Rating: 
Summary: entertaining read but very implausible
Review: Although this book does an admirable job of piecing together a convincing argument that Tsarevich Alexei survived from circumstantial evidence, it will not convince anyone who knows anything about Russian history. Facial structure alone is no match for DNA analysis and simple facts. For my part, I didn't think that the picture of Filitov matched the picture of Alexei at all. Disregarding that, however, this book's conclusion is highly improbable. Multiple Romanov executioners have stated that one of them kicked the tsarevich in the head, and then Chekist Yakov Yurovsky shot Alexei three times point blank in the ear. Perhaps the authors do not believe this, but there is no chance anyone, let alone a hemophiliac, could survive that. The authors contend that Alexei was only seriously wounded, not dead, when he and his family were put into the truck and driven off to be buried, and that Alexei then fell out of the truck and escaped. Even if this is true, he would have bled to death in hours. Medical treatments were simply not available at that time to treat even minor bleeding. So while these authors provide the most believable explanation regarding the possible survival of Romanov family members, it is not believable enough to make this book worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: pardon me but.....
Review: am i the only one who realizes that the young alexei is a very good looking chap with sharp striking good looks , and that vasily filatov is an ugly man. how can any person think that these two were the same afher looking at the pictures. it seems the authors are accidentaly telling you that they are not. do your self a favor and burn this book....
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting
Review: Appearances are deceiving: just as the man on the right of the cover doesn't look a bit like the little boy on the left though they are supposed to be the same person, this book is not really about "the escape" of Alexei Romanov, as the title says, but about a family who honestly believes their father/husband was actually the tsarevich. If you want solid historical documentation and scientific data of this fact, you'll be terribly disappointed. But if you only want to explore, open-mindedly, a very exciting possibility that more than likely is *not* true, you may have a good time reading this book, and learn a little bit on the way too. I did. The book has many faults: it is a bit frankenstein-like in its clumsy attempt to glue together its different parts. There are repetitions, contradictions; boring and useless material. It also ignores obvious questions such as, what happened to the other missing body or, weren't Alexei's and this guy's eyes of a completely different color? But the book also has a nice layout, plenty of pictures and the testimony of family members that in the least reveal a personal and often moving picture of life at the times of one of the most important events of the last century: the Russian communist revolution and its aftermath. It also has an incomplete but interesting theory about how the tsarevich might have escaped his execution and survived since then, though of course the holes in it at times seem bigger than the cheese. But, who knows, in an event so confuse and controversial such as the execution of the tsar and his family, with questions still unanswered (where are the two missing bodies, for instance?), this book might just have the enough amount of "possible" to make you enjoy the ride. After all, though according to the executioners the tsar and his family were all shot, bayoneted and confirmed dead, should we really take only the word of a bunch of cold-blooded killers for it? When you finish this book you'd probably be at least curious to see the results of a DNA test comparing the Romanov and Filatov families. And whatever you chose to believe or think more reasonable, in the end you may also find yourself wishing it was all true, wishing that the little boy who had such a difficult life since he was born suffering from a painful condition, had indeed survived the terrible ordeal his family went through and lived to have a rich and reasonably happy life. And, most of all, lived to become the nice guy the man on the right cover of the book was, if not on his external appearance, at least in character and spirit.
Rating: 
Summary: not what it seems...
Review: Appearances are deceiving: just as the man on the right of the cover doesn't look a bit like the little boy on the left though they are supposed to be the same person, this book is not really about "the escape" of Alexei Romanov, as the title says, but about a family who honestly believes their father/husband was actually the tsarevich. If you want solid historical documentation and scientific data of this fact, you'll be terribly disappointed. But if you only want to explore, open-mindedly, a very exciting possibility that more than likely is *not* true, you may have a good time reading this book, and learn a little bit on the way too. I did. The book has many faults: it is a bit frankenstein-like in its clumsy attempt to glue together its different parts. There are repetitions, contradictions; boring and useless material. It also ignores obvious questions such as, what happened to the other missing body or, weren't Alexei's and this guy's eyes of a completely different color? But the book also has a nice layout, plenty of pictures and the testimony of family members that in the least reveal a personal and often moving picture of life at the times of one of the most important events of the last century: the Russian communist revolution and its aftermath. It also has an incomplete but interesting theory about how the tsarevich might have escaped his execution and survived since then, though of course the holes in it at times seem bigger than the cheese. But, who knows, in an event so confuse and controversial such as the execution of the tsar and his family, with questions still unanswered (where are the two missing bodies, for instance?), this book might just have the enough amount of "possible" to make you enjoy the ride. After all, though according to the executioners the tsar and his family were all shot, bayoneted and confirmed dead, should we really take only the word of a bunch of cold-blooded killers for it? When you finish this book you'd probably be at least curious to see the results of a DNA test comparing the Romanov and Filatov families. And whatever you chose to believe or think more reasonable, in the end you may also find yourself wishing it was all true, wishing that the little boy who had such a difficult life since he was born suffering from a painful condition, had indeed survived the terrible ordeal his family went through and lived to have a rich and reasonably happy life. And, most of all, lived to become the nice guy the man on the right cover of the book was, if not on his external appearance, at least in character and spirit.
Rating:
Summary: Not convinced
Review: I am a sucker for all things Romanov, and haven't read anything about the Russian Royal Family in a year or two. So I was anxious to start The Escape of Alexei by Vadim Petrov, Igor Lysenko and Georgy Egorov. Those looking to this book for a Romanov-fix won't find it here.The premise that someone could have survived the Romanov massacre in Ekaterinburg in July 1918 is a tempting one. It gained even more momentum when two bodies turned up missing when the remains of the Royal Family were found in 1978. The group chosen to kill the Romanovs was a disorganized bunch, and the scene of the murder was complete chaos. But the theory that Vasily Filatov was actually the tsarevich Alexei is a laughable one. First and foremost, there has been no DNA testing, and the authors give us lame excuses why this has not been done. We've already been duped by Anna Anderson, who was proven by DNA to be an impostor after her death. Second, the fact that a hemophiliac could live to the ripe old age of 83 stretches the imagination-especially without medical intervention. The book does have good photos, but the young Alexei looks nothing like Filatov. There are many statements made by Filatov's family, but just because Filatov loved the celebrate New Years' and birthdays, read poetry, or played classical music doesn't prove he was Alexei. Filatov also didn't seem to pass on much concrete information about growing up as the tsarevich. There are just too many gaps in the story, and too much lacking here. The book itself is tedious at times-especially the background information at the beginning. The body of the book is only 176 pages, and much of it is repetition. And the 26 page appendix is filled with worthless information. So, for true Romanov aficionados, I suggest you pass on The Escape of Alexei and pick up something a little more worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Not convinced
Review: I am a sucker for all things Romanov, and haven't read anything about the Russian Royal Family in a year or two. So I was anxious to start The Escape of Alexei by Vadim Petrov, Igor Lysenko and Georgy Egorov. Those looking to this book for a Romanov-fix won't find it here. The premise that someone could have survived the Romanov massacre in Ekaterinburg in July 1918 is a tempting one. It gained even more momentum when two bodies turned up missing when the remains of the Royal Family were found in 1978. The group chosen to kill the Romanovs was a disorganized bunch, and the scene of the murder was complete chaos. But the theory that Vasily Filatov was actually the tsarevich Alexei is a laughable one. First and foremost, there has been no DNA testing, and the authors give us lame excuses why this has not been done. We've already been duped by Anna Anderson, who was proven by DNA to be an impostor after her death. Second, the fact that a hemophiliac could live to the ripe old age of 83 stretches the imagination-especially without medical intervention. The book does have good photos, but the young Alexei looks nothing like Filatov. There are many statements made by Filatov's family, but just because Filatov loved the celebrate New Years' and birthdays, read poetry, or played classical music doesn't prove he was Alexei. Filatov also didn't seem to pass on much concrete information about growing up as the tsarevich. There are just too many gaps in the story, and too much lacking here. The book itself is tedious at times-especially the background information at the beginning. The body of the book is only 176 pages, and much of it is repetition. And the 26 page appendix is filled with worthless information. So, for true Romanov aficionados, I suggest you pass on The Escape of Alexei and pick up something a little more worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Not very persuasive...
Review: I don't suggest this book at all. It was not very persuasive and in one of the pictures, one Grand Duchess is misidentified! You'd think their "brother" would know who is was! It seems completely made up.
Rating:
Summary: Not very persuasive...
Review: I don't suggest this book at all. It was not very persuasive and in one of the pictures, one Grand Duchess is misidentified! You'd think their "brother" would know who is was! It seems completely made up.
Rating: 
Summary: The Escape of Alexei?
Review: I don't think so. At least I'm not convinced. I found the history and the narrative fascinating. However, when I got to the doctored pictures, I thought, "Hey, a DNA test would settle the question." Why hasn't it been done? There was talk of "not enough money" but surely a DNA test can't be all that expensive, and they've already been done on the Romanov remains found in the mass grave. This book included documents and photographs I had not seen before. I intend to keep it because it is interesting. By the way, at the time of the Alexei and Anastasia "pretenders," how did they know that two bodies were missing from the grave, and how did they know which two were missing?
Rating:
Summary: So test the DNA already!
Review: Presents an intriguing theory about the possible survival of the tsarevich from the massacre in which the Romanovs were killed. But the physical evidence of familial links between Vasily Filatov and Alexei Romanov presented in the book is precisely the kind of once-persuasive evidence that led many to believe Anna Anderson's claim to be Anastasia (a claim debunked by recent DNA comparisons). Since DNA profiling has now been done on the Romanov remains, this book strikes the reader as incomplete in the absence of definitive DNA testing of Filatov's remains and comparison with the existing information on the Romanovs.
|
