The Rasputin File [Paperback]

"I received the last batch of unpublished documents about Rasputin in the Siberian archives. Among them was an inventory of property belonging to Rasputin immediately after his murder...I now knew every chair in his house and every glass on his table...Now I had seen what he saw. And I had heard his way of speaking, too, which had been left behind in his writings."

I think the passage just quoted shows how Radzinsky's interest functions on a multiplicity of levels - a detective's love of uncovering the unknown; a scientist's fascination with minute detail; a mystic's compulsion to enter the very spirit of his subject, and even a portrait painter's need to capture as accurate a likeness as possible. Add to this the fact that the author is a Russian engaged in an act of almost public expiation for a National Crime and you have a work that packs an emotional charge far beyond the fantastic events of the story itself.

The National Crime is, of course, the execution of the Romanovs. Despite the fact that the book focuses on Rasputin, it is their tragedy that underpins the narrative and the circumstances of their deaths are never far from the author's mind. As he demonstrated in "The Last Tsar" Radzinsky continues to be a master of the dramatic association, pulling together isolated events from the past and finding the common, often ironic, connection:

"At the tsar's expense, a magnificent pavilion was erected over St. Simeon's shrine. And the procession of the cross...was headed by Father Ioann Storozhev. The same Ioann Storozhev, a priest from the city of Ekaterinburg, who two days before their execution in 1918 would celeberate holy communion with them and give them the blessing that would be their last."

These books, and I consider "The Last Tsar" and "The Rasputin File" to be all of a piece, succeed as history, biography, drama, literature, and, on a subtler level, as a mystical exploration of the Russian character and soul. I hope Radzinsky will complete a trilogy with a work devoted to the Empress Alexandra.

All of this said, I found the new book rather disappointing. It lacks the riveting style that characterized THE LAST TSAR. (It is difficult to tell whether the fault lies with the author or the translator.) And the book gets bogged down in details, seeming to dwell endlessly on Rasputin's misdeeds and his intrigues to influence the shape of the Russian imperial government. Of the entire 500 pages of the book, the middle three-fifths seem to be a morass of minute facts and figures. Like one of the most monstrously long Russian novels, this book also seems to get lost in minor characters.

This is not to say, however, that this is a book without merit. It offers new insights into Rasputin himself, his incredible power over the imperial court, and his role in bringing down the government of Nicholas II. Radzinsky also does a convincing job of reconciling the seemingly contradictory facets of Rasputin's personality, alternating between the saint and the sinner, the holy man and the orgiast. He also explains Rasputin and his influence in the larger context of Russian religious history, explaining the tradition of sectarianism in Russian orthodoxy as well as the unique influences of "holy fools" in Russian history. And his detective work on how Rasputin actually died is impressive. (That alone almost makes the book worth reading.)

In conclusion, I would not discourage people who are intensely interested in Russian history and the pre-revolutionary period from reading this book. But it is not a volume for casual readers, especially those lacking any grounding in this period. And even those who consider themselves Russian history afficionados might be advised to read this book selectively.