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Stalin's Daughter

the Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
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Mar 24, 2024SPSit rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I read the eBook version. This is a long book, almost 600 pages (eBook). I found the narrative sluggish, slowed down by many direct quotes from book, letters or interviews. While that had provided strong background, it sort of interrupted…
Aug 22, 2022daniellegreen2 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Absolutely one of the most fascinating books I've ever read.
Jul 15, 2022dissymissylessy rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
" apologizing for her clumsy english, svetlana stalin assured the public that leaving the ussr had been her own decision, based on the anguish she had felt over the death of her husband, brajesh singh, and her subsequent treatment by her…
Jun 15, 2020stewstealth rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
An excellent biography of an interesting life. Well researched and well written. The author digs deep into the psychology of the daughter of one of the worst mass murderers in history and her attempt to not be defined by her father. An…
Feb 06, 2020elisebryant rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is terrific. Fascinating story, and the audio version is wonderful. I think I'd get bogged down in the printed version with all of the Russian names, but the audio is a lovely way of learning how to pronounce them, and of bringing…
Jan 20, 2019Chris22Dunbar rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Riveting from beginning to end. Well written and researched. Incredible events and life story on the world stage. You can't make this stuff up-- no one would believe you! Interestingly, Svetlana (Stalin's daughter), provides a very…
Sep 15, 2018gloryb rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The book is divided into 2 major sections - Svetlana's childhood, youth, and early married life and then her brave flight from Russia to live in the US. I started with the second section which describes Svetlana's escape from her Russian…
Feb 24, 2018DanglingConversations rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The first 2/3rds of the book were repetitive and the character development was shallow. The last third was well done, picked up the pace and Daughter became more reflective of her decisions and seemed to take more responsibility for…
Aug 05, 2017JHCL rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
this is a (true) weird story i was not aware of. i knew of stalin the psychopath - and this book touches on that - but i think that is the main story and might be better thing to read about. poor svetlana - defected back and forth from…
May 03, 2017Ireadalot2 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I loved this book right from the beginning. It's well researched and very readable. It may look long but the details of her life make it well worth it. It is a poor little rich girl story but her privileged upbringing left her ill prepared…
Feb 14, 2017Sandra_SMB rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Very interesting, informative and well researched. Don't be put off by the 700+ pages. It's actually an easy read; the last 100 pages are references and an index. Because of the way she led her life, the book also includes the many…
athompson10
Nov 20, 2016athompson10 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Exhaustively researched, this is the life of Stalin's only daughter, who lived through her father's reign of terror and oppression, then defected to the West. Sadly her life in the West was freer but not much happier than her life in the…
Oct 16, 2016chloecat rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Well researched, long story telling the life of Svetlana.....was aware of some of her history, but this gave me the whole story, and with many surprises. She often portrayed herself as someone who really did not know what she really…
Sep 10, 2016ctkvlk rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Sad but interesting book. Cannot imagine what it would be like to be the daughter of a man like that. She was a difficult but interesting person who tried hard to make her own mark in life.
Jul 08, 2016quagga rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
As Antennas Sileika said on CBC's The Next Chapter, "What a train wreck of a life!" I found Svetlana's impulsive grand gestures sometimes endearing and sometimes I lost patience. Her life was not ordinary and her main wish was apparently a…
May 24, 2016
This is a fantastic read! I felt that I really got to know Svetlana, or Lana as she called herself in later life. Rosemary Sullivan puts the story in context in such a way that this book is enjoyable as well as educational.
Mar 28, 2016lledomik rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I could not put this book down. An incredible amount of research went into creating an easy to read narrative. The story was fresh and unpredictable as I had no idea that Stalin had a daughter and little information has ever trickled out…
Nov 19, 2015
The book, as huge as it is, is definitely worth reading. R. Sullivan quotes extensively from various sources including Allilueva's books. But the funny thing is that , when I looked up in the library's catalogue, I didn't find them.…
Nov 17, 2015multcolib_susannel rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Being Stalin's daughter was bad enough, but things didn't improve when Svetlana decided to defect to the West.
Jun 24, 2015trotter73 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
An interesting bio on the daughter of Stalin, a man who was as bad as or worse than Hitler. Rosemary Sullivan did an excellent job writing this.
Jun 02, 2015lisatofts rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
It’s really unfortunate that Svetlana Alliluyeva lost so many people in her life. Being Joseph Stalin’s daughter, she was afforded many grand luxuries (allowances, pensions, nannies, bodyguards, and servants) in a time where most were…