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Title: Michael and Natasha : The Life And Love Of Michael Ii, The Last Of The Romanov Tsars by Rosemary A. Crawford, Donald Crawford ISBN: 0-380-73191-6 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.47 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Highly recommended history of love found and lost
Comment: Rosemary and Donald Crawford present a little known adenda to the story of the Romanov Tsars. Their research and sympathetic presentation offers entrance for the reader into the great love story of Michael and Natasha. It quickly catches you up in a pace, all too fast, racing to a tragic finalle. The reader is plundged into the confusion and multiple currants of the Russian experience of the First World War and then, the following Revolution. You shout helplessly at the book, "flee for your lives!" during the short window that they had that opportunity. You pour over and over the wonderful pictures as you become more and more familiar with the characters. I was supprised at a new and revealing discription of Nicholas and Alexandra, showing them with all their weaknesses, bumps and warts. It was interesting that the brothers, Nicholas and Michael shared the trait of complete love and devotion to one woman. One wonders about the family dynamics that produced such a shared commitment. The book is another opportunity to examine the Russian capacity for ineptitude that still goes on today. In the sum, it is the account of a great love story, doomed by it's time.
Rating: 5
Summary: Romance Suggests Real-LIfe Anna Karenina and Vronsky
Comment: As an avid reader of books about the Romanov family, I consider Rosemary and Donald Crawford's dual biography one of the best.
Admittedly, much of my enthusiasm has to do with the heretofore lack of information about Michael, youngest brother of Tsar Nicholas. Except for the wonderful biography of the brothers' eldest sister Olga, mention of Michael often has been sketchy and/or flat.
However, this account skillfully represents Michael and Natasha as three-dimensional people -- flawed but sympathetic, occasionally admirable, and often (like most of us) guilty of errors in judgment.
In previously published books, Michael almost always comes off as little more than a handsome dolt. In this biography, however, we read that in addition to being the impetuous, charming and relatively carefree younger brother of Tsar Nicholas, Michael also was bright, well-regarded by many government officials, and possessed of considerable leadership ability. The beautiful Natasha, while definitely a "scarlet woman," matched and perhaps surpassed Michael in the charisma department, but -- unlike her lover and eventual husband -- possessed amibition and tenacity. Together, they were quite a couple, and today would be considered glamourous and trend-sitting.
Understandably, however, Nicholas and Alexandra -- being far more conventional, and the epitome of Traditional Family Values -- were highly intolerant of Michael and Natasha's relationship and marriage. This book explores many intriguing aspects of the Michael/Natasha liaison, such as the evolvement of their relationship, and the supposed disapproval of the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, who also was involved in an unconventional relationship.
In checking other reader reviews of this book, I am surprised at the range. Some are completely lauditory, while others are completely condemnatory.The title should clue potential readers that the Crawford's book is, above all, a portrait of a romance. That it is played aginst the final years of Tsarist Russia is of course important, but those uninterested in family and social dynamics are advised to look elsewhere.
However, for those of us who are interested in the story of a relationship and are familiar with with Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Michael and Natasha's story, like that of Anna and Vronksy, is fascinating, moving, and timeless. The Crawfords are to be commended for their excellent research and highly fluid writing style; this is a book I will want to return to again and again.
If you share an enthusiasm for the Romanovs, I invite you to contact me at [email protected].
Rating: 5
Summary: Deserves more recognition
Comment: I absolutely loved this book. Although the story is terribly tragic and sad in the end, this is the best love story I have ever read. Bravo to the Crawfords for writing this book because it's a story that needed and deserved to be written about. I too fell in love with Misha and Nastaha while reading the book and I cried at what happened to them in the end. They were doomed right from the start but it was all worth it, in my opinion. Even though this book has been out for almost seven years now, it amazes, and kind of saddens me that there is still little recognition and knowledge about these two extraodinary people. There definitely should be more. Nevermind the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Michael and Natasha were the real-life Romeo and Juliet and they paid a greater price for their love, and lives, then the Windsors did. It's kind of unfair too. Everyone knows about Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, but what about Michael II and Nathalie Brasova? They gave up just as much in order to be together, were also banished and were just as disgraced and humiliated by society, maybe even more. And in my opinion, Michael and Natasha are much more intriguing and fascinating then David and Wallis. It was clear that the Duke of Windsor loved Wallis very much and was deeply in love with her, but her love for him didn't appear to equal to his and her loyalty to him was questionable. In Michael and Natasha's case, they both loved each other wholeheartedly, were madly in love with each other and were both very loyal to each other. They and their story deserves to be more recognized and noted in the world. If only I was a screenwriter, and knew how to go about writing the script for the story, so I could bring this fascinating story to the screen so then the whole world would finally know the love story of G.D Michael Aleksandrovich of Russia and Nathalie Brasova. Or at least know how to get a film company to produce such a film. Maybe it will one day, I hope. The middle part of the book however, when David Crawford took over, did get a bit boring, when the war and revolution started. But through and through, it was a compelling and fascinating story. The tragedy of the story though was that Michael and Natasha were the right people in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Title: Lost Splendor: The Amazing Memoirs of the Man Who Killed Rasputin by Prince Felix Youssoupoff ISBN: 1885586582 Publisher: Helen Marx Books Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Fedorovna (1847-1928) by Coryne Hall ISBN: 0841914214 Publisher: Holmes & Meier Publishers Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $37.95 |
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Title: The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander ISBN: 067003178X Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 27 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Alexandra: The Last Tsarina by Carolly Erickson ISBN: 031230238X Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece by Hugo Vickers ISBN: 0312288867 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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