Customer Reviews

The Last of the Duchess

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

 

 

The long coda to the life of one of the twentieth century's most famous (infamous?) figures was played out in a French villa in an atmosphere of secrecy and intrigue that was at times bizarre. This book is extremely sharply written and is a reminder that the gothic mode is not the exclusive preseve of either fiction or the nineteenth century.

This was a truly bizarre, and sad, story of the final days of this larger-than-life woman. Maitre Blum was a woman obsessed by, and in love with, the Duchess. The amount of control M. Blum held, and the ferocity with which she held on to it are truly scary forces to see. As a follow-up to the death of the Duchess, read the essay in Dominick Dunne's collection about the disposition of her estate by the hand of M. Blum.

This book is a mystery novel, journalist's feature story and biography all in one. Telling the story through the author's attempts to uncover the truth surrounding Wallis' life after the death of the Duke keeps the suspense-level high. It grabbed my interest and held it to the end. If you are at all interested in the Windsors' story, this book completes the story of Wallis' life and gives a few more details about their lives that previous books have not.

Not too much else to say -- this is a great book written by a great writer. I had just read her daughter's memoir, "Why Not Say What Happened," and thought I would dip-in to something that Lady Caroline had written. I will seek out her other books to read as well.

Only read this book if you have a strong stomach. I'm only on page forty nine but having discovered that Wallis Windsor's "humor" included finding a lover who literally placed his genitals on a table in a room full of people, all I can think "My God! A king of England actually gave up the throne for this person? And a Nazi at that? What for?!" Frankly, I was horrofied. I thought it made Jim Carey look like he had class after reading as much as I have of the spectacle that was her even before she came under Maitre Blum's control. I plan to finish the book, but I really don't know why.

this story is an investigation as to how the Duchess of Windsor was treated in her last years and the lawyer employed to look after and look out for her, but along the way you find out details of her life, well written

This book was checked out of the library by mistake...having mixed it up with another book. I tried to read this and just had to ask myself "why am I bothering?" And why did Caroline Blackwood waste her time in "researching" this book and tracking down former friends of Wallis Simpson who, if they were still alive, were not very willing to talk and usually couldn't remember much anyway. The time period of the book is after the duke's death and her last days in Paris as a widow carefully guarded by her French attorney. It is the attorney who is really at the center of the book and quite a nasty bit of work by all accounts. Still, this is a most tedious read about very uninteresting people. I gave up about 25% through. Your mileage my vary.

I slogged through this book to the end, thinking to find a mystery revealed or a message of import shared. In that sense, the book was successful. But nothing was revealed, and no important message was shared; just a bleak litany of human weakness, banality and parasitism. The author herself - and her sponsoring newspaper or magazine, and the photographer - became collaborators in the alleged exploitation of the Duchess of Windsor.