Customer Reviews

Gardener to the King : A Novel

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This is a very slight book, both in size and in content. The Gardener creates the food that the King and his followers thoughtlessly consume. One works outside with nature. The other feasts inside his glorious castles. Only one of the two can ultimately survive. The book is more of a collection of anecdotes about Gardener and King than a straightforward novella. It lacks depth.

Mystery: The original French version has 191 pages. This English translation has only 116 pages. What happened? Somebody should 'fess up.

Mr. Frederic Richaud delivers a surprisingly insightful look in the Court of Louis XIV in a remarkably brief piece. "Gardener To The King", proves that quantity has no relation to the quality of the specific information shared, or the talented pen that created the whole.

If you like gardening imagine being able to supply the food for 1,000 guests for a single event! Imagine that the number you can feed grows to a multiple of the originally astronomic figure. The Gardens At Versailles serves as a wonderful metaphor for the time and the excess of this Monarch's reign. The tale also shows the unbridgeable gap that can exist between those that create as opposed to those who just admire the whole or consume its parts.

Jean Baptiste de La Quintinie may be the gardener to the King, however that is a factor that is eventually proved meaningless to this gifted man. Jean has his beliefs as to why his work is important and should be valued, yet when there are events at the King's Table he is known for disappearing if he arrives at all. He eventually comes to sit at the King's right hand for an evening that showcases his work for the unmatched triumph that it is. His skills are confirmed yet again as having no parallel.

So why an ending that will surprise? One man's art in the end is a meal or side dish to thousands. That he is celebrated across Europe may or may not sustain him. Mr. Richaud delivers a wonderful historically based piece with value in every sentence.