I had high hopes for this, as I've always found the Romanovs and their relationship with Rasputin to be fascinating. The fact that this book was supposed to consist of mostly hearsay didn't bother me. Just treat it as anything you'd come across on Facebook (with a huge pinch of salt), and I figured it could be highly entertaining.

Unfortunately the book isn't so much a book as a collection of sentences. There is no narrative flow, possibly due to the fact that there are far too many short sentences, with little to tie them together and a whole lot of jumping back and forth along the timeline, for no discernible reason other than that the author must have thought of something then and there, so there it was going to sit.
Basically, the whole thing lacks cohesion, and could really, really use a better editor.

Disappointed. ( )

I found this book disturbing in the author's quite cavalier approach to the sexual assaults perpetrated by Rasputin. For example, "There was the odd scandal, including a woman who claimed he [Rasputin] raped her in his cellar." (p.45) In another instance, Welch describes a woman who, "as a nun, ... had suffered a run-in with the mad monk Iliodor, in the course of which she claimed he raped her..." (p.125) What I find disturbing is that she precedes this comment by stating this woman "had been distincly unstable when Rasputin met her." Perhaps the woman was "unstable" because she'd been sexually assaulted? Welch never draws attention to that possibility.

These are only a few examples - the book is rife with this kind of thoughtless and sexist discussion. There is a distinct sexist streak in the entire book - often subtle, but in many cases (as above) glaringly obvious.
I will not recommend this book to anyone, as I find that kind of insensitivity disturbing. ( )

Rasputin: A Short Life - Frances Welch ****

After just coming back from a holiday to St Petersburg and a tour of the Yusupov palace, I actually visited the room where Rasputin met his more than sticky end. I was surprised at how little I really knew about the ‘mad monk’, and what I thought I knew was probably partially fictionalised anyway. I decided to find a book that would not be too heavy but give a fairly accurate account and general gist of the man that history has clouded in suspense.

What is it about?

Exactly as the title suggests it covers the life of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin from his childhood to death. How he rose from humble peasant beginnings to unofficial advisor to one of the most rich & powerful families the world has world has ever seen. Shrouded in myth and secrecy, the author attempts to separate folklore and propaganda from actual events, but as is usual, this is easier said than done and much is still left to the reader to make up their own minds. Nothing is spared here and we learn as much of his varied sexual appetite as we do his political persuasions and thoughts on the times he lived in.

What did I like?

The book is written with a lot of humour, some tongue in cheek, some practically laugh out loud. It appears very well researched and draws upon a number of sources from the actual time period. Frances Welch is definitely a talented writer and manages to pack an awful lot of facts and figures without the book turning into too much of a laborious essay.

What didn’t I like?

When I was walking around the Yusupov palace the guide asked the question whether or not we thought that Rasputin was a ‘Bad’ person, the majority of non Russians in attendance agreed that they thought he was, whereas in contrast the staff at the museum and ‘locals’ thought the opposite. This wasn’t reflected at all throughout the book and I found the views to be very negatively biased, there was plenty to be said against Rasputin but little to display him in even a slightly positive light. I find it quite difficult to believe that a person with so much charisma and influence didn’t have any redeeming qualities. It would have been nice to have seen witness statements from both sides of the coin, I mean Rasputin wasn’t exactly a mass murderer or found guilty of infanticide.

Would I recommend?

I think I would. As I have said this book is more for the person that wants to know a little about a lot, and as a sort of semi brief introduction to the man you can’t go far wrong. ( )