That I enjoyed seeing argued and presented. It does present a rather complex or at least two-sided view of Rasputin. I’m not sure I would “highly” recommend the novel, but it is a quick read and interesting. Maria tells us: “Didn’t they know that the name Rasputin was not derived from the word rasputnik a debauched, dissolute, immoral person, but from rasputiye an intersection of roads? Again, I don’t know if that is accurate, but it fits very much the conflicting view of Rasputin that Alexander chooses to portray in the novel. I was interested in Alexander’s character’s claims on the origin of the family name “Rasputin.” “More powerful than the mightiest cannon? After all, don’t you think fear and rumor and innuendo are …. Scandal that we could plant like dangerous propaganda. all in the hopes not of simply getting information but of unearthing scandal. Why do such an interrogation of his daughter? While that claim hasn’t much to do with the Rasputin story it did seem to be a claim of great insight into much of larger world of politics over the centuries in all places. What is the use of such interrogations? The reply is – propaganda, the powerful tool of control. I enjoyed that mixed portrait, and it does fit many historical accounts.Īlso, there was an interesting little insight into the interrogation itself. One can certainly see him on this account as both a phony and scoundrel, and as a legitimate occult figure with a serious impact on the Russian monarchy and thus on Russia itself. I did like the fact that Robert Alexander, the author, decided to present Rasputin as a difficult character to classify. I can’t say I really learned much, but I did get a fairly coherent view of one side of it. It’s isn’t a great book, and it was a rather quick read, but I enjoyed it. This device of the novel gives her a keen insight on who her father is, at least as she sees it and understands it. Maria, the older of his two daughters, has her own questions about who her father really is, and thus she’s was trying to figure out these things before his murder. It is a interesting tale, clear enough but not brilliantly written.

He wants to know the details of Rasputin’s last days.Īnd that is what Maria provides. It is four months after Rasputin’s murder and his 18 year old daughter is brought before Aleksandrovich Blok, formerly one of her favorite poets, now an interrogator for the Revolution. I read the novel mainly to get a fictional account and see how he was presented. I have no idea how accurate it is since the life and understanding of the historical Rasputin is still much in doubt. This is an historical novel of the last days of Rasputin at the hands of Russian Revolutionaries. RAPSPUTIN’S DAUGHTER by Robert Alexander RAPSPUTIN’S DAUGHTER by Robert Alexander

Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander