Rasputin

Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

By: Douglas Smith

Narrated by: PJ Ochlan

Length: 33 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figure.

A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet.

But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputin's life and death has remained shrouded in myth. A major new work that combines probing scholarship and powerful storytelling, Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of history's most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity - man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man, but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.

©2016 Douglas Smith (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

The Rascal Rasputin

This is a very intense and emotional story about one of the most dubious characters in history. A deluded person this Rasputin and who was able to mislead so many others.

Important work, but unreflected

The endeavor of adjusting historical records after the release of new data is of great value and in itself historic. I appreciated the book, although on some occasions the lack of introspection and reflection of the author's own biases became very annoying and almost prevented me from listening on. Likewise and probably fueled by the unreflected nature of the author, source criticism is missing sometimes entirely. Perhaps the research and the writing of the book constituted a journey for the author himself, as he appears very critical of his subject in the beginning, whereas in the end he is heralding the image of the real Rasputin. Because the book is important in what it attempts to do the lack of reflection on the part of the author hurts the value of the entire book as it makes it easy for critics to dismiss the entire work.

For the narrator, who appears to be familiar with the Russian pronunciation for each and every name, but for Rasputin, which he pronounces in the American way. Some of the arrogance and expressions of unreflectedness especially in the beginning of the book may have been emphasized by how the narrator is reading.

Good, but longer than it needed to be.

This is a very well researched and explained book, but there are about 35 chapters in the middle that get repetitive to the point of exhaustion. The author used his source material well, and didn't let any of it go unmentioned. I really appreciated the way he cut through the myth, and explained the man.

Well documented life of Rasputin.

This is the story of Rasputin base on historic testimonies and documents. Many aspects of his life are unveiled and full of unknown anecdotes displayed along his life. Is the most interesting version I known about the life of this very strange and opportunist personage.

Lots of information!

This is a very long book. It could be very confusing because there are so characters and situations.

I had learned about Rasputin while on a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. It really intrigued me.

Perseverance paid off. I found things falling into place and enjoyed the experience very much.

Comprehensive!

The great amount of detail and how the mythology of Rasputin was created, used and manipulated by his enemies and followers.

A story that deserves a better narrator.

Pity poor Douglas Smith, he has written a master work of Revisionist History and Revisionist Biography only to have it gainsaid by one of the worst readings ever inflicted on a book.

The actual book is solid, a retelling of the Rasputin narrative using newly found and sometimes ignored sources. Forget the Mad Monk and meet the real man, a symptom of the collapse of the Tsarist Autocracy, but not its cause. Forget the tawdry stories of aristocratic lasciviousness and see the more tawdry exploits with ladies for hire. Explore the rot at the very top of the Russian nation and abject failure of the monarchy to adjust to modernity. It's a great story... ruined.

And the man who ruined it is right between your ears. It's not just the flat, uninspired monotone of the delivery, it's also the actual voice as well. It's high, poorly modulated, yet droning. The pacing is bad, really bad, almost unbearable.

I can not tally the times I had to rewind the performance because my mind drifted off, or worse--fell asleep. Part of the issue here was the complexity of the personalities, and their Russian names, but most of problem is directly related to the presentation.

That presentation rarely rises to level of mediocrity, and mostly plumbs the depths of poor to God-awful. The voice when not grating, is stultifying and sing-song. There is not emotional moment in the narrative, or a heart-rending quote from a participant that is not totally flubbed. It's as if the production was rushed, or telephoned in. The presenter is an alien presence in the narrative. To call it a robotic performance is an insult to both Alexa and Siri would might have done a better job of it.

For the TL;DR crowd, buy the print book, skip the audiobook. Audible needs to pink-slip this particular reader; pronto.

Mesmerizing

I remember being fascinated by this wild monk from Siberia in school. The book was well researched and riveting - particularly hearing accounts of Rasputin's eyes/hypnotic persona.

Slooooow narrator

Ran it at 1.5x to achieve a relatively normal pace. I have never heard a narrator this slow.

He was a man, and this is his story at last

Very well-done book, both the writing and the performance.
This pulls the veil away from so much of the hyperbole that has been Rasputin for 100 years. Not a quick listen, but a good one.