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annabellee's review
3.0
In this narrative non-fiction book, Stanley Weintraub tells the story of Charlotte Rothschild and Lionel Rothschild, two of Victorian England's most prominent personages. The book is well-researched, pulling liberally from letters to and from the Rothschilds as well as contemporary publications, and giving a firm background in the goings-on of the world that serve as a backdrop for the main biograph-ees. If you are looking for a book on Charlotte and Lionel, this is a good one to consult, however, unless one is particularly invested in the subject-matter beforehand, I would give it a pass.
This book got off to a good start: it set the scene for the Rothschild families located accross Europe, it presented Lionel and Charlotte and their union well, and it outlined Lionel's fight to be admitted to the House of Commons despite being a Jew, a prohibitive quality to have at that time. However, everything past his victory seemed simply stagnant and repetitive, as though the climax of their life-stories came far too early, and then the rest of the book just sort of had to carry on. Part of this is because that is the nature of life. However, due to the ensuing redundancy - what took up several chapters could easily have been distilled into one with just as much value - I was dissatisfied overall. That said, the research and the writing were spot-on, even if the author did not manage to justify to the reader why so much time and energy was spent on what felt like the same details over and over, while still managing to miss key events, like Charlotte's first stroke.
Another thing that was particularly difficult to tackle, and which Weintraub could have done a better job with, was the plethora of "family names" that made it rather confusing as to who was who and who lived where and who belonged to who and how. A simple moniker - "Austrian Nathan" or "Charlotte of France" would have cleared this up considerably, but instead the reader finds themselves constantly checking the family tree provided at the front of the book, only to just say "forget this" and give up trying to keep track.
There is no graphic language or violence in this book; there is some mention of sex, since nuptials are a main topic in the book. I would recommend this book for high school level and above. Three stars.
This book got off to a good start: it set the scene for the Rothschild families located accross Europe, it presented Lionel and Charlotte and their union well, and it outlined Lionel's fight to be admitted to the House of Commons despite being a Jew, a prohibitive quality to have at that time. However, everything past his victory seemed simply stagnant and repetitive, as though the climax of their life-stories came far too early, and then the rest of the book just sort of had to carry on. Part of this is because that is the nature of life. However, due to the ensuing redundancy - what took up several chapters could easily have been distilled into one with just as much value - I was dissatisfied overall. That said, the research and the writing were spot-on, even if the author did not manage to justify to the reader why so much time and energy was spent on what felt like the same details over and over, while still managing to miss key events, like Charlotte's first stroke.
Another thing that was particularly difficult to tackle, and which Weintraub could have done a better job with, was the plethora of "family names" that made it rather confusing as to who was who and who lived where and who belonged to who and how. A simple moniker - "Austrian Nathan" or "Charlotte of France" would have cleared this up considerably, but instead the reader finds themselves constantly checking the family tree provided at the front of the book, only to just say "forget this" and give up trying to keep track.
There is no graphic language or violence in this book; there is some mention of sex, since nuptials are a main topic in the book. I would recommend this book for high school level and above. Three stars.
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