Catastroika - by Charles Rammelkamp (Paperback)

About the Book

In a sequence of poems in the dramatic monologue style, Charles Rammelkamp's Catastroika covers a century of Russian history from the late Nineteenth to the late Twentieth, in the voices of a fictional Russian Jew, Alexander Federmesser (Sasha) and Maria Rasputin, the sole surviving daughter of the "mad monk," Grigory Rasputin.

Book Synopsis

In a sequence of poems in the dramatic monologue style, Charles Rammelkamp's Catastroika covers a century of Russian history from the late Nineteenth to the late Twentieth, in the voices of a fictional Russian Jew, Alexander Federmesser (Sasha) and Maria Rasputin, the sole surviving daughter of the "mad monk," Grigory Rasputin, the infamous spiritual advisor of the Romanovs, the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas, and his wife, Alexandra. Focusing on Grigory Rasputin largely through the eyes of his daughter, we read about the social turmoil in Russia that led to the Bolshevik Revolution, the war between the Red Russians and the White Russians, the excesses and cruelties of the Communist Party. We also learn, through Sasha's words, about the Anti-Semitism that pervades the whole era.

Both Maria and Sasha escape Russia and come to America. Sasha settles in Baltimore, where he meets his future wife, Riva, and makes a family and a life while always reliving the terrors of his early years. Maria dances in cabaret shows in Europe before becoming an animal trainer with the circus and later, after being mauled by a bear, a "Rosie the Riveter" for the United States during World War Two.

We follow both Maria and Sasha throughout their lives. Larger than life characters like Harry Houdini and Vladimir Nabokov make cameo appearances. While Maria dies in California in 1977, Sasha, an old man by then, survives through the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In so many ways, the sweep of Russian history mirrors his own life, and of course Maria's, and though murdered in 1916, Rasputin himself, his reputation, likewise undergoes change, like the city of Saint Petersburg itself, where so much of the drama in Catastroika takes place.

Review Quotes

"Whether Rasputin was charlatan or saint remains ambiguous, but Catastroika casts the larger-than-life character in new light (or shadow). Told from the perspectives of Rasputin's daughter and a fictional Russian Jew --both settled in America--this book reflects on Russia's past through their experiences. Intimate and insightful, Charles Rammelkamp will have you saying "da!" to Catastroika." -- Eric D. Goodman, author of Setting the Family Free, Womb: a novel in utero and Tracks: A Novel in Stories

"Like Woody Allen's Zelig, Charles Rammelkamp's fictional witness to history, Sasha (Alexander Federmesser), was there, and can tell us lucky readers all about it, from the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian Revolution, through the murder of the Romanov family. Throw in Maria, Rasputin's daughter and her amazingly picaresque real life in Russia, Europe, and Hollywood, and you've got a tale for the ages. Rammelkamp's diction is pitch perfect for the times he writes about. Read this amazing collection, then read it again." -- Robert Cooperman, winner of the Colorado Book Award for Poetry, for In the Colorado Gold Fever Mountains

"What a fabulous witches' borscht! It's fabulous in a strict sense: what seems to be the stuff of fable is firmly rooted in the real world. Catastroika, a historical novel-in-verse opening with a poem in the author's own voice--his response to viewing a famous part of Rasputin's anatomy in a glass jar in a St. Petersburg museum--moves to a narrative alternating between the voice of Maria, Rasputin's adoring daughter, and that of Sasha, a Russian Jew acquainted third-hand with Rasputin and first-hand with young Maria. Their stories take us from the Romanovs through the Bolshevik revolution to the present day in the US. Meticulously researched, Catastroika is peppered with shocks, from the horrors suffered by Jews and "White Russians" in post-Romanov Russia, to the astounding US careers of Maria Rasputin, first as a lion tamer with the Ringling Brothers circus and then--but no, I will commit no spoiler here by revealing her final career. Equally delicious is the later life of Sasha in the US city of --but no, that too would be a spoiler. Suffice it say that Catastroika, to borrow a show-biz phrase for a bravura performance, really brings it home." -- Clarinda Harriss, author of Innumerable Moons and other books of poetry and fiction

"Was recent Russian history a matter of perestroika (reform), or was it more of a catastrophe? It was a combination of both, as shown in Catastroika, a collection of poetic accounts of events that are sometimes ordinary, and other times shattering. The tellers of these deeply felt, often wrenching tales are Maria Rasputin, daughter of the mystic, healer, and ladies' man Grigory Rasputin, and Sasha Federmesser, a Jew who lives through persecution, escapes Russia, and settles in Baltimore. These poems will open your eyes to truths about rulers, revolutionaries, and the people caught between them." -- Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of Border Crossings