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Speaker 1: You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at.

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Speaker 2: Be This time last week, our book reviewer Katherine Rains

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Speaker 2: was in Melbourne counting down the minutes to the Melbourne

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Speaker 2: Grand preci As well. It's now get a Catherine, Good

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Speaker 2: morning Jack. I know Liam Lawson didn't have the greatest weekend,

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Speaker 2: but how was it for you? Did it live up

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Speaker 2: to your expectations?

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Speaker 3: It sure did. Yeah, it was a great event. Melbourne

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Speaker 3: does it incredibly well. But yeah, it was just so

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Speaker 3: much fun to be there, Yeah, and experience it in

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Speaker 3: an atmosphere and everybody there was having such a good time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, no, it was really enjoyable.

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Speaker 2: Oh I'm pleased to hear it. Look, you've got two

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Speaker 2: fantastic sounding reads for us for this weekend, So let's

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Speaker 2: begin with Better Life by Lionel Shreiver.

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Speaker 3: So this story unfolds through the eyes of one person,

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Speaker 3: a twenty six year old man called Nico, and he's

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Speaker 3: ended up in his mother's basement in this upscale New

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Speaker 3: York queen's neighborhood, and he's ready to detach from work responsibility.

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Speaker 3: He has no purpose and he seems really lost and

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Speaker 3: feels pretty inconsequent and Gloria is his Mum's in her sixties,

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Speaker 3: and she kind of directs a lot of her energy

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Speaker 3: towards strangers rather than her own family. So she'sn't interested

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Speaker 3: in a traditional role of being a grandmother or surrounded

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Speaker 3: by her grandchildren. Instead, she's much more interested in what

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Speaker 3: outside has bring to her life. And she's driven a

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Speaker 3: lot more by ideology than she is really by what's

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Speaker 3: going on in her own life. And things in their

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Speaker 3: lives are about to change though. There's been this initiative

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Speaker 3: from the Mayor of New York, and Gloria applies to

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Speaker 3: participate in this program, which is to help the immigrants

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Speaker 3: that are arriving in the state, and she's got the

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Speaker 3: room and there's a monetary incentive as well. So Martin

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Speaker 3: from Hondrea Andrea Andreas arrives in their home, and initially,

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Speaker 3: to start with, she's the perfect guest. She's helping with

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Speaker 3: cooking and cleaning, and Gloria and her girl's lover, Niko,

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Speaker 3: is not quite so happy. And then visitors of Martens

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Speaker 3: start to arrive at home, and then her brother arrives,

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Speaker 3: and there's this real contrast and what's going on, and

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Speaker 3: these traditional family structures that Martine have and what Gloria

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Speaker 3: and Leko are used to. And it's really eye opening

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Speaker 3: this dynamics between sort of modern Western society and this

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Speaker 3: strange moral right that often disguises itself as empathy. And

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Speaker 3: there's observations of people and communities and institutions and the government,

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Speaker 3: and there's lots of ideas and concepts that really keep

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Speaker 3: you thinking and considering long after you've finished the book.

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Speaker 3: Really interesting.

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Speaker 2: Nice, Okay, great, So that's Better Life by Lionel Schreiver.

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Speaker 2: Tell Us about Rasputin by Anthony Beaver.

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Speaker 3: So this is nonfiction and it's a fascinating look at

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Speaker 3: the life of one of Russia's most intriguing residents, a

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Speaker 3: guy called Gregor Rasputin, and his involvement with the ruling family,

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Speaker 3: the Romanovs, and he changed the course of history really

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Speaker 3: and the court of the early nineteen hundreds was in

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Speaker 3: this grip of all, you know, very spiritual and religion.

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Speaker 3: Was king and the Czara and Zarena Nicholas to Alexander

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Speaker 3: maintained this belief in the czar's god given right to

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Speaker 3: rule and his deep connection with the Russian people. And

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Speaker 3: you get this portrayal of this dynasty that's really frightened

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Speaker 3: and isolated and dysfunctional, and it places all its faith

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Speaker 3: in one man, Resputant, and his story actually is almost

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Speaker 3: completely the opposite of where it begins. He was completely impoverished.

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Speaker 3: He grew up on the settlement of the banks of

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Speaker 3: a river, lived in timber houses. His father was a peasant,

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Speaker 3: and nothing about his early life suggested that he would

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Speaker 3: become the notorious man that he was. And he made

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Speaker 3: his way from this peasant upbringing to the center of

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Speaker 3: Russian power, particularly because the young Tsarevich Alexey suffered from hemophilia,

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Speaker 3: and that was where Russian Resputant asserted his presence and

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Speaker 3: helped out when court doctors were helpless and prayed beside

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Speaker 3: his bed, you know, and Alexandra believes that Resputant had

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Speaker 3: saved her son, and those consequences were extraordinary, and by

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Speaker 3: the First World War he's well ingrained in the Romanovs

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Speaker 3: and he's one of the most hated men in Russia

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Speaker 3: by the stage, and it's just really interesting looking at

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Speaker 3: that historical context of the time and why he was

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Speaker 3: so important, and you know, the fall of the dynasty

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Speaker 3: and Anthony Beaver does a superb job of making this

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Speaker 3: history just so interesting to read.

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Speaker 2: It's so fascinating, very good. Yeah, I'd love to read that.

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Speaker 2: So let's rest Bootin by Anthony Beaver. Catherine's first book

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Speaker 2: was Better Life by Lionel Shreiver. Both of those will

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Speaker 2: be on the News Talks EDB website for.

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Speaker 1: More from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to

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Speaker 1: News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio