of communism, 'bolsheviki' instead of Bolsheviks or 'arkhivy' instead of archives. But my personal favorite was, I suppose, the unexpected 'troopy' instead of dead bodies. Wrong form, by the way, in that sentence it couldn't be used in nominative case.

Also it seems like the author is a bit confused whether he wants to just use transliteration (as with 'konechno', 'shahmaty', 'russkogo'), or to get closer to the correct pronunciation (like using 'neechevo' for nichego, 'eezyoom' for izyum and 'eedee-ot' for idiot), or just to give foreign words weird-looking spelling (as with 'xoroshow' and 'xhorosho' - it's 'horosho', for God's sake; or 'zdravstvoojte' - seems like a real Dutch word, this one, especially with a j thrown in there).

Again, all these would have been just minor troubles if the story itself was great. Buuut.... nope.
… (mere)
1 stem
Markeret
alissee | 64 andre anmeldelser | Dec 8, 2021 |
This book felt really long. It was unnecessarily descriptive and delved into details on subjects which didn't add to the story. The only really interest was the russian verbiage used throughout.
 
Markeret
battlearmanda | 22 andre anmeldelser | Nov 30, 2021 |

Lister

Hæderspriser

Måske også interessante?

Associated Authors

Erin Benach Designer
Beth Middleworth Cover designer

Statistikker

Værker
5
Medlemmer
2,694
Popularitet
#9,537
Vurdering
½ 3.6
Anmeldelser
108
ISBN
108
Sprog
7
Udvalgt
1

Diagrammer og grafer