The House of Special Purpose

Author: John Boyne

Rating: 2/5

Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev reflects on his past and present. As a young man, he worked in the Tsar’s service. Years later, he escaped to London with Zoya, the woman of his dreams.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

Every chapter alternates between the past and present until they sort of meet in the middle at the end. Georgy Jachmenev is taken into the Tsar’s service after he jumps in front of a bullet shot by his best friend to protect the Tsar’s cousin. His best friend is hanged. Georgy goes to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and becomes Alexei’s (the tsarevich) bodyguard. He sees Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the Tsar, and they fall in love. Maria, the third daughter, also has a soldier lover. When their affair is brought to light, the soldier (Sergei) is sent to Siberia. Anastasia and Georgy walk together during one important night (when the sun doesn’t go down or something?) and she blesses a young girl with a scar on her face. Georgy’s older sister comes to him, asking for a job. She had wanted to move to St. Petersburg. Though the head of the household says there’s a job available, Georgy lies to his sister. Georgy is selected by the Tsar to accompany him on the train. He does so and witnesses the Tsar abdicate the throne (on Alexei’s behalf too). He falls asleep and wakes to find the Tsar’s family has been taken away. Georgy travels for months until he finds them. Anastasia’s family is shot but she manages to escape. Georgy and Anastasia (who renames herself Zoya) flee to Paris. They get jobs in a bookstore and sewing shop respectively and befriend Sophie and her painter boyfriend Leo. Leo and Anastasia have conflicting views about Russia but make peace. Georgy and Zoya marry but are unable to have kids. Leo is executed after he accidentally had a gripe with a French soldier causing his death. Georgy and Zoya flee to London. He works at the Museum Library and she continues her sewing work. Zoya tries to commit suicide but Georgy gets home in time. They finally have a daughter and become friends with their neighbour. During the war, Georgy is asked to translate Russian messages. After several years, their daughter brings home her boyfriend and they get married and have a son named Michael. The daughter is killed in a car accident. Georgy is visited by the driver who apologises. Georgy turns her away. In their old age, Zoya has cancer. They go on holiday to Finland. The book ends with Zoya passing away in the hospital.

Plot and Pacing

I really enjoyed the first quarter of this book. It was a typical John Boyne book: easy and interesting to read with a cool premise. However, things started to wane around the time Georgy meets Anastasia. I just don’t like instant love! Georgy repeatedly states how he kissed Anastasia before talking to her which, to me, is just so irresponsible and unbelievable. To make things worse, he seems proud of that fact! I didn’t mind instant love as much before but now, it makes me angry because I feel it’s giving false hope to hopeless romantics like me. I mean, perhaps it’s possible for some people to just look at someone in a cafe and be like, “Holy shit, this is the person I’m going to spend all my life with,” but realistically, that happens VERY rarely.

The novel lacked focus. It was trying to do far too much, touching on the Tsar’s rule and the World Wars and then the whole cancer storyline too. I think this full life exploration worked in The Heart’s Invisible Furies but I wasn’t so attached to the characters to care that much about them here. I would have preferred if Boyne had just focused on Georgy’s time in the palace. And I would have LOVED if his relationship with Zoya/Anastasia had been fleshed out more.

Characters

I didn’t mind any of the characters but no one stood out to me which is not a good sign for a 400-page book! I loved how caring and understanding Georgy was of Zoya. He was certainly flawed like the way he turned Asya (his sister) away because he wanted no part of his old life to join the palace. However, I can’t say anything more beyond that.

Anastasia/Zoya was also alright. Her apathy towards life was somewhat relatable and, come to think of it, perhaps would have made for a better narrative too–focusing on Zoya’s trauma and depression. Maybe even writing the book from her perspective would have freshened things up a bit. I don’t know, something about this book just felt off to me and I can’t explain why! Also, I was super confused about her hair colour. On one page, Boyne mentions it’s auburn and then a few chapters later, it’s suddenly golden? Last I checked, they were both VERY different colours.

Writing Style

The narrative structure was certainly unique. I don’t think I’ve read a book that so clearly starts at opposite ends of a character’s life and then meets in the middle. However, I think the writing would have been stronger if everything had just been told in chronological order. I felt I was missing out on vast portions of Georgy’s life with the time jumps and this often made me feel unsatisfied. Just as I was starting to wrap my head around what was happening, the chapter would end and I’d be transported back into the past or present. It was very annoying.