Book Review: Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons

Tatiana and Alexander is the second book in the trilogy that started with The Bronze Horseman. I finished the first book a few days ago and immediately downloaded the second book to read. I had to know what happened next! (As I mentioned in my review of The Bronze Horseman, this book also has a lot of sexual content. However, this time a lot of it is in the italicized sections and I ended up just skipping page after page of this and the book still totally made sense. )

 

When this book starts, Tatiana has escaped to the United States and is about to have Alexander's baby. She left Alexander behind, believing him to be dead. As she tries to make a new life for herself, she is haunted by the thought that maybe her husband isn't dead after all.

 

 

Alexander, meanwhile, is still alive and fighting for his life. At times he acts as a ranked soldier again, while at other times he is imprisoned. He holds on to the belief that Tatiana is alive and well and tries to survive Stalin's "death machine" and find Tatiana.

 

The Registration Room on Ellis Island. Tatiana lived & worked on the island. My photo from our 2008 trip.

A lot of the story of Tatiana as she lives in NYC and is about her waiting and trying to decide if Alexander was really alive or not and whether or not she should go on with her life. This actually got a bit boring. And, as she was in the United States she was learning English and we had to read her conversations in broken English. I think this was confusing because it didn't 'sound' like the voice of Tatiana that I was accustomed to.

 

Sachsenhausen NKVD Special Camp (controlled by Gulag) in Germany where Alexander was held
photo from Wikipedia

Alexander's story, however, was more exciting. Not only was there more of the war and the 'history' (which is what I love about historical fiction!), you also learned more about his life as a child. Some of this was really interesting (including his life in the Gulag which I'd studied and read about last year), and other parts were disturbing. I came away not liking Alexander near as much after reading this book.

 

So, I'm happy to finish this trilogy after the first two books, but won't be reading the third. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.



Seeing Lenin & Stalin

I'm going to skip ahead on our trip because I watched a movie about Stalin over the past two days. Besides France, we were able to visit three other countries: Finland, Estonia and Sweden. While in Estonia for three days, we went on a semi-private tour (7 people of which we were 5) of occupied Estonia. One of our stops on the tour was a pile of old statues behind a museum - primarily statues of Lenin, Stalin, and some soldiers.

our family with statues of Lenin and Stalin in Tallinn, Estonia

We took some photos of all of us around a statue of Lenin. To tell the truth, at the time I didn't know which statues were Stalin and which were Lenin. We were smiling and that later disturbed me. Would we have been smiling around a statue of Hitler? Is it because we don't understand the horror of these men? Maybe. But, as I thought more about it today, I realized that we were primarily smiling because of where we were... we were standing next to a piece of history. And, these statues weren't terrorizing people any more... they were piled up and neglected and no longer a threat. The people of Estonia are FREE!

my photo of Stalin statue in Tallinn

The History Channel documentary I just watched (online) is called "Stalin: Man of Steel." It was an amazing tale of a ruthless man who led to the death of millions of his people... but was strangely still their beloved Father. At the end of this post I'm going to share some of the notes I took - many of them actual words from the movie. But, if you are interested in learning more about him, I recommend this movie.

My notes:

The Romanov's had ruled Russia for over 200 years and it was the goal of revolutionaries, including Stalin, to overthrow them. On October 25, 1917, the Bolshevik's stormed the winter palace in St Petersburg and the Tzar was toppled. Lenin became the new leader of Russia. (Question: did Lenin take power immediately?)

Stalin worked as an enforcer in the Communist party during the next five years and was then elected General Secretary. Eventually, he became Lenin's right hand man. When Lenin died in 1924, there were two possible successors: Stalin or Trotsky. Congress went against Lenin's will and chose Stalin and exhiling Trotsky (who would be later assassinated under Stalin's orders).

Stalin, wanting only loyalty to himself, banned the Russian Orthodox religion and had all religious materials destroyed. He had the churches destroyed and thousands of priests executed. Then, he set himself up as a new god... and his image hung in every home.

Russia was a land of peasants and swamplands, but Stalin started industralizing building major factories and railroad tracks. Then, he took all of the agricultural land and created "collectives" - giant state-owned farms. The farmers who refused to deliver their harvests were subject to violence.

By 1932, modernization was taking its toll on the rural population. As 5 million people starved, Stalin had 5 millions TONS of grain exported! But, life in Moscow was good... if you followed the party lines!

A wave of political execution  followed with neighbors turning against neighbors and quotas set for how many people needed to be killed. Troika (groups of 3) went around conducting brief trials before executing people. In two years, 1.5 million people were killed.

Kolyma Goldmine from Wikipedia

Even as millions of people died in the Gulags, the prisoner's put their trust in Stalin. They thought he didn't know what was going on and would save them if he only knew. They thought he was a saint. In the Kolyma Gulag, a camp where gold was mined, the death rate was nearly 100%.

In the late 1930's, Stalin ordered a purge of his fellow party members and military leaders. He had 8 of his top generals executed and over 30,000 officers were killed over the next two years. Stalin wanted to raise up new leaders who would be faithful only to him.

In 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-agression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. But, on the 22nd of June, 1941, Hitler ignores the pact and attacks Russia. The Red Army is surprised and suffers heavy losses. The Soviet people fight for the Motherland and for their beloved Stalin.

Russia suffers massive losses, until winter sets in and they are able to save Moscow. Leningrad, however, is under seige by Germany for 900 days and over 1 million people die.

Yalta Conference from Wikipedia

Stalin had been pushing the Alllies to start another front, but that didn't come until June 6, 1944... D-Day. In 1945, the Yalta Conference takes place in the Crimea with Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill. Stalin demands control of German territories in the East and the other leaders, tired of war, concede.

In April 1945 the war is basically over, but Stalin pushes his army hard to be the first to reach Berlin. He sacrifices hundreds of thousands of soldiers and his officials discover the body of Hitler in his bunker. However, he keeps this information top secret. Russia is now a Superpower and Stalin is a hero.

The Postdam Conference takes place in July of 1945 when the leaders of the 3 Superpowers - Stalin, Churchill & Truman - divide territory among themselves.

On March 2nd, 1953, Stalin has a stroke and dies three days later. Russia mourns. Even those who have lost loved ones weep. Stalin has created himself into a mythical being... and he's turned a country full of peasants into a Superpower.

Book Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I grew up learning about Hitler and the horrible Holocaust. And, of course, I've heard of Stalin. But, it has just been in the past few weeks that I've read about the Gulag: the Soviet forced labor camps. I have quite a few posts I want to write about this subject, but for now I'll stick with a review of Ruta Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray.

Lina, age 15 in 1941, lives in Lithuania with her mother, father, and younger brother. Soldiers bang on her front door and Lina an her mother and brother have 20 minutes to pack whatever belongings they can in their suitcases. Their father, they find out later, has already been taken prisoner.

Lina is put onto a cattle car and they spend 6 horrible weeks as they are headed to an unknown location. As other people die around them, they are thrown off the train at the various stops. This is only the beginning of the horrors that await Lina. But, along the way, she will also see glimpses of love and hope.

This story is written for Young Adults and, as you can imagine, it is very emotional and full of pain. Though the book is fiction, or historical fiction, the author based a her story on the many interviews she did with survivors.

Here's a video about this incredible book:

Book Review: The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan

This is the fourth book I've read by this author, Gloria Whelan. About two years ago, Alex and I read Mackinac Island triology which is set in Michigan during the War of 1812. We really enjoyed the book and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book I just read, The Impossible Journey, was also written by this author.

This was another story about Russia that I highly recommend. And, there is a companion book, Angel on the Square, that I've alread requested!

The book is about a sister and brother who are living in Leningrad, Russia, in 1934. Their parents are arrested and Marya, the oldest sibling, decides to take her little brother, Georgi, on a 1,000 mile journey in search of their mom. Along the way they have tough encounters and meet some fascinating people. It's an "impossible journey" and will it result in a family reunion in the end?





This book would make a GREAT unit study - topics could include the geography of Russia (you could map their travels), lemmings, the Northern Lights, the deer herders of Siberia, Stalin and the Russian Gulag, and much more! I hope to use this book (and possibly the companion book) as a study with Alex next year as we study modern history.