It all boils down to this: there is no way that the little boy and the man in the front cover (or in any of the other pictures) are the same person. Alexei's eyebrows tend to be very square, yet Vasily's are drooping down. Age may change appearance, but there is the "essence of the person" and these two don't match. The rest of the story is interesting, especially the history, but the argument is not airtight or even water-tight. There are other explanations. As for the writing, the book tends to drag on at times, but overall it is entertaining reading.