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    The True Memoirs of Little K: A Novel
    The True Memoirs of Little K: A Novel
    The True Memoirs of Little K: A Novel
    Audiobook15 hours

    The True Memoirs of Little K: A Novel

    Written by Adrienne Sharp

    Narrated by Rachel Botchan

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Adrienne Sharp studied ballet before turning to writing, and Booklist called White Swan, Black Swan, her acclaimed collection of short stories focusing on the world of dance, "breathtaking" in a starred review. In The True Memoirs of Little K, Sharp returns once again to the stage in a beautifully imagined tale of love. Now 99 years old, Mathilde Kschessinska sits down to write her memoirs, and ponders the life she lived as one of Russia's most talented dancers and the great love of Nikolai Romanov.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 7, 2011
    ISBN9781449849931
    Author

    Adrienne Sharp

    Adrienne Sharp is the critically acclaimed author of the story collection White Swan, Black Swan, a Barnes and Noble Discover Book and a national bestseller; the novel The Sleeping Beauty, a Barnes and Noble Discover Alumni book and one of Booklist’s ten best first novels of 2005; and the novel The True Memoirs of Little K, a finalist for the California Book Award and translated into six languages.

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    Reviews for The True Memoirs of Little K

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This turned out to be a better novel than I feared in the first 100 pages or so. True, the author makes her real-life narrator, ballerine Mathilde Kschessinska, a rather unsympathetic character: 'Mala' is selfish, self-absorbed, able to juggle romantic dalliances with several Romanov grand dukes simultaneously and unable to see beneath the glittering surface to the ugliness beneath. She's so caught up in her envy of Empress Alexandra (she had been Tsar Nicholas's mistress before his marriage) that she can't see beyond that; similarly, she has such absolute self-confidence as to dismiss anyone who can't appreciate her greatness as silly. As the novel progressed, I never got to like Mala or feel that she was "real" as a character, but I did get swept up in the broader narrative, especially as the tsar's plans for her son become evident to Mala and I ended up racing through the last 100 pages or so to see how Sharp resolved her creative license. While I didn't always enjoy the fact that Mala, as narrator, takes an omniscient view, looking back over her life at age 99 and interrupting her reminiscences with commentary, I found it grew on me and became less jarring as time passed. Cautiously recommended; you'll enjoy it more if you like historical fiction and have a basic familiarity with the time & place. 3.4 stars
    • 3/5
      Mathilde Kschessinska is seventeen and just graduating from the Russian Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I. She comes from a long line of performers and is expected to culminate her career as a prima ballerina on the Russian stage. But Little K, as she comes to be known, has other plans, for she is interested in snagging the affections and protection of tsarevitch Niki, the young man who will one day become Tsar Nicholas II. During this period in history, the ballet ostensibly existed for the pleasure of the royal family, and each ballerina strove to snare a young and handsome protector from one of the royal houses or the upper echelons of the military. But for Little K, only tsarevitch Niki would do. After a brief flirtation, the tsarevitch succumbs to Little K’s wiles and a life-long relationship begins. As their courtship is cemented, Niki uses his sizable influence to secure the best roles and opportunities for Little K. Though this relationship is initially fraught with passion and vigor, soon Niki decides to make the princess Alix his wife, much to Little K’s anger and chagrin. Soon Little K must search for another protector and benefactor while still holding on to her dreams of luring Nicholas back to her bed. But the Russia of this time was not a stable place, and before long Nicholas I has succumbed to illness, leaving the young Niki the tsar of the land. After his betrothal and marriage to Alix, Little K is left in the wings, seemingly forever. But soon the Russian revolution begins and the tsar and his family are in danger from both the common folk and the nobility. Little K soon finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy of giant proportions and back in Niki’s good graces as well. As Russia begins to self-destruct and its leaders are torn from their illustrious positions, Little K must decide how far she will go for love and whom she will protect when her world comes crumbling down around her. In a subtle blend of history and fiction, The True Memoirs of Little K takes its readers into the heart and mind of one very ambitious ballerina and shines a spotlight on the Russia of the past.I had a lot of mixed feelings while I was reading this book, and I’ll tell you why. First off, I love Russian history and feel like there’s a lot that I don’t know about this particular time, though I am quite familiar with the story of Nicholas, Alexandra, and Rasputin. I also love books that are structured in the style of a memoir but are actually fictional works. The history in this book was clear and cogent, and I learned a lot about the inner machinations of 19th century Russia, which was a real boon for me. What I don’t love is when a protagonist is so egotistical and arrogant that it annoys and irritates, which was the case for Little K herself. It was only towards the end of the book that she showed any humility, and in my opinion, even that bit was marred by her subtle egotism. I grew tired of Little K’s antics and her bragging, which seemed to encompass every area and topic, and while I liked the history of the story, I was much less enamoured of its protagonist.At the heart of things this book is basically a triple layered story about love, ambition and history, and while it excels in some areas, others are not as magnanimously wrought. What I did enjoy was that Sharp was not afraid to go full throttle with the history, explaining the various coups and their players without dumbing them down for her audience. She had a knack for making the dusty annals of history come alive through her narrative and for focusing tightly on the drama and corruption of that time. Having known only a little bit about what was going on in that time and place, I felt that the knowledge that I gained was substantial and it really grounded me in the atmosphere of 19th century Russia. While reading, I got to see things from every vantage point, which made for a really rich reading experience. Reading about the opulence of the Russian court in its heyday all the way through to its final gasps was enlightening to say the least, and gave me a fresh perspective on things I’ve long heard about but never delved deeply into.The second piece of this tapestry was the focus on the ambitions of Little K. Though tsarevitch Niki was her first and foremost concern, her career as a ballerina was also pretty important to her. This was where I started getting annoyed with her, for she was just so overwhelmingly narcissistic about what a wonderful dancer she was and how she was leagues beyond her counterparts when it came to her performance style. As Little K’s relationship with the tsarevitch begins to heat up, she’s granted special compensation and undeserved roles in the ballet due to her standing as a royal favorite. I think even Little K herself knew that she never would have gotten as far as she did on her own merits, and that wasn’t where the problem lay with me. The problem was her incessant bragging and her hostility and tantrums when she didn’t get her way to the letter. She was also ruthless about attacking the other ballerinas’ looks and skill, and for me, it got old very quickly. Whenever Little K opened her mouth to pat herself on the back, I just rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth.The love story in this book was not exactly what you would call one of romance and like-mindedness. Rather, it was punctuated by obsession and jealously, mostly from Little K. It was clear that she would never be able to marry the tsar, being that she was only a dancer, but Little K held on to that little nugget of hope that one day he would be hers. She went to some great lengths to seduce him and anger his wife, Alix, and while he almost always indulged her, it was clear that he was also wary of her at times. I didn’t see a lot of reciprocity when it came to the love between the tsar and Little K, but in her eyes, this was unimportant. Though it’s not the type of love that I would want, in the end, both parties stood by each other and tried very hard to save each other, which may indeed point to a greater love and respect than I had thought possible in this union.Though I had some niggles with the main character’s behavior and antics, I did really enjoy the book’s deep historical leanings, and I ended up learning a lot. There were a lot of ballet and dancing terms scattered throughout, and since I’m not a dancer, I was happy to let my eyes glide over those bits with no detriment to my reading experience. If you’re the type of reader who can’t stand smug and self-centered characters, this is probably not the book for you. But if you want a very elaborate and detailed account of 19th century Russia and its last tsar, you would be doing a great thing by picking up this book.
    • 5/5
      First Line: My name is Mathilde Kschessinska, and I was the greatest Russian ballerina on the imperial stages.In 1971, a tiny, 100-year-old woman sits down to write her memoirs of everything she knows to be true. She is Mathilde Kschessinska, once the greatest ballerina on the Russian imperial stage. Born to Polish parents, when the extremely competitive Kschessinska was enrolled in ballet school, she set high goals for herself. She became the best ballerina; she became the lover of tsarevich Nicholas Romanov; she became wealthy beyond her dreams. In the end, she lost everything but her memories.I had a difficult time reading this book for two reasons. The first is a technicality: not everyone can sit down and read undisturbed for a lengthy period of time. I've learned to look for paragraph breaks as natural stopping points. This book is 384 pages of very, very long paragraphs, and I was surprised to find that one little thing was tiring. It may sound picky, but it's a detail that I noticed over and over again.The second reason why this book could be difficult to read can be found in the character of Kschessinska herself. Throughout the book, she is unapologetically opportunistic. She thinks nothing of using slander and sabotage (among other things) to get what she wants. I found that, after a few pages of her machinations, I wanted to stop and do something else. However, her unflinching honesty was refreshing. She may have enough pride for three people, and she may not be sorry for anything she's done, but at least she tells the truth. " I hear that visitors to my mansion, now the State Museum of Political History, to this day ask to see the entrance to the secret tunnel that once linked the palace of the dancer Kschessinska to the palace of the tsar. Political history does not interest them. I interest them."The one thing about Sharp's book that held me spellbound was her depiction of a vanished world. Tsarist Russia may have been filled with decadence and cruelty, but it was also filled with incredible beauty-- a land of vast contradictions as so many countries are.I enjoyed Sharp's skill in weaving her believable fictional tale around historical figures I've read so much about. She also provided more background into the history of ballet and helped me put several dancers in their proper context.If you love novels set in the Russia of Nicholas and Alexandra, you should love this book-- as long as your heroines don't have to be scrupulously honest in their morals and behavior.
    • 2/5
      I just failed to connect to this novel at all. I was provided my copy by Jen over at Devourer of Books. I had every intention of finishing in time to participate in the discussion but the reading was torturous and slow going. I love, love, love historical fiction and this time period too, but instead of a wonderful story set in an extremely fascinating time I felt like I was reading a text book on Russian history narrated by an extremely unlikeable person of very loose morals. This book purports to be the memoir of Little K, a Russian ballerina, lover to the last Tsar in the waning days before the revolution. The only good thing I can think to say about Little K is that she seemed to be a caring mother to her son. Other than that she was no better than a prostitute who found her contacts through the ballet world until she moved up the ranks to kept mistress of the Tsar. When his interests waned she slept with whoever else would support her. Little K has kind of a Scarlett O'Hara moment at the end when she realizes the man that she really loved was not the one she was chasing after all those years but by the time she realizes it, it's too late. I had such high hopes for this book so that's why I kind of feel let down. I even enjoyed Danielle Steel's Granny Dan and Zoya more and I am not a big fan of hers. Thank you to Picador Press and Jen at Devourer of Books for providing me with a copy of this book.
    • 4/5
      A fictional memoir of tsarist Russia, told from the point of view of Mathilde Kschessinska, a ballerina who was also the mistress of Tsar Nicholas II. Mathilde's story, often overlooked among the drama of the Romanov family, brings a fresh set of eyes to a familiar tale. The author does take a few liberties, mostly extending the affair between Mathilde and Nicholas II after his marriage, but otherwise remains largely true to the history. A good read, definitely for fans of the Romanov family and Imperial Russia.
    • 4/5
      Mathilde Kschessinska was a petite Russian ballerina whose father and brother both danced in St. Petersburg. Although considered quite gifted as a dancer, she eventually attained the highest rank of prima ballerina assoluta of the Russian Imperial Ballet, due largely to her connections with the Imperial family. It was well-known that she sustained an affair with Nicholas II who succeeded to the throne following his father’s death from liver disease in 1894. Mathilde also had sexual relationships with two Grand Dukes of the Romanov family. She eventually gave birth to a son, Vova, whose paternity has never been determined.The True Memoirs of Little K is a fictional account of Kschessinska’s life beginning with her dalliance with Nicholas II in the years before he became Tsar, and continuing through 1918 when Nicholas II and his entire family were executed by the Bolsheviks. Little K is dictating her memoirs as a 100 year old woman looking back on her life with a cynical eye. As a narrator, Little K is far from reliable – she is self-centered, manipulative, and bitter that “Niki” has thrown her over to marry Alexandra.The actual history of Nicholas II shows that after coming to power he quickly married Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, a German princess. Alexandra delivered four daughters before finally being able to birth a son, Alexis, who was a hemophiliac. Nicholas II became Tsar when Russia was at the height of her powers, but watched her tumble into economic and political decline. He was known for the unpopular Russo-Japanese War, repeated military failures, Bloody Sunday (where over 100 workers were killed by the Tsar’s soldiers) which sparked the 1905 Revolution, and industrial unrest. In Sharp’s well-researched novel, the facts surrounding Nicholas II’s reign as Tsar are well captured through the voice of his mistress.Sharp does take some liberties with history, however, in the lesser known aspects of the Tsar’s life – including the paternity of Little K’s son, Vova. Through Little K’s eyes the reader learns about Niki’s dissatisfaction with his marriage and Alix’s inability to conceive an heir, which brings him back into the bed of Mathilde. It is this part of the novel which veers sharply away from history as we know it. Despite Sharp’s imaginative twists to historical facts, I found this part of the novel to be the most enjoyable. Sharp never presents Mathilde as someone we can completely trust – and tells the reader right up front that this is Mathilde’s version of the truth.The True Memoirs of Little K is filled with lush descriptions of late nineteenth-early twentieth century Russia. Not only does Sharp capture the flavor of the Russian Imperial family, but she melds it beautifully with the world of the ballet. Her descriptions of place are wonderfully wrought as well.The lights from the palace lit up a white and black world – brittle ice and flakes and drifts of snow, the steaming black breath from the horses and the waiting men. – from The True Memoirs of Little K, page 14 -Ironically, what makes the novel so appealing (its amazing description), also has a tendency to bog down the plot. I found myself reading this book in spurts – being sucked in and unable to stop reading, and then finding myself lulled by the prose and wanting to take a break from it. There are many characters in the novel, all seen through Mathilde’s eyes, and sometimes it was hard to keep them all straight. On the other hand, Sharp presents the political and social history of the times with a light hand – introducing important parts in a way which was easy to grasp and retain.Mathilde Kschessinska comes alive in Sharp’s fantastically imagined novel. Although initially I disliked her, eventually I grew to understand the mind and emotions of a woman who would do almost anything not only to survive, but to live well. Kschessinska is a strong woman who used her charm and sexual appeal to climb through the ranks of the Imperial ballet and secure a future for her son. In the end, she does not get all she wishes for, but she does achieve a measure of satisfaction. Still, I could not help but wonder what it must have been like to be Kschessinska.The True Memoirs of Little K is an absorbing read for those who enjoy historical fiction. Several readers in our discussion group for this book disliked Sharp’s inaccuracy of history involving Kschessinska’s son. This didn’t bother me much because Sharp never claims to be recording history in this work of fiction. In fact, in the author’s notes she writes:[...] I have used excerpts from the letters and journals of the principal characters when so indicated, with the exception of Little K herself, who, when it comes to her epistles, as with everything else, serves mostly at the pleasure of my imagination.Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Many know the story of the fall of the Romanovs, the splendor of the imperial court toppled by revolutionaries, but author Adrienne Sharp tells the somewhat familiar history in a brand new way. The True Memoirs of Little K begins in Paris in 1971 with the blunt and rather boastful introduction, "My name is Mathilde Kschessinska, and I was the greatest Russian ballerina on the imperial stages." The tale which is unraveled from the memories of an old woman is that of Russia - before, during, and after the upheaval of its royalty - told through one of its most famed artists.Mathilde Kschessinska, known to her loved ones as Mala or Little K, rose to fame in the tsar's Russian Imperial Ballet. She gained the coveted position of prima ballerina assoluta - more from her charm and cunning than talent at dance. She found herself mingling in the inner circles of several grand dukes and eventually finding the favor, and the bed, of Tsar Nicholas II himself. The story of the changing political climate in Russia, from the Romanovs and Rasputin to the revolutionaries and royal executions, Mala is a fair narrator. She constructs the history piece by piece - at times close to the action and in other scenes as confused by the tumultuous world around her as any of the Russian citizens. Sharp draws heavily on true events to create this book, weaving in some fiction and speculation only as a garnish for the facts. I greatly enjoyed learning more about the time period of the last Russian tsars, the culture of the ballet, and the atmosphere of the Russian revolution. Though Kschessinska lends a human perspective to the events, I never really connected with her as a character. I found her rather unlikeable, but in a way that did make her more realistic as a flawed historical figure. The way that the story was told, as memoirs from a flashback point of view, was also a bit distracting. The narration would occasionally jump between different past occurrences and although the non-linear trajectory served to remind the reader of the elderly Kschessinska, I would have preferred to fully embrace the historical setting. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it took me a little while to warm up to the narrator and the storytelling style. It wasn't a very quick read, but I would definitely recommend it to those interested in the subject matter and time period.