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Stalin's Daughter
Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva | Rosemary Sullivan
16 posts | 7 read | 22 to read
ANew York TimesNotable BookAWashington PostNotable BookThe award-winning author ofVilla Air-Belreturns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of historys most monstrous dictatorsher father, Josef Stalin.Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedythe loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.As she gradually learned about the extent of her fathers brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United Statesleaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her fathers regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Wisconsin.With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlanas daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlanas incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, its a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her fathers name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us.Illustrated with photographs.
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review
TrishB
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Pickpick

If this was fiction you would be saying stop piling it on, you would also be telling the MC to stop making so many impulsive bad decisions.
But it‘s a real person and what a roller coaster of a life she had. And full of very, bad impulsive decisions. I don‘t know how she came to terms with being Stalin‘s daughter, she probably actually didn‘t.
Fascinating read.

TrishB One bit that didn‘t ring true to me- when she arrived at the US embassy in Delhi to defect, they claimed to not know Stalin had a daughter. Yet she had met Churchill and been involved in end of WW2 celebrations with the US ambassador. And the climate of spying in the Cold War, I just don‘t find this believable. 2y
squirrelbrain Great review! Stacked. 2y
Graywacke In my current book, Anniversaries, the author quotes her directly from the 1967 NY Times. They were strange self-centered comments (which is why he quoted them). So I‘ve curious. Enjoyed your posts. 2y
See All 8 Comments
BarbaraBB Great review 2y
batsy Nice review! 2y
TrishB @Graywacke I think she probably would have come across as quite strange to western society initially. You do feel sorry for her in that respect. 2y
Cathythoughts Great review Trish 👍🏻♥️ 2y
92 likes3 stack adds8 comments
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TrishB
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#roadtrip
Bringing daughter back from uni for the final time. I‘m in the back of the car with bedding and coats! She seems to have twice as much than when we dropped her off!!

andrew61 I did youngest's end of second year run last week. Had to hire a van, didn't know how she had acquired so much stuff! 2y
Lindy Ha! I can picture that. Safe journey to you. 2y
TrishB @andrew61 @Lindy I picked one enormous bag up and it was so heavy! I said what‘s in this and she said all the books I‘ve brought this year 😱 2y
Lindy @TrishB She learned that from you, right? 2y
TrishB @Lindy I may have passed it on 😁 2y
77 likes5 comments
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TrishB
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Starting another chunkster today 😁

Oryx Oh this sounds interesting 2y
TrishB @Oryx fascinating so far 👍🏻 2y
LeahBergen This does sound fascinating 👍 2y
79 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Bookwormjillk
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#12booksof21 #12booksof2021 June

Another book I would have never read if it weren‘t for #FoodAndLit

The life of Svetlana Alliluyeva (aka Stalin‘s daughter) was bizarre and tumultuous, and this doorstop of a book flew by.

Andrew65 This must have been interesting. 2y
TrishB This looks really interesting. 2y
Texreader Similarly I loved her Only One Year. Her life was so interesting and I‘m so glad I read it 2y
Bookwormjillk @Texreader I‘ll have to read that one too! 2y
42 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Bookwormjillk
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This chunkster was a fascinating look at the life of Svetlana Alliluyeva, a.k.a. Stalin‘s daughter. It took me all month to read, but it was worth the time. #FoodandLit

50 likes3 stack adds
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Texreader
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Ebook on sale today. I‘m tempted since I‘m currently reading her autobiography. Works for #readingasia2021

Librarybelle Thanks for posting! 3y
34 likes1 comment
review
Simona
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Svetlana was Stalin‘s beloved daughter, Kremlin princess, and this is biography of her unsettled life under the always present Stalin‘s shadow. Her life, marked with restlessness, abandonment and with some really bad decisions, is presented not only through author‘s narration, but also through her letters, passages from her book, newspapers articles, documents ... Well researched, interesting and readable.
#nFnov

Clwojick 6pt 4y
48 likes1 comment
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Augustdana
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You know when someone gets excited after they read a book and then insist that you read it too? I've had this book now for about a year 😮😊sorry!!! #riotgrams day five: someone else's books.

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brennahawleycraig
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I'm so sorry secret #summersolsticebookexchange Litten 🙈 I was looking at me to-read shelf recently and there's plenty in there I have. So I am making a new do-not-own shelf! Excited to start my own research after a busy week!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/699330-brenna

#summersantagoespostal

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BookishTrish
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Gezemice Nice job! 7y
CherylDeFranceschi Congrats! 7y
Cinfhen Nice 💕📚🙌🏻 7y
LauraBeth Awesome 😀👏⭐🎉 7y
62 likes5 comments
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GoneFishing

The truth was that Svetlana did not know what love was.Some deep part of her probably believed she couldn‘t be loved.She was still looking for a romanticized, idealized substitute for love.In this she was not unlike many women, though perhaps her case was extreme.She felt she needed a man to invent her or complete her.Her desperation came from the terror of being alone,but who...would bind themselves to Stalin‘s daughter and take on that darkness?

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sal_5619
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Pickpick

One word: Amazing.

MrBook Welcome to @Litsy !!! We hope you enjoy your stay, I think you'll like it here 😎👍🏻! 7y
2 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Lindy
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Bingo category With a child on the cover. Seeing a photo of Stalin with his arm around a child - any child - is enough to give me the shivers. His poor daughter!

BekahB You are much further ahead on your bingo card than I am! I need to pull mine out and see if anything I've read lately meets the book descriptions in my squares. 8y
Lindy @BekahB I'm playing 2 bingo cards at once. My other card only has 4 squares left! I read eclectically, so I mostly just see where I can fit whatever book I'm reading. 8y
14 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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Pickpick

"What a train wreck of a life!" is what Antanas Sileika, said on CBC's The Next Chapter podcast. 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 simple one: to be loved.

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Lindy
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I'm 3/4 of the way through this biography and my interest was flagging. Then I saw that it won another award (on top of 3 Canadian prizes) so I decided it will be worth it to continue.

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Lindy
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With my dog and an audiobook, I escaped the heat, the city, and the 21st century during an hourlong walk in a nearby ravine. Life is good. 😎

LauraBeth That looks beautiful! 8y
Lindy @LauraBeth Thanks! I feel fortunate to live where I do, despite our long winters. 8y
23 likes2 comments