Customer Reviews

The Emperor's Last Island: Journey to St.Helena

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is not easy to classify  part biography, part memoir, part essay. After Napoleons final defeat at Waterloo, the British exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he lived the few remaining years of his life. This book, written in the early 1990s, consists of the author's sensitive and insightful musings on Napoleons life and death on the island, the relations between him and others in that most unnatural setting and those most unnatural circumstances, the history of St. Helena, the world of Napoleonic studies, the author's visit to St. Helena, and much else. The book is very elliptical and personal, and is perhaps best described as an extended meditation by Blackburne on life and human relationships as displayed in these events. Hard-core Napoleon fans and others looking for a straightforward narrative are likely to be disappointed (though I suspect that more insight into Napoleon's character can be gleaned from this book than from any more prosaic narrative). The book will appeal to readers who enjoy an intimate conversation with a thoughtful woman who, taking as her point of departure the unique and timeless spectacle at the core of the book, has much to say about all of us.

I have dined off his fine china and watched him play with the children of his initial host on the island. I have been transported through time and space, a reaction I have had only rarely. Ms. Blackburn has created a reality worthy of attention. The aura of the house, the luminosity of Napoleon's complexion and the thinking of his English overseers are only a part of that reality. The prose is clear and compelling. The past, the natural history of St. Helena and Ms. Blackburn's present day doings complement one another. On the map, St. Helena is as much "in the middle of nowhere" as any place on earth. And Ms. Blackburn makes going there an enlightening journey.

This is a beautifully written book, not in any poetic sense, but in the sense of being readable and thoroughly interesting. I feel that I personally have visited St Helena and viewed the remains of the places visited and lived in by Napoleon during his exile until his death. EXCELLENT!!!!

Julia Blackburn, a finalist for this year's Orange Prize, has
crafted a luminous meditation on Napoleon's final exile to the distant
island of St. Helena. Not just a book for history buffs, "The Emperor's
Last Island" combines travelogue, natural history, and Blackburn's
thoughts on the weight of the past and the corrosive effects of
isolation. The writing contained in this slim volume is simply
beautiful - limpid, direct, evocative. For all who admire the
gentle art of the essay, this book should not be ignored.

This must have been a difficult book to write. For one, the sadness that permeates the last years of Napoleon's life on Saint Helena does not lend itself to crafting a particularly engaging story. There is also the island itself, where the author spent 4 weeks with her family, and which she describes as a melancholy place located as far as can be from anywhere on earth. Julia Blackburn undoubtedly didn't want to stray far from her subject, that is, the Emperor's exile on the island. Nevertheless, I feel that she could have written a more detailed - and therefore a more interesting account- of his incarceration. For instance, she does not mention that Napoleon's body was brought back to France at the request of King Louis-Philiippe, a detail that I think is meaningful. I also found her description of "Napoleon's coffin [which] stands like a huge shiny lump of moulded chocolate" out of place, irreverent even. (The coffin is dark red porphyry carved to look like a sarcophagus). As a previous reviewer pointed out, she also made a few serious historical mistakes. I commend her for her effort (particularly for traveling to that remote island) but all in all, the book is disappointing.

I was enchanted by Julia Blackburn's wonderful account of Napoleon's last years at St. Helena. In fact, if ever I visit St. Helena, it will be because of this book. It is beautifully written, full of fascinating details that were footnoted in situ. For example, Napoleon had a sort of miniature tea house, and turned to gardening in his later years. It was a book much more interested in Napoleon's diminished end, rather than the conspiracy and poison theories. Blackburn also weaves in details from her personal life, but, far from being irrelevant, they contrast and reveal much about the theme of exile and mortality. Oh, how I loved this book! I did not want it to end. I felt the endless winds sweeping down the plain, saw the mold creeping up the Chinoiserie wallpaper, held the satin that covered the emperor's face. Thanks to Ms. Blackburn's beautiful writing, I felt I was "there" through all of his exile.

It took great determination to finish this book, so un-enchanting was it. As noted in another review, the chapters on the earliest history of the island were interesting, but it all changed when Napoleon came on the scene. Dull dull dull. Worse, there was a curious detachment from the unfolding story. The self-indulgent "meditations" that began each chapter were poor metaphors, and have the effect of keeping the reader distant from the unfolding events of Napoleon's captivity. I felt as if I were standing far back, watching puppets or actors. At various points where an emotional reaction would perhaps be elicited, it seemed like the author would twirl slowly around and do a little "oh me oh my" with some flowers in her hair. I suspect she was simply not writing for people like me. If you are overwrought and preternaturally sensitive, this could be your kind of book. It fails as history. One gets the feeling that she wrote this book just to kill time in her own life. Only if you are interested in what life is like on an incredibly remote rock in the middle of the ocean, or in the astonishing rapidity with which humans can destroy an ecosystem, would I recommend this book, and so it gets two stars for that. Would it have killed the publishers to include a map or a diagram of the house? Sheesh.

I read with fascination the details on Napoleon's last exile. But the historical erros threw me off. He arrived on St. Helena in 1815, not 1814. His birthday was August 15th, not August 17th. His second wife's name was Marie Louise, not Marie Teresa. With all these easily confirmed facts in error, I wonder what else is inaccurate.

Julia Blackburn's meditation on St. Helena is beautifully written but nearly as dull as Napoleon's years in exile. The early chapters about Fernando Lopez were quite the best thing in the book -- after that, I wondered why the author had wasted her prodigious talents on material this boring. I also found her "personal" insights grating! It was truly a struggle to finish this one.

A "magically idiosyncratic collage of history, biography and travel writing" (The Times), Blackburn's book touched me very deeply. Her portrayal of Napoleon, one of the mightiest and most famous men of history, as a fat, pale, short middle-aged man condemned to live out his life in loneliness, boredom, absurdity, and despair (and great physical pain in the end) makes for compelling reading. However, other portions of the book were to me equally touching: the story of Fernando Lopez, a Portugese nobleman condemned to torture and disfigurement, and finally self-imposed exile on the island for a treasonous crime, who (with the help of gifts) transformed St. Helena into an oasis of extraordinary lushness and beauty; the savaging and disfigurement of the island in later ages; the quietly awful decline that holds sway over it today. Blackburn weaves personal childhood and travel anecdotes into her story, lending it a further poignancy and immediacy. Beautifully done!