Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Black Russian 
by Vladimir Alexandrov

Frederick Bruce Thomas was born in 1872 to former slaves. His parents were able to acquire land and became quite prosperous farmers in Mississippi. They did well for several years until they were fleeced by a rich white man who tried to steal their property. The family lost everything and were forced to leave for Memphis where they ran a boardinghouse. After the murder of Frederick's father by a mentally unstable lodger, Frederick decided to get out of the South and worked as a waiter and a valet in Chicago and Brooklyn. Eventually he would go to London and France where Blacks were treated much better than in the United States. By the time 1899 rolled around, Frederick was in Russia. He would stay in Moscow for the next twenty years. Frederick gave himself a Russian name (Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas), married twice, had several children, and become a Russian citizen. He made his living and a fortune by owning variety theaters and restaurants. The Bolshevik Revolution wiped him clean and he escaped with his family (barely) to Constantinople in 1919. Frederick started from scratch and became rich again by having nightclubs that played jazz (a new kind of music) in Turkey.
Sound like an interesting story? I thought so. The first part of the book was really interesting and absorbing. By the middle, it started to sag and I was hard-pressed to continue reading. The last 90 pages were excruciating. There's not a whole lot of information on Frederick Bruce Thomas (no writings, no papers) so much of what is written here is conjecture. Thomas constantly reinvented himself and exaggerated events that may not have even happened. It's certainly admirable that he was able to create this wonderful life for himself. His work ethic came from his parents. Since there is not much about him, the book has plenty of chapters on the history of Russia and Turkey and this filler can become interminable. You don't really get a sense of who Frederick Bruce Thomas really was because the writing is just not that engaging.

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