Book Description
Reveals the hard edge of this skating star.
Customer Reviews:
A STUNNING BOOK.......2000-07-03
As one of the critics says; this i s indeed a pageturner... However, there are numerous faults facts in this book. Among them includes that the film IT`S A PLEASURE was a Fox film. Wrong, it was produced by International and released by RKO. Several critical comments on her films are stolen from among others Leslie Halliwell, a notable filmcritic and the ONLY bible for moviebuffs until internet movie database came along. Stories of Sonja and Tyrone are also way over the top; the talk they had in the dressingroom - how did Leif Henie and Raymond Strait get hold of t h a t? Leif was still in Norway at the time. However. There are several items that distinguish this biography; the stories by Sonja`s secretary Dorothy Stevens in particular... It is true that in creating the ice-skating star Sonja Henie, her father created a monster. But in the long run Sonja suffered from it. She was never taught to be a normal person. And indeed: She gave Norway a place in the sun and donated with her third husband Niels Onstad the Henie-Onstad ArtGallery near Oslo. U should visit it if u came to Norway. All of Sonja`s medals and trophies are in a well-guarded room and photos etc from her films are displayed in a huge basement. It must never be forgotten that she gave our nation a great deal - indeed giving the community of Bærum a home for retired people. U WILL see this reading this book that she was a trouper - a woman who was taught to fight and be competetive. And everything she tried her hands on - became lucrative.
Hell on Ice.......1999-10-30
I know and have known quite a people who worked with Sonja or were as close a friend as she would permit and this book seems to confirm all that I've heard over the last 40 years. I met Sonja in 1963 in Pittsburgh at the opening of the Pittsburgh Arena. Despite all her shortcomings as a person, there was something about her that fascinates me as a skater and as a person. Anyone interested in skating should read this book.
Facinating book!.......1998-12-30
For those who loved to watch Sonja Heine, this book is a must, showing her amazing rise to fame, volatile temperment and unbelievable perserverance. You won't be able to put it down from start to finish.
Average customer rating:
- enthralling....but alittle light in content
- Read Miyabe's other novels instead
- Its all make-believe
- Disappointing
- Book's description more exciting that book really is
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Shadow Family
Miyuki Miyabe
Manufacturer: Kodansha International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Japanese
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All She Was Worth
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Crossfire
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Strangers
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Out: A Novel
ASIN: 4770030045 |
Book Description
In Shadow Family, Miyuki Miyabe draws readers into the amorphous world of Internet chat rooms-a world of people from all walks of life attracted by the possibility of being whomever they want to be.
Police investigating the murder of a middle-aged office worker discover e-mail correspondence on the victim's computer that indicates he had been a regular participant in an Internet chat room, as the "father" in a fantasy "family." Meanwhile, a female detective is assigned to protect the dead man's
real-life daughter who complains of being stalked. As the real daughter confronts her father's alternate life, we are pulled into a psychological drama that pits reality and illusion against each other in astonishing ways.
Reading Guide available
Customer Reviews:
enthralling....but alittle light in content.......2006-04-29
First, I'd like to correct a previous viewer. Ms. Miyabi did not write "OUT". This was written by an equally amazing author Natsuo Kirino. Funny story: I made the same mistake in purchasing Miyabi's book "All She was Worth" thinking it was by Kirino; and was pleasantly rewarding with a new favorite.
Anyway, "Shadow Family" was a great read. Equally as rewarding as her other two novels. The characters were people I could easily sympathize with, and paced to a degree that I looked forward to every page turned. While it's true, that the book could have been just as long as "Crossfire" and "All She Was Worth", as some of the characters had a history with each other that was never fully fleshed out, the roller coaster ride that was the interrogation made up for it.
Also, while it's true that the identity of the killer was revealed quite early on, I don't think that it was the point of the story. It was the revelations surrounding the online family that became slowly fleshed out....and the "super-surprise" revelation about this family at the end (I won't give it away) that was the real kicker.
All in all, I got my money's worth, and look forward to many more translations from Miyabi. They're really taking their sweet time aren't they?
Read Miyabe's other novels instead.......2006-04-10
I am a big fan of Miyuki Miyabe, but this novel was disappointing. If you are interested in a good mystery or Japanese mystery, I highly recommend her other books "Out" and "All She Was Worth", to a lesser extent "Crossfire" instead.
The characters in the novel were really what kept me reading, especially the main character, a middle-aged female police officer. For me, she was the perfect Japanese female police officer or professional for that matter. Content with what she has achieved, knowing that some of her achievements were due to "gender" issues (i.e. promoting females in the force), but others her own doing. Understanding the gender issues in the workplace and working within the confines of it, instead of being brash or frustrated - she turns them to her advantage instead. The essence of working in Japan as a female. If you are interested in characters, especially about Japanese characters, this novel will not disappoint you. Because of this, I rate the book 3 stars and not lower.
I completely understand what Miyabe was trying to do with this novel. Bring to light what effects the internet is having on social relationships and family. She wants the reader to be shocked and appalled, but I'm afraid that most of us are already jaded by the goings on on the internet and there is little shock value left in her storyline. Miyabe said it best herself in a recent interview "it is getting harder and harder for writers to shock readers or invent shocking storylines, as reality is becoming more shocking each day than fiction."
Its all make-believe.......2005-06-10
In her native Japan, Miyuki Miyabe is as much a household name as John Grisham or Stephen King. While not the avante guard genius of Haruki Murakami, she is a respected and popular author of crime fiction, with quite a few books to her credit, and some movie adaptations as well. "Shadow Family" (original Japanese title "R.P.G." ) is her second book to be translated into English, following the excellent "All She was Worth."
"Shadow Family" covers the murders of middle-aged husband and father Ryosuke Tokoroda and his college-age lover Naoko Imai. Through the course of the investigation, it is uncovered that Tokoroda had an online "family," where he role-played the loving father to a make-believe wife, daughter and son. In real life he was a cold and selfish philanderer, but online he became the loving, supportive father that every child dreams of.
Aside from a few expositionary chapters, it is a "single-room" mystery, not unlike "12 Angry Men," where all the tension takes place in a police interrogation chamber. The investigators and the suspects engage in a battle of wills, each trying to get the other to slip up and make a mistake, in a fencing match of "Who knows what." One by one Tokoroda's online "family" is called in, while his real-life daughter Kazumi watches from behind the 2-way mirror, peeling away the layers of mystery that were her father.
"Shadow Family" is not as strong a book as "All She was Worth," but is still an engrossing read and a real page-turner. The opening expositionary chapters are slow, and it takes awhile to get into the pace of the book. Once all the players are assembled in the interrogation room, however, the story takes off and the psychological fencing begins.
It is no real challenge to identify the killer, and the "Whodunnit?" joy of the book comes about 2/3 of the way in. From there, it is a pleasure to watch the pieces of the well-laid trap fall into place. Some of the characters are very interesting sketches, and I would love to see them explored in another book, where they are allowed more depth to develop. Unfortunately, at under 200 pages, "Shadow Family" does not allow for deep characters, but is more an exercise of an interesting trap.
Very enjoyable over all, and I will definitely be keeping up with future Miyabe books as they are translated.
Disappointing.......2005-05-02
After greatly enjoying the author's "All she was worth" I eagerly anticipated this second English translation of one of her books. Yet, everything that made "All" such a great read is missing here.
Since I mostly agree with the previous reviewer, I will not go into too much plot detail. There is an overdrawn description of the police force, an unnecessarily long interrogation and a weak and predictable conclusion.
Most striking, though, is the enormous difference in quality between this book and "All". While both deal with a timely social problem, consumerism in "All", social isolation and the internet in "Family", both the plot development and quality of the prose are strikingly different. The first book described an interesting search with a number of serene and engaging scenes; here we have a clumsy, poorly developed police procedural that is mediocre at best.
It is too bad that this book shattered my high expectations. While the theme may have yielded a much better book, "Family" gives one the impression of a hurried first draft that could have used an extra half year of writing effort.
The Japanese Amazon page indicates that Miyabe has been highly prolific. I hope that future translations will return to more solid entries in her bibliography.
Book's description more exciting that book really is.......2005-04-19
The book's description -- about the themes of false identity, fact/fantasy, rekindled partnership -- does make the book seem exciting. Unfortunately, the actual story is a disappointment -- inert, suspenseless, and easy to figure out.
The first warning sign is that this book is less than 200 pages. How can it explore all that it purports to do under 200 pages? Answer: it resorts to expository. The bulk of the book consists of police interrogation. Everything preceding this is exposition. Thus we are just told that police discovered that the victim had extramarital affairs and that he established a shadow family via chat rooms. One of the reviews above wrote, "Takegami [the detective] learns that Tokoroda [the victim] participated in Internet chat rooms and established a cyber 'family' where he played the 'Dad.'" This is quite misleading! One would think it means the reader participating in the discovery with the detective. Not at all! The reader is just told in a paragraph that the police discovered this.
The characters are also flat. The detective is partnered with an old female friend after 15 years. What does this matter? It matters not at all. Their relationship does not contribute the story in any meaningful way. It is simply a prop to keep the characters from being cardboard.
Finally, the mystery is easy to figure out. As I wrote above, the bulk of the story consists of police interrogation -- of the shadow family. Any careful reader will know the true killer and what the police are really after. It was telegraphed so early in the book that I cannot say that the relevation of the killer constitutes a twist.
I came to this book after reading Miyabe's first book, "All She Was Worth." That book I recommend. In that book, we walk alongside the detective. The characters show their humanity. It is touching. This book is completely the opposite. Characters are flat, the story uninvolving, and the mystery unsurprising.
Customer Reviews:
Exceptional!.......2003-11-27
If you think you know the story of Arthur - try again. Gillian Bradshaw completes her trilogy in an exceptional tale. This time the story is told from the perspective of Gwynhwyfar. Some of the basics hold true - the love triangle, the usurping, treasonous, illegitimate son and the battle of "good vs. evil".
However, Lancelot's name does not appear in this work - neither does Merlin's. Bradshaw holds true to the Welsh version of the tale and uses the more traditional characters of Cai and Bedwyr among others.
The end of Camlann comes not with a barge and three queens sailing Arthur off into the sunset...but with how kingdoms truly end and lives along with them.
It is a gripping, exciting read filled with good military strategy for those of you who like that aspect of Arthurian tales. If you like this legend - this is a must read. This collection will never leave my bookshelf!
Fantastic final chapter in Bradshaw's trilogy.......1999-07-27
In Winter's Shadow is the third and final book of Gillian Bradshaw's version of the Arthurian saga, which began with "Hawk of May" and continued with "Kingdom of Summer." She manages to make this one of the most emotionally compelling novel re-tellings of this classic story, and to do so is no small feat. Because Bradshaw paints such a remarkable picture of sixth century Britain, has such a canny touch with magic, and creates such depth of character, the reader is drawn through this legend as if they've never heard it before. I highly recommend every book of this trilogy; it is one of the finest examples of fantasy/historical fiction I've ever read. And it will make you cry!
Leave everything off and read this book!.......1999-05-10
This is a book about the Legendary King Arthur, and Gillian Bradshaw uses her pen to draw you into the fear, mistrust, anger, love and all other emotions as Medraut tries to take over the throne from his father, Arthur. This book will keep you in suspense while you are reading it, and make you cry at the end.
A new view on the old story, King Arthur........1997-12-09
As the conclusion to Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy, this book serves wonderfully to tie up loose ends and terminates with the classic tragedy, Arthur's kingdom falls because of his wife's infidelity; however, Bradshaw adds new spice and flavour to the whole story by telling it from Guinevere's point of view and her names for the characters are Welsh. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a new slant on the Arthurian trilogy.
Book Description
Erik Winter is the youngest chief inspector in Sweden; he wears sharp suits, cooks gourmet meals, has a penchant for jazz, and is about to become a father. But he has his share of troubles too; a bloody double murder on his doorstep is only the beginning.
As Sun and Shadow opens a couple entertains a stranger in their apartment in Göteborg, but this particular illicit rendezvous will prove to be their last.
What greets Chief Inspector Winter and his team when they arrive appears as a stage setting, grotesquely symbolic in its composition. While Winter trawls ads in men's magazines in search of the missing party guest, a trail from the clues left by the killer leads into the cult world of the gothic—a riddle of nightmares, of good versus evil, of sun and shadow. When the investigation unearths a possible link between the murders and the police force, even friendly faces are not to be trusted. And when the killer strikes again, possibly closer to home, Winter is in a race against time before someone he loves gets hurt.
Like his fellow countryman Henning Mankell, Ake Edwardson is a brilliant discovery for lovers of intricate, psychologically charged and stylish crime novels, and Sun and Shadow promises to be the season's most exciting crime debut.
Customer Reviews:
Turmoil at the onset of the new millenium.......2007-04-06
Ake Edwardson's "Sun and Shadow" is a worthy addition to the rapidly growing genre of Scandinavian crime dramas being translated for consumption for the English speaking market. Edwardson, however uses a slightly different formula. He devotes nearly one third of his novel developing both his characters, particularly protagonist, Detective Chief Inspector Erik Winter and his setting, Gothenberg, Sweden. He gives us brief glimpses at the heinous crime that will become Winter's focus.
Gothenberg is at the onset of both Christmas and the celebration of the new millenium when a brutal double murder with obvious sexual overtones is uncovered. Inspector Winter whose life is in flux owing to the anticipation of fatherhood, had recently been jetting back and forth to the Costa del Sol in Spain. His father lying on his deathbed had succumbed to his illnesses. With personal issues cluttering his mind, he now must focus on coordinating the investigation of this killing.
We soon learn through the ongoing inquest that the murder seems in some way related to couples who fulfill their sexual fantasies by wife swapping. Eyewitnesses around the crime scene report that a man in uniform was seen around the time of the murders. Could Winter possibly be searching for one of his own?
Edwardson leads us through his plot at a leisurely pace not revealing too much but concluding is a frenetic fashion as time is of the essence, as the murderer is poised to strike again.
Not trying to be Henning Mankell.......2006-11-07
I'm rating this book 5 stars just to bring up the abysmal rating given by the only other reviewer so far; it deserves better. I'm an aficionado of Scandinavian detectives (see my manic list elsewhere). Edwardson's books are as enjoyable as any. "Never End" - the sequel to this book - is maybe richer, but "Sun and Shadow" serves as an excellent introduction to the icy world of Winter & company. The plot evolves in several dimensions and casts its own bleak spell. Connoisseurs of crime fiction won't want to miss it.
Terribly Disappointed!.......2006-10-04
This is the first book I have read by Ake Edwardson, and it certainly will be my last. I love to read Henning Mankell thrillers and wanted to try another mystery by a Swedish author. Near the end, I thought it was going to get interesting, but it never did. Sorry I couldn't say something nice about it! Maybe it just didn't translate well into English!
The jacket of the book said Edwardson is "one of Scandinavia's most successful crime writers." I don't think he can hold a candle to Mankell!
Book Description
A slave-woman trying to work off her contract finds her life in danger when she makes mysterious things happen.
Download Description
At the dawn of the Industrial Age, the kingdom of Niune is ruled by the Seelie Court-half-human faelings descended from seelie fae. Sworn to the forces of light, the Seelie Court is dedicated to the destruction of all who bear the taint of unseelie fae blood. Mina Cole is an indentured worker-a factory slave. She has lived her entire life ignorant of her fae heritage, until at last a moment of terror reveals the winter magic that has lain dormant within. Now that her power is awakened, the hunters of the Seelie Court will not rest until they have slain Mina and all who stand with her. Her only hope of survival lies in the hands of man crippled in both body and spirit. One terrible night thirty-five years ago, Duncan RiDahn lost both his lover and the use of his legs to the Seelie Court. Into Duncan's web of regret comes Mina, whose dark power both alarms and attracts him. For Mina wields a terrible magic that may ultimately prove a greater threat to the faelings of Niune than all the hunters of the Seelie Court combined.
Customer Reviews:
I really WANTED to love it, but..........2007-09-15
I bought this book because it got so many rave reviews on Amazon, and because I like books in the fantasy genre. When I first opened the book, I read the blurb inside the back cover about the author, and immediately loved her - she's funny, she has cats, she's a vegetarian, and she sounds like a worthy and intelligent person, the kind I'd usually choose to hang out with in real life. Plus, I loved the name of the publisher - Mundania. It just sounds so cool!
At that point, I was sure I was going to love the book. I wanted desperately to love it.
But I quickly found that wanting just wasn't enough. I didn't and couldn't love the book. Nor did I hate it, though, to be fair. But it just wasn't one of those 'I can't put it down' kind of books. I suppose that my making a mental comparison as I read it to several other truly excellent books I'd recently read about the fae ('Moon Called' and 'Blood Bound' by Patricia Briggs - both of which are now firmly amongst my fave books of all time) didn't help this book's cause, since this book was nowhere near as good as those two. Plus, I was under the impression before I bought it that this was a fantasy book, with a hint of romance in it. It wasn't. It was a ROMANCE book with a fantasy theme. It was written not in the style of fantasy writers, but in the style of romance writers. For instance, romance writers typically have a habit of rating any male character's (and often female character's, too) attractiveness and attributes whenever the character is introduced into a scene, and often many times thereafter as well. It's something I find annoying, not least of all since I think a person's beauty lies in MORE than just their physical features...constantly rating characters' looks is something that fantasy writers usually DON'T do; it's too shallow and repetitive for their liking. Fantasy writers are more likely to make you like or hate a character based on their deeds and words. Also, the bad guys in this book were rather stereotypical villains, 2D cliches lacking depth and imagination, often laughably bad - another trait much more typical of romance writers than fantasy writers. There were other aspects as well that defined this as romance, not fantasy, but I won't bore you by going into them all here.
Also, this book wasn't entirely original. Plotlines were borrowed from various sources (X-Men, for instance), as were characters - Fox seemed the spitting image of Drusilla from 'Buffy', albeit with an altruistic side, and Mina was very reminiscent in looks, powers and motivations to Felice from Julian May's excellent 'Saga of the Exiles' series (although I vastly prefer Felice.) The metal slave collars that Mina and her comrades wore also seemed borrowed from the 'Exiles' series. Also, the opera scene seemed borrowed from 'Pretty Woman'. And as for the last two pages of the ending - THAT was copied from practically every romance book ever written! (Which was a shame, really, because up until that point it was a pretty interesting ending.)
There were aspects about the story I did really like. The character of Abby, for instance, was entirely endearing, and the author took the unusual step of making her a lesbian, which DOESN'T usually happen in a romance. Also, there were some unusual backdrops (the Victorian London-style setting, for instance) and a few nice plot twists. Plus, for an independantly published book, the spelling and grammar were pretty damned good - the publisher used a real editor, rather than just spell check, and it shows. All in all, the book's good qualities (as well as its bad ones) mean that it's a book I will long remember.
But overall, it could have been written better, in a more flowing and poignant style, and I can see why a big publisher didn't snap it up. This writer has potential to be good, but she's not quite there yet. I hope sometime in the future she steps back from the romance writing style and takes a stab at writing in pure fantasy style. She could really shine at that, given a bit of experience and coaching. (Whatever she chooses to do in her future, though, I wish her good luck and best wishes!)
One last item to add to my gripes about the book, though - the heroine, Mina, was a chain smoker. There didn't seem a good reason for her to be a smoker. Certainly, it seemed highly unlikely that anyone so poor that they couldn't afford food or plates or clothes, and who had the threat of debtors prison always hanging over her, would or could waste money on cigarettes! And the fact that Mina chose to spend her money on buying cigarettes (and on alcohol, for that matter) just made her seem, well, really truly stupid (kind of like those people in our modern society who are on welfare, who spend their money on alcohol and gambling instead of food or nappies for their babies). Also, I hate it when writers glamourise smoking. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, and I know people who've died from smoking, so my feelings about it are biased, perhaps, but justifiably so, I believe.
Anyway, to sum it up, this book is probably not going to appeal to your typical fantasy book fan. And it is definitely NOT written for the typical male reader! It is probably most suitable for readers who like romance books with a fantasy theme, and who also don't mind the somewhat lower standard of books usually released by smaller publishers.
One of the Best Fantasy Books I have read...Wow!!.......2007-02-05
This was one of the best fantasy books I have read yet. I read it in one evening, I could not put it down. It had me capitivated from beginning to end. The story starts with a woman, Mina, who is enslaved as a factory worker while she is paying off her debt. She is miserable, tired, lonely, hungry and just plain fed up with the injustices in life. She has no family at all, and only one friend, her roomate Abby. She knows she is different from everyone else, but does not understand why or how. When she meets Duncan, a teacher, a man who says he is dedicated in helping her explore her Faeling powers, and how to use them, her life finally starts to seem like it is worth living. He teaches her there are two kinds of Faelings, seelie and unseelie. She and him are the latter. He also explains to her how their race is in danger and is constantly hunted by the seelie race. He becomes her friend, her best friend, and she cannot get enough of his company. But quickly the events in her life get much worse, and not only does she have to deal with her everyday hardships like working and finding food and shelter, but now she has to deal with the seelie faeling race trying to kill her.
I loved how strong Mina was. She had one hardship after another, but she kept going. And Duncan was a character I fell in love with. He was smart, wounded, and somehow very caring and compassionate towards Mina. He truly loved her and it was so touching to watch it grow. This book had my emotions on edge. I even cried a few times. There were twists and turns in the plot and secrets that were uncovered. I was wrapped up in this fantasy world were humans existed with faelings. The characters in the book were so developed that they seemed real to me; I was totally enthralled in their lives. This book is a must read, you will not be disapointed.
Industrial fantasy?.......2006-04-12
I honestly don't know exactly what prompted me to pick this book up. I had never heard of the author and I don't remember even reading a blurb on it. Needless to say when I started the book I didn't have too many expectations. That definitely worked in Winter's Orphans favor. Rarely have I been so pleasantly surprised by a book. I ended up finishing it in a parking lot after starting it at lunch, which isn't as unusual for me as it sounds. The only reason that I wouldn't give Winter's Orphans a 5 is that I thought a couple of areas were underdeveloped. The major characters were very interesting and believable, the world is fascinating and the plot is quite good. Call it a 4.5.
For more than young adults.......2005-11-14
Just my impressions, as this book has been synopsized before.
I'm just finishing up on reading this book for the 2nd time - as another poster states, it's fast moving and intriguing. The characters are 3 dimensional and one is atypical in standard fantasy fare (a man in a wheelchair, although IMHO he's not a sympathetic character all the time). The setting has a Victorian-era feel to it (think the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century) combined with all things faery.
Bodice-ripper doesn't seem appropriate for this novel, IMHO. There aren't a lot of sex scenes (there's one, and it's handled quite well, without getting too detailed), there's not a lot of heavy panting, endless jumping into beds, etc. The love that grows between 2 of the characters doesn't seem forced or overt to me, and most of the time, the 2 characters deny their love for one another (it *almost* gets tedious, but not quite). Yes, there are plenty of scenes of the seamy side of life, but since we're talking about a woman who's an indentured servant/slave, I didn't expect her to be hanging out in fancy restaurants.
Now published through Mundania Press, I see Ms. Corvidae has turned this into Book One of a trilogy, the Shadow Fae Trilogy. But don't worry; the story in this book is wrapped up by the time you turn to the last page.
It'll be interesting to see where Ms. Corvidae takes this tale, as I'll gladly buy at least the next one in this series.
Original and fast-moving.......2005-08-24
But I think I would have enjoyed it more had I been a teenage girl. While free from errors and with characters not totally flat, it did still read like a book intended for "young adults." And while only a tiny element of the book, when other reviewers say "romance," what they really mean is "bodice-ripper." Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book as a light read. I'm just not sure that I will continue on to her other novels.
Average customer rating:
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Winter Shoes for Shadow Horse
Linda Oatman High
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ASIN: 156397472X |
Book Description
"A beautifully written and immensely readable chronicle of Russia under the last four tsars...a splendid achievement"
-The Economist
Exactly 175 years ago, on the Senate Square in St. Petersburg, a failed uprising ignited a process that would, one red October, finally sweep the autocracy away. The Shadow of the Winter Palace recounts an extraordinary century of Russian history, a politically tempestuous time that was also a Golden Age of intellectual and artistic achievement-the century of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, of Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. A master stylist and a distinguished historian, Edward Crankshaw limns dazzling portraits of the czars, the revolutionaries, and a host of other unforgettable characters-and provides a riveting, sweeping history "jam-packed with information about the past and implications for the present" (The Atlantic Monthly).
"Crankshaw is a superbly literate historian...His greatest forte is a sympathetic yet never mawkish insight into the psyche of the men on whom rested the burden of ruling the vast empire. His portrait of Nicholas I is a masterpiece."
-New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
ONCE OVER VERY LIGHTLY.......2007-07-25
Crankshaw's "The Shadow of the Winter Palace" is a very readable survey of attempts to modernize Russia in the 19th century against the stubborn gravitational pull of autocracy. Russia needed democracy built up from below, if only to bring new, able men into government and broaden the consultative base of Tsarist rule. One Emperor after the other let crucial opportunities slip until at last the pressure to reform became ungovernable. Though always fun to read, Crankshaw is relentlessly superficial and adopts a smarmy, jokey tone completely at odds with the material. One looks in vain for the gritty details of Alexander II's great reforms, particularly how serfs were emancipated, and the new men who came forward during that period are never profiled adequately.
Continuation school.......2007-02-18
It is a measure of Edward Crankshaw's originality that a book subtitled "Russia's Drift to Revolution 1825-1917" ends several years short of 1917. As he puts it, the dynasty was finished. All the hoopla and rigmarole about Kadets, arrivals at Finland Stations and harangues to the workers were an encore. The play had ended.
No historian writing in English about pre-Communist Russia can evade the question, what if? Crankshaw's answer is, Communism was the continuation of tsarism under other management. The labor camps were not invented in the 1920s, the Russification of the non-Slav minorities was not Marxist, the failure of agriculture had already been accomplished, the secret police had already organized and created all the tools they ever would.
He does not speculate in the other direction. It may be that the Mongol conquest had ruined Russia before the Russians ever got a crack at doing it. I tend to think so, following what I take to be one thread of the argument of James Billington in "The Icon and the Axe." However that may be, and it is certainly arguable, Crankshaw starts with the first Russian government, in which the boyars chose to hand over power to an autocrat.
It might have been different, but once started down that road, Crankshaw sees no real opportunity to change course. A change in outlook occurred, however, about 1825. Until that time, revolt had been frequent, but always from the lower depths. Under the stimulus of the Enlightenment, the educated classes began to doubt the divinity of tsardom.
(By educated classes, Crankshaw means solely the secular part, who were, at least in principle, open to western ideas. He has next to nothing to say about the church, which is a bit odd considering that Orthodoxy was part of the arrogation by the throne of autocratic power. In effect, in the 1820s, the educated classes were all army officers.)
The Decembrist revolt may or may not have ruined one opening for a tsar to give up some part of autocratic power. Crankshaw is not quite clear; he seems to think that Alexander I was a solipsist who would have turned into an unvarying autocrat anyway.
For half a century after 1825, there was no terror or organized subversion. This period is the most interesting in "The Shadow of the Winter Palace," as Crankshaw traces the creeping modernism that infected a growing new class. In 1825, there had been only serfs and nobles. By 1870 there were workers, university students, newspapermen, most of the modern types except perhaps accountants. It seems doubtful anybody in Russia ever had a clue about where the national account stood.
Crankshaw saves his worst disdain for Nicholas II and Alexandra. Alexandra, oversexed and under brained, was the worst sort of mate for Nicholas, although Crankshaw judges him unfit to govern in every sense. Alexandra added the ingredients that changed a sordid story into a sordid, bizarre story.
There's a great deal to chew over in this fat tome. A few remarks deserve to be singled out.
"The workings of the autocracy ensured that the people subjected to it over the ages could not exist without it."
"The very name by which they were to be known, the intelligentsia, had no counterpart in any other land." (But I would add, a similar situation -- without the name for it -- existed in China and, perhaps to a degree, is Islamic countries; and to lesser degree in most of Latin America.)
"It was only by virtue of her mastery of Poland that Russia could feel European."
"The direct threat to the autocracy came not from the convinced revolutionaries (of Alexander II's time) on the one hand or from the increasingly hard-driven peasantry on the other. It came from the disorientated, disenfranchised, politically superfluous members of the new bourgeoisie, the men whose talents should have been enlisted for the business of government but who were cast out and as it were disowned."
Still timely; still lively.......2003-12-08
A witty and wide-ranging study of Russia's drift to revolution from the 1825 Decembrist uprising to the final downfall in WWI. Mr. Crankshaw has drawn in the cultural influences on the Russian intelligentsia through those years -- Dostoyevsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mendeleyev -- and their influence and despair. (Mr. Crankshaw notes Mendeleyev's removal from his university professorship by the Minister of Education, a political hack, and the scientist's subsequent rescue by the Finance Minister, Witte). More and more intellectuals turn to revolutionary plotting or simple apathy while Russia's economy and military struggle to catch up to Europe and ultimately fail.
You'll find vivid personal portraits all through the story -- the Tsars, of course, Nicholas I, Alexander II and III -- but also some figures struggling heroically against the ultimate failure: Gen. Totleben at the siege of Sevastopol in 1854; Gen. Loris-Melikov attempting to reform the doomed tsardom of Alexander II in 1880; prime ministers Witte and Stolypin in their time working against the clock to industrialize a sullen and balky nation. And the revolutionaries: the Decembrists; the young students-turned-assassin stalking Alexander II; intellectual rebels like Herzen and Chernyshevsky.
All this puts an 80-year perspective on the events leading to the 1905 revolution and the ultimate, completed downfall in 1917. His bibliographic comments on other sources -- including Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra -- are well worth reading as well: sharp, wide-ranging and with the same depth of perspective. Well worth reading in light of the present-day Russia's attempts to find its way.
Superb!.......2002-04-02
This is an outstanding choice for anyone who wants to learn more about and understand the forces involved in Russia's autocratic Tsarist political system from 1825 to the Revolution of 1917.
The author masterfully blends history, political thought, biography, (and a dry sense of humor at times!) to a monumental task in examining the changes in Russia in the last 100 or so years prior to the Soviet era. (he covers some significant events in the reign of Alexander I) We see how Russia's expansion to Central Asia; the impact of the Crimean War; the economic modernizing problems resulting from serfdom; and the war with Japan in the early 20th Century shaped and influenced the thinking in the country.
Crankshaw is able to clearly deliniate the trends, and the significant events and people which made those trends possible. All in an easy to read and interesting style.
A fascinating and highly informative read!
Magisterial.......2002-01-25
Since the previous reviews have already established an able outline of the work's content I will only say that Crankshaw's masterpiece is a magnificent work of history and cuts to the heart of Russia under the Tsars, the Politburo and today's government.
As always, Crankshaw's prose is lucid, elegant and highly readable.
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10 Prey Series Books: Broken Prey, Certain Prey, Chosen Prey, Eyes of Prey, Hidden Prey, Mortal Prey, Rules of Prey, Sudden Prey, Secret Prey, Winter Prey, (Unboxed Set of Suspense Thriller Books)
John Sandford
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WJDQOQ |
Product Description
10 Prey Series Books: Broken Prey, Certain Prey, Chosen Prey, Eyes of Prey, Hidden Prey, Mortal Prey, Rules of Prey, Sudden Prey, Secret Prey, Winter Prey, (Unboxed Set of Suspense Thriller Books), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package
to save on shipping costs.
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