Farewell, My Queen: A Novel
by Chantal Thomas
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chantal ThomasTranslator: Moishe Black
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-22
ISBN: 0743260783
Number of pages: 233
Publisher: Touchstone
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780743260787
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Farewell, My Queen: A Novel
Book Review: An impressionistic sojourn at Versailles ....
Summary: 2 Stars
"Farewell, My Queen" by Chantal Thomas is a respectable attempt at impressionistic historical fiction in which one is confronted with the loneliness and despair faced by Queen Marie Antoinette at the onset of the French Revolution. My problem with this book is that I first read E. M. Vidal's novel "Trianon" and was struck by the similarities between the two books. One would think that Vidal had been influenced by the historian Chantal Thomas, except that "Trianon" was first published in 1997, several years before "Farewell, My Queen." I guess that when so many novels about Marie Antoinette are being written every year authors are using the same sources and some similarities are to be expected. Instead of the point of view of Madame Vigee-Lebrun, the queen's portrait painter, in "Trianon," we have the point of view of the queen's Reader. In both books the Dauphin is mourned, the King and Queen are reverent at Mass, the queen is reminded of her mother by some tangible token, the life of exiled emigres is described, the queen's presence makes an impact on everyone, she utters the word 'magnanimity,' the Comte d'Artois chases women, and the king is taken with his horses and hunting. Then the similarity ends, for in Thomas' stale rendition, there is no life, no passion, no tears, no faith, no martyrdom, only spiralling despair. Marie-Antoinette heroically says farewell to her dear friend Madame de Polignac, who is charmingly portrayed, but otherwise there is no deep feeling in this book. This disappointed me, since I had come to see the queen as a woman of passion, obsessively devoted to her children, who in "Farewell, My Queen" are but a passing thought. Marie Antoinette lost her life by refusing to leave her husband in his plight, but in this novel, there is no sense of her sacrifice, of her devotion. Nothing but a dream-like state of despair, like a drug-addict lost in an existential malaise. It is a well-written but sad, sleepy book, which many will enjoy borrowing from the library. It did not rip out my heart, however, like "Trianon" did, in passages which burnt the soul. Read this book, but read it before Vidal's books. Don't make the mistake that I made, and experience the same let down.
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