Customer Reviews

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette CD

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Abundance is told in the first person by Marie Antoinette, and though it doesn't purport to be a journal, it's told in a journal-like fashion, with the events unfolding as the queen experiences them rather than in retrospect. From what I can tell (it's not my period by any means), it's well researched, and it's sympathetic toward Marie Antoinette without minimizing her weaknesses. The other members of the royal family are rendered nicely too, especially Louis XVI. (For those who are wondering, Axel von Fersen is very much a presence here, though the queen's relationship with him is a chaste one.)

In many historical novels about well-known figures, authors tend to jump from one Big Event to another, serving history while at the same time slighting character. Naslund tends to move in the opposite direction. While she covers all of the usual set pieces of Marie Antoinette's life--her husband's difficulty in consummating their marriage, her reluctance to acknowledge the Comtesse du Barry, her public childbirth, the Affair of the Necklace--Naslund tends to focus more closely on her more everyday, mundane interactions with her family and friends, at least until the revolution overtakes all normalcy. I especially liked the queen's reminiscences about the hippotamus and rhinoceros in her childhood home, the scene where the royal family witnesses the launch of a hot air balloon, and the later scene where the queen is served "fruit" that turns out to be small balloons. (Through a later scene where another balloon launch ends in tragedy, Naslund neatly inserts a sense of impending disaster for the royal court as well.)

Once fate overtakes the royal family, Naslund conveys the increasing terror of their lives powerfully. Though she doesn't give us an eyewitness view of the horror of the massacre of the Swiss Guard, the laconic way in which the queen recounts the event is chillingly effective in its very brevity: "It required only two carriages to carry away those of us who remained alive of the court of Louis XVI."

I did find some things bothersome here. The dialogue is sometimes stilted to the point of being comical: "'Those red spots on your fair cheeks suggest measles,'" Marie Antoinette's dear friend the Comte de Polignac tells her at one point. This may be to show the artificiality of court life, but if it is, it's not done consistently; the same friend speaks to Marie Antoinette quite naturally at other times.

More problematic for me was this passage in the first chapter of Abundance, at which point the book nearly became airborne:

"While my ladies flutter like bright butterflies around me, I glance at my naked body, a slender worm. Louis Auguste and I must be much the same, as all humans are really much the same, except for the difference of sex. We all have two legs--mine are slender--supporting a torso; two arms sprout on either side of a bodily cabinet, which contains the guts and bladder in the lower compartment and the heaving lungs and heart in the upper section. In between, for women, is the chamber called the womb. From the trunk, a neck rises up like a small lookout tower whose finial is the head."

I'm sure there must be some reason for this paragraph--which all but screams, "Look, Ma, I'm writing literary fiction!"--but I'll be blessed if I can see it; all I could think of was that clear child's educational toy called "The Human Body" and then that old song "Dry Bones" ("The knee bone connected to the thigh bone!"). Fortunately, creative-writing-class passages such as this are relatively few and far between, especially in the latter part of the novel. I'm quoting this paragraph, in fact, only because it almost made me stop reading this book, and I'm glad I persevered.

In short, this is a book the merits of which far outweigh its flaws. Give it a try.

Few historical figures continue to fascinate as does Marie Antoinette. Saint or sinner? Avaricious queen or unwitting martyr? It all depends upon which account you're reading. From the varying opinions, we can assume that she is still very much a mystery, an intriguing one. With prodigious research and imaginative text acclaimed novelist Sena Jeter Naslund (Ahab's Wife) offers an original approach to the life of the ill-fated queen. She does this by allowing Marie Antoinette to speak, thus revealing her impressions, thoughts, and actions in her own words.

From the opening line, "Like everyone, I was born naked" to a closing comment, ""I have lived the life dealt to me with as much kindness as I could," Abundance, as performed by Susanna Burney, is riveting listening. Burney effectively captures the voice of the naive 14-year-old Toinette when her marriage to the 15-year-old Daupin, France's future king, is arranged by her mother, the Empress of Austria. The actress is equally efective in expressing wonder as Toinette first explores the riches of Versailles, and finally courage when her son is turned against her and she faces the guillotine.

Known for meticulous attention to detail, author Naslund presents a vivid picture of the extravagances of life at court as well as the machinations of various officials who would use Toinette to better themselves. She was blissfully unaware of the dire straits her new country was in, whether due to naivete or deliberate oversight we do not know. However, listeners will find a sympathetic portrait of a young queen who suffered the indignity of her husband's neglect, the false friendships of many, and the horror of seeing her friend's decapitated head on a pike accompanied by angry chants of "Kiss the lips you've kissed before."

Abundance is historical fiction at its finest - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Sena Jeter Naslund is an amazing writer, and her talents are on full display in ABUNDANCE. Her prose is gorgeous, lush and full -- quite befitting a queen. I love the way she takes a character traditionally villified and mocked in the history books and rpesents a much more human and well-rounded portrait of her. Naslund carries themes through her book quite successfully -- color, fashion, love of other, portraiture, and beauty. I enjoyed watching them build as the author threaded these themes & images through the book. This book is a lovely counterpart to the movie, and a palatable introduction to the historical Marie Antoinette.

Of late, there seems to be a great deal of notice being paid to the ghost of the French Queen, Marie Antoinette. Several fictional accounts, and several biographies, of varying degrees of profiency have been published in the last five years. A recent film has garnered both controversy and acclaim. Now the author of Ahab's Wife turns her attention to this historical figure.

Most know her as a queen who literally lost her head during the French Revolution, and she's become a byword for frivolity, strange fashions, and bad behavior. Others see her as a martyr, a symbol of monarchy, and a misunderstood woman. Most of the historical fiction that I've read about her has been extremely missable, done in a syrupy, trite way that insults both the subject and the reader -- the worst offender in that regard is Kathryn Davis' Versailles.

This narrative about Marie Antoinette is told from the point of view of the queen herself, arriving at the city of Strassbourg at the tender age of fourteen. It's the first time that she's been away from her harridan of a mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and young Marie is homesick, and more than a little afraid and excited by her new status of being married soon to the heir of the King of France. But first there is a ritual of undressing from her Austrian clothing, and coming to France as a naked girl to mark that she is now 'French'. Even her beloved pug dog, Mops, is going away. And used to her numerous siblings and parents, Marie finds the stifling etiquette of the French court incomprehensible.

From being married to the shy, socially awkward Dauphin, Louis Auguste, to the machinations of the three spinster daughters of Louis XV, Marie finds Versailles to be a place of contradictions. There's immense grandeur, but constant renovations and workmen about; she can never quite find herself alone for even the most private of moments, and even though she delights in the grand clothing and jewels, it all seems a bit much for her. And while the king, Louis XV or 'Papa-Roi' as she calls him, clearly enjoys her ability to delight him, her failure to get busy creating little princes for the royal nursery is causing some concern. Marie continually frets over the presence of the royal mistress, Madame du Barry, and the fact that her husband is more interested in hunting than he is bothering to consummate their marriage. When at last, Marie becomes Queen, she discovers the joys of power and being able to do as she wishes, and if that means indulging herself, why not? After all, she's only eighteen and clearly everyone adores her...

And being told that her primary duty is to please her husband, Marie also discovers that it is even easier to please herself -- cost of an item means nothing to her, whether it means refurbishing a room, patronizing the most expensive hairdresser or dress designer in Paris, or worst still, befriending the Princesse de Lamballe, or the Countess de Polignac -- one is a human waterpot, overly sensitive and bursting into tears at any moment, and the other is skilled at manipulation and gathering up as much patronage and money that she and her family can.

In the meantime, France is going through a turbulent time of change. Severe winters and failed crops are causing discontent among the ordinary people, support of the American Revolution is bankrupting the country, and the nobility are playing games of outrage and toying with political intrigue. Louis XVI tries hard, but lacks the willpower to enforce change. And Marie -- well, she's too concerned with trying to get pregnant, gambling, and setting the latest fashion to really notice that things are not to well.

We know where this tragedy is going to lead, after all. Naslund portrays Marie Antoinette as a gorgeous, pretty butterfly that enchants everyone around her, and who can scarcely see the winter that is approaching. Even the romance between Marie and a Swedish count, Axel von Fersen, is pretty -- it's purely hero worship and strictly platonic here. Throughout the book, Marie comes across as victim, not as a willing participant of her own downfall, she can't understand why people are so upset with her, after all, she's trying so very hard to be good.

For all of the faults in this book, it's not a bad novel at all. Naslund's style is inimate, and creates an internal world very well. We know how Marie thinks by the end of the story, we feel her unhappiness and joys, her relationships with her supposed lovers and husband, and her many amusements and playing at being a simple country person in her fantasy Hameau.

Another good point is that Naslund uses letters between Marie and her mother, the Empress, to good effect, showing a wider world out there, and the continuing haraunging and pressure that Marie was growing up around, and that would continue well into her adulthood.

Unfortunately, these points also weaken the novel, as it flits merrily from one high point to the next. There's little in here to show any of the complexity of the character either, or for anyone else, in fact. By using a first person narrative style, Naslund can get us into the mind of the queen, but then everyone else is turned into window dressing. Chapters are only a few pages long, if that much, which provides little continuity or pacing throughout the novel.

Most disturbing of all is the Dauphin/Louis XVI that the author creates. I've always seen him as an insecure, rather shy man who was more than a little intimidated by his pretty wife. He lived for hunting, was very bookish, and Naslund has him as a polished gentleman, affectionate to his wife, and able to turn pretty phrases at a moment's notice. It simply didn't feel right to me, as though the author was trying to make him a perfect king so that our perfect butterfly could fall in love with him.

Overall, a great deal of the novel has a very light feel to it, and I suspect that a good portion of it was cribbed right out Antonia Fraser's biography. It's a pity, as this could have been a standout novel, but instead, goes for the fluffy side of things. Only four stars this time -- it's better than most of the novels out there about Marie Antoinette, but it's hardly anything to rave about either.

Recommended.

Ms. Naslund has done the impossible - she's made Marie Antoinette boring! She is portrayed as floating aimlessly through her life while thinking kindly, flowery thoughts about everything from her handkerchief (which has too much lace and not enough fabric to blow her nose on) to her little plum colored shoes (that served her so well.) I promise you, when Marie Anotinette was standing on the scaffold, she was NOT trying to decide if the color of light is "more silvery or gold". By the end of this book I was ready to put my own head in the guillotine just to stop the pain.

If you want exceptional research and well-written biography, read Antonia Fraser's "Marie Antoinette: The Journey". If you want page-turning historical fiction, try Victoria Holt's "The Queen's Confessions".

I admit that I knew little about Marie Antoinette (except for her infamous ending)until I read this book. I enjoyed the personal perspective in which it was written; reading like a journal. From other research I have since done, it appears that the author is accurate in her accounts and details. I like to think that Marie Antoinette was not the monster she has historically been painted to be, but rather, a girl raised with royal expectations and privileges that didn't allow her to express her empathy to her subjects as she wished she could. As a result of her upbringing, she simply didn't know how to relate to those beneath her.
The book was enjoyable, interesting, eye-opening and informative. Got a little slow about a third of the way into it, but then picked up again and I couldn't put it down. Nothing like Ms. Jeterland's last book, AHAB'S WIFE, where I couldn't get past the first few pages. I recommend this one!

I'm struggling to get into this novel, but I do like it. The fact that it's written from Marie's POV is intersting. Thus far, it's not holding me captive the way I'd like it to.

I received this book as a Christmas gift and didn't think I'd enjoy it since I hadn't been able to finish Ahab's Wife by the same author. However, I found I couldn't put this book down. I literally carried it with me to read in the car when accompanying others on errands the last week of December. Not only was the writing excellent, the characterizations held my interest, the historical details were fascinating, and the plot (even though I had an idea how it would turn out) was captivating. Reading this book made me curious to learn more about French and European history and more about Marie Antoinette and her life.

I wanted to read this book and hoped for the best from it. Ahab's Wife, the author's earlier work, was a deliciously different take on that icon,
Moby Dick. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Obviously this women can write, but I had to wade through five hundred words to find
Marie Antoinette, narrator and subject of this story both, learned very little from her life in the French court.

The book had no depth, just frilly sentences. Perhaps the woman had no depth either, but to spend five hundred odd pages on a plea of "I'm so shallow" does not make for good reading. There is no arc here of innocence turning to self-indulgence turning to self-denial. I found it hard to believe Marie Antoinette knew so little that she was shocked to find her people turned against her. It was not an overnight disinclination on the part of the peasantry.

Since the writer takes on such weighty subjects , we hope in her nexc effort she find a way to engage the reader with more than her light turn of phrase. Maybe a book half as long would have pleased me more. Or
maybe I should eat the cake, and forget the nourishment of the bread of good reading.

As a fan of Ahab's Wife,I found Sena Jeter Naslund's new book to be just as wonderful. She really knows how to bring historical figures to life and her descriptions of the lush environment Marie A. is surrounded are incredibly rich,like a chocolate torte.

With the new Sofia Coppola MA movie coming up,there'll more interest in Marie Antoinette and this book should be a delightful fictional companion for it.