Customer Reviews

Josephine: A Life of the Empress

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

On the whole, I found this biography to be rich with detail and historical accuracies. It was an entertaining read and I recommend it to anyone who likes to read history. However, I found that Erickson was a little too biased in her position on the Empress; I felt as though I were reading a fluffed-up account of her life, to the point where the reader has no choice but to see her as an angel in a den of thieves--and she was hardly an angel. Erickson asserts that she knows the Empress well enough to make assumptions as to how she felt, or what she was thinking. It is also obvious that the author has a bias against Napoleon and her relationship with him. If the reader had no previous knowledge of their relationship, he would be confused. Erickson says on the one-hand how miserable Josephine was over her marriage to him, yet is mad with jealousy within the next few pages. There is no real development of their relationship. The authors feelings for her subject come through a bit too stong for my taste.

By and large I prefer an unvarnished, streight forward history to an interpretive one, and Erickson's "Josephine, A Life of the Empress," is a little history with a lot of personal interpolation. I did however enjoy the book; it makes an interesting read, and pulls the reader along with the dash of a romance novel. Rose Tasher, the daughter of a failing suger plantation owner in Martinique, is pulled along by the forceful currents of her times, like a cork bobbing along in a stream. Her gift for self promotion and a flare for diplomacy carried her from a futureless life on the tropical island of her birth to a pampered if not terribly happy life as the Vicountess de Beauharnais, to that of independent courtisan, to wife of France's premire general Napoleon Boneparte, to Empress of France, and finally to honored icon of French nobility under the new Bourbon monarchy. She survived alive through the nightmarish years of the French Revolution, even escaping a death sentence after a long confinment in hellish circumstances during Robespierre's reign of terror. She did this through political connections she had cultivated earlier in her life. While her then estranged husband, Alexander, the Marquess de Beauharnais, who had been an active supporter of the revolution lost his head, essentially for his pedigree. From here on her talents for survival are tested to the limit by the shifting tides of political history. No matter what her position at any given time, Rose is able to make it safely to the winning side by virtue of having made influential friends willing to interceed for her during the turmoil and violence of each change in regime. Despite her relationship with Napoleon--at which time she assumes her new persona as Josephine--and her tenure as Empress, after his fall she is fortunate enough to be cultivated by the new monarchy as an icon of French nobility surviving the revolution. What is truely amazing, over and above her own survival of these times which spared no person and during which hardly a family in France had not lost several if not most members to the violence of each succeeding political change, is that she managed to keep her son and daughter alive and to promote their fortunes through her efforts. When one views the lady from the perspective of her times, one can hardly deny, even when one deducts for the creative license of the author, that Josephine Rose Tascher de Beauharnaise Boneparte was an amazing person.

Carrolly Erickson is a talented researcher and author, and her new biography on Empress Josephine is another very good read. I have a problem, however, with Erickson's habit of falling a little too much in love with some of her less admirable subjects. Josephine, while an exceptional character study, does not deserve the relentless emphasis Erickson places on her few redeeming qualities. Josephine was, in fact, a shallow and self-indulgent liar, swindler, whore, and manipulator extraordinaire. Although Erickson acknowledges these traits, she plays them down by repeatedly referencing Josephine's ingenuousness, compassion, and victim qualities, none of which are visible without Erickson's careful coaching. Erickson displayed this same oh-come-now-she's-not-so-bad-if-you'll-only-try approach with Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"). The book ended, appropriately, with Josephine's funeral. But I wanted to know what happened to her two children, Napolean's new wife, and even the loathsome Bonapart relatives. These were not peripheral characters; they were integral components of Josephine's life and a quick wrap-up sketch of each would have made the ending much more satisfying. I'm glad I read this book and recommend it to other biography and history lovers. Even so it's difficult to resist a spectacular kind of repugnance towards Josephine, notwithstanding Erickson's unfortunate and obvious urging to the contrary.

Double edged sword: Don't get me wrong, this was an excellent book for facts! I was impressed by the sheer volume of knowledge at Erickson's hand. However, I had picked up this book to expand on my knowledge of the Good Josephine after reading Sandra Gulland's Josephine (Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe, etc) series, and found that Erickson's well-rounded descriptions of Josephine differed from the romantic depiction Gulland offered. Either read Gulland's Josephine trilogy, OR this biography by Erickson, but don't read both. Individually, they are excellent, but they do not complement each other well.

Apparently the research on Josephine is flimsy, and so too is Erickson's characterization of the empress. She's vain, materialistic, none-too-bright, and appears to have a dental problem. That's about as deep as Erickson gets into her title lady. Disappointing mostly because I'd read Catherine the Great first, and was so impressed with the way Erickson made the people and the history so accessible and alive. I gave it a 3 because it was reasonably entertaining and I learned more about Napolean history here than all my college history classes. But don't count on gaining any great insights into the Empress.

To the people saying they were "impressed" with all the research Erickson has made in the writing of this book I suggest you go back to History class.

Indeed, this is more of a novel than a serious work of History. Erickson confuses dates, numbers and even names of places and people. For example she claims that Josephine was barely 5 feet tall. She obviously hasn't visited the museum dedicated to her at Malmaison where it is suggested, thanks to her dresses kept in exhibition, that the Empress was actually 5'4" tall, an inch taller than Napoleon.

Those are little details I know, but History is made of them, and I can tell you that this is NOT serious biography about Empress Josephine. I recommend you read the book by Andrea Stuart instead, or if you speak French, read the works by Bernard Chevallier, curator of the Malmaison Museum.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read the author's other novels, and they were equally enjoyable. She is specific, and does not base her research on any other premise but the truth. She does not push any one argument, but is successful at covering a wide range of issues, while bringing Josephine to life. It was scary at times how Erickson made the reader question whether or not Josephine was in the room. Great write, and great book.

I have read several historical biographies by Carolly Erickson, and enjoyed them. This one is no exception. It is easy to read and chock-full of historical information. I also recommend that if you can get your hands on copies of "To The Scaffold, The Life of Marie Antoinette" and "Mistress Anne, The Exceptional Life of Ann Boleyn," you definitely do so!

Reading biographies in general can be a tricky thing, they can be either too textbook and boring, or they can be very enjoyable. I must say that the latter is true for this book.

Carolly Erickson draws the reader into the life and very turbulent times of the French Revolution. It is amazing that Josephine became the Empress of France.

Josephine Bonaparte was a true surviver for her time, even growing up on a failing sugar cane farm on Martinique and later in France as a prisoner. Unlike many biographies that I have read, this one reads easy. What I mean there is a fluid way in which Erickson writes, drawing in the reader like any good fiction novelist. I quickly read this book, devouring every page.

I found this book empty. There is nothing new. The author does not appear to have an in-depth knowledge of the characters and circumstances she describes. The description of landscapes, gardens, cities, in France as well as in Italy, shows that the author borrowed her ideas from works from previous authors. Please read the book "Josephine" written by Andre Castelot and compare!