mcsangel2's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely one of the best biographies I've ever read. It was a great education for me since most of my interest in royalty lay with the English; great to get a comprehensive picture of her background. I most especially appreciated learning more about how truly horrific the French Revolution was. That period in her family's life was truly brought alive for me, and I will never again be able to think of Marie Antoinette as a distant historical figure.
A note - I enjoyed Sofia Coppola's film which was based upon this work; but others should note that the film is meant to be abstract in many respects while the book is a traditional biography.
A note - I enjoyed Sofia Coppola's film which was based upon this work; but others should note that the film is meant to be abstract in many respects while the book is a traditional biography.
bkmaedel's review against another edition
4.0
I started this book a while back and it took me a while to get really interested in it. There is a great deal of information in this book, and at times it can slow things down a bit, but I really found myself intrigued by about the third chapter. I really didn't know much about her, other than popular myths, which Fraser sets about to discount. I came away with this book with an incredible amout of respect for the demands that were placed on this woman from a very young age, and the strength of character that developed despite ridicule and undue blame that was placed on her by the French people.
underwaterlily's review against another edition
5.0
Though oblivious to the plight of the people and known for her extravagance, Marie Antoinette wasn’t a malicious woman. She was vivacious, sweet, and kind-hearted—a true victim of circumstance. Fraser’s biography is beautifully written and sympathetic.
anhedonia_n_anomie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Biography of Marie Antoinette that tries to understand her, her place in history, and the misogyny and anti-Austrian sentiment in 18th century France that stoked long-lived scurrilous rumors about her
jordantanguay's review against another edition
5.0
If she’d actually said the famous line about the cake, then Antonia Fraser did not leave a single crumb. This biography is a brilliant piece of research. A definitive and meticulously constructed vision of the short life of “the Austrian woman” who at various turns has been blamed for the entire French Revolution itself.
Fraser brings Versailles into focus in its waning period, that insular and bizarre cult of despotism that had long outlasted its welcome. The palace becomes a prison of its own making, inducing a suffocating paralysis on its inhabitants, rendering them completely inactive by the time the inevitable chaos of revolution reaches its gates.
For all of its fancy, the diamonds, the operas, the masqued balls, the gowns, and all the Sèvres porcelain, Fraser’s Antoinette is a haunting tale.
Neither heroine nor the virago of history’s telling, it seems Marie Antoinette was merely a very rich and privileged young woman in quite a historical pickle. Her complete public debasement, her trial in which she is accused of the incestual rape of her young son, and her final journey to the scaffold remains one of the shocking images of modern political revolution for all time. One might have heard the clanging of the bells and the cries of “SHAME” as she was hauled through the streets of Paris to her doom!
Fraser brings Versailles into focus in its waning period, that insular and bizarre cult of despotism that had long outlasted its welcome. The palace becomes a prison of its own making, inducing a suffocating paralysis on its inhabitants, rendering them completely inactive by the time the inevitable chaos of revolution reaches its gates.
For all of its fancy, the diamonds, the operas, the masqued balls, the gowns, and all the Sèvres porcelain, Fraser’s Antoinette is a haunting tale.
Neither heroine nor the virago of history’s telling, it seems Marie Antoinette was merely a very rich and privileged young woman in quite a historical pickle. Her complete public debasement, her trial in which she is accused of the incestual rape of her young son, and her final journey to the scaffold remains one of the shocking images of modern political revolution for all time. One might have heard the clanging of the bells and the cries of “SHAME” as she was hauled through the streets of Paris to her doom!
magshugs's review against another edition
Great history with LOTS of detail. I wanted to read this before I watched the movie, but I caved before I could finish. I've been reading this for a few months basically because it's so dense! I'll read a bit and then move on to something else for a while. The I have to get back into it. But I'm enjoying it overall.
_cafeconlibros_'s review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting read about such a prolific person in history. Also it really cleared up so many falsehoods about Marie Antoinette.