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Russian Blood
Sentimental revisitings through a family scrapbook-author Shoumatoff uses his grandmothers' recollections to tell the tale of his Russian roots.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 28, 2022
Super interesting but slightly confusing story of the author's white Russian family; their experiences in pre & post revolutionary Russia; and in the US. Many of the author's family members made their way into Russian literature, either by name or alias. Was very interested to learn more about their original home town and what they left behind (literally and figuratively). A good read even if I couldn't follow all of the characters.
September 25, 2025
This book had been sitting on my shelves for a decade, at least, so I finally decided to see what all this "Russian Blood" was about. The author (on the staff of "The New Yorker") has a vast family tree to research, and I would say that 90% of his family is worth the considerable effort. These were "good Russians", albeit very wealthy Russians, for several generations who enjoyed a privileged life with grand estates and vast lands and servants, all who married into OTHER privileged families through the years. But even so, they treated their servants well and the servants knew they were luckier than many of their peers who worked elsewhere.
But Russia was fraught with extreme struggles for decades...beginning with the 1917 Revolution, the Bolsheviks murdering entire villages, war with Germany, Communism. They all threatened the author's families (grandparents and aunts and uncles) who were peace-loving, well-educated, intelligent artists and even a world-renowned lepidopterist (butterfly collector).
It's truly amazing that any of them (but not all) escaped with their lives, fleeing by train or horse cart and then ships to any country that would accept them, and most did NOT want them. Every Russian was accused of being a Communist even though this is what they were trying to escape!
The author's grandmother, mother and father, and an uncle were lucky enough to eventually make it to America. His grandmother, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, known to everyone as "Mopsy" (the Beatrix Potter rabbits: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail) became a world renowned artist, painting portraits of the most prestigious names in the country - "the upper crust" as she called them - the Fords, the Colgates, too many to list, but most notably, she was painting FDR the moment he had his final stroke which caused his death just hours later. (One can Google the "unfinished portrait of FDR). She was in constant demand for her beautiful work.
One of the author's uncles (Mopsy's brother) was known to everyone as "Uncle", but his name was Andrei Avinoff, the world renowned lepidopterist, who was also an amazing artist. Naturally, all of his beautiful paintings included butterflies. (I Googled him, too). He traveled Europe and Asia as a younger man collecting butterflies, then America when he emigrated. He spoke no less than seven languages and could read even more.
So many of the author's family members had amazing story lines, including his own mother and father, but it's too much to go into here. I REALLY appreciated the 100+ photos of nearly everyone he wrote about, including Russia back in the day. The author did an amazing amount of research, traveling back to his family's land in Russia, where their beautiful home had been totally obliterated by war, and only a machine shed now stood, with a family living inside.
The only detraction for me was that sometimes he delves too deeply into people that are just family acquaintances, and one forgets how they're all connected. But overall, it was very, very interesting and it gave me an appreciation for the "good Russians" who only wanted a peaceful life filled with their longstanding traditions and being free to live without war. They had to escape to save their lives and find that peace, but always missed their homeland.
It was definitely worth the read.
But Russia was fraught with extreme struggles for decades...beginning with the 1917 Revolution, the Bolsheviks murdering entire villages, war with Germany, Communism. They all threatened the author's families (grandparents and aunts and uncles) who were peace-loving, well-educated, intelligent artists and even a world-renowned lepidopterist (butterfly collector).
It's truly amazing that any of them (but not all) escaped with their lives, fleeing by train or horse cart and then ships to any country that would accept them, and most did NOT want them. Every Russian was accused of being a Communist even though this is what they were trying to escape!
The author's grandmother, mother and father, and an uncle were lucky enough to eventually make it to America. His grandmother, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, known to everyone as "Mopsy" (the Beatrix Potter rabbits: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail) became a world renowned artist, painting portraits of the most prestigious names in the country - "the upper crust" as she called them - the Fords, the Colgates, too many to list, but most notably, she was painting FDR the moment he had his final stroke which caused his death just hours later. (One can Google the "unfinished portrait of FDR). She was in constant demand for her beautiful work.
One of the author's uncles (Mopsy's brother) was known to everyone as "Uncle", but his name was Andrei Avinoff, the world renowned lepidopterist, who was also an amazing artist. Naturally, all of his beautiful paintings included butterflies. (I Googled him, too). He traveled Europe and Asia as a younger man collecting butterflies, then America when he emigrated. He spoke no less than seven languages and could read even more.
So many of the author's family members had amazing story lines, including his own mother and father, but it's too much to go into here. I REALLY appreciated the 100+ photos of nearly everyone he wrote about, including Russia back in the day. The author did an amazing amount of research, traveling back to his family's land in Russia, where their beautiful home had been totally obliterated by war, and only a machine shed now stood, with a family living inside.
The only detraction for me was that sometimes he delves too deeply into people that are just family acquaintances, and one forgets how they're all connected. But overall, it was very, very interesting and it gave me an appreciation for the "good Russians" who only wanted a peaceful life filled with their longstanding traditions and being free to live without war. They had to escape to save their lives and find that peace, but always missed their homeland.
It was definitely worth the read.
September 13, 2014
This is an older book from 1980s. I enjoyed the fascinating account of Alex Shoumatoff's family, who emigrated from Russia during the Revolution.
August 15, 2017
memorable
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews