Customer Reviews

The Lonely Empress: Elizabeth of Austria

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Good book, easy reading. Reader will learn a big part of Elisabeth of Austria's life. Historical content is pretty accurate although I find that the author is interpreting to much the state of mind of the subject like the French Book by Nicole Avril "Sissi, Imperatrice Anarchiste". No one will ever know exactly was "Sissi" was thinking. The assomptions prevent the readers from making their own mind about this lovable princess. In my opinion the straightforward story of her life and the historical facts will give them a better idea of who she was. Golden Fleece and Sissi by Edgar C. Conti are perfect to learn more on Elisabeth of Austria...

I have read many biographies of Elisabeth of Austria, and I was fed up with the fawning descriptions of a misunderstood beauty. I was so glad to find this book. Ms. Haslip describes the empress as a real person, beautiful but spoiled and unwilling to do her job. The evil stepmother-like mother in law is much more believable as described in this book. If she was so awful why was she so close to Elisabeth's mother? Elisabeth is a woman full of contradictions and is described well. The only thing that still aggravates me is that no author will name the mysterious illness that caused the rift from her husband. I wish that they would stop dancing around the issue and just name it!

Overall, this is a very fair assessment of the empress and her family, and describes her better than any I have read. I wish there were more pictures.

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I was somewhat reluctant to first start reading The Lonely Empress because, from the some of the biographies I've read (but certainly not all!), they tend to start out interesting but then become dull and boring. It usually takes a talented author to write a biography on a boring royal. But even an unskilled author would have no trouble about sounding fascinating if their subject matter was Elisabeth of Austria.

Born a mere daughter of a duke in Bavaria, Elisabeth had a fairytale (ish) romance. The emperor of Austria, Francis Joseph, was already engaged to Elisabeth's sister Helen when he fell in love with her. All of a sudden, to everyone's surprise, the Emperor started to rant about the grace and beauty of this younger sister, much to the dismay of his mother, the archduchess Sophie, who thought that Helen would become the perfect empress.

Elisabeth was still a child when she became engaged to the Emperor. Suddenly, she wasn't allowed to run wild, like she had been when she was younger. Elisabeth had been known to skip her lessons and go out riding for hours. She inherited her father's peculiarity and was known to be her happiest when surrounded by less than royal people. Her father, Duke Max, was renowned for his strangeness. He was known to travel the Bavarian countryside to escape his duties and delighted in circuses. The poor Duchess Ludovica, Elisabeth's mother, must have had a terrible time with her daughter and equally childish husband. Because of her strangeness and wild country ways, the Viennese court look down upon Elisabeth.

What makes this book more interesting is how the author has portrayed Elisabeth. She doesn't try to make her into a selfish, spoiled woman yet she doesn't spend the whole book describing her flawless beauty. Elisabeth seems to be a difficult topic to write about. As many people who have met the Empress say about her throughout the book, "She could be quite charming when she wanted to be. Yet she could also become cold and haughty."

Elisabeth has you admiring her at times, like when she tries to help the Hungarian people regain their Constitution, and at other times hating her, the way she treated her husband and children, the woman whose husband spent fortunes building her three homes around Europe and who still wasn't grateful or satisfied. This woman traveled to countries far away so she could escape her duties as an Empress and her husband.

But one feels for Elisabeth at how much misfortune she had dealt with in her life. She seems to be a caged bird, she seems to have those natures that cannot be trapped or caged. She needed wide spaces so she can spread her wings. The author portrayed Elisabeth excellently and made the book an enjoyable read.

I was dreading that this book would be like all other's in that it would portray Elizabeth as a poor little spoiled, mis-understood rich girl. It didn't and I found that very refreshing.
My only critism of this book is that there is only one occasion when the author translated the french, german, russian, etc. quotes that were used and I found that mildly annoying as I don't speak or read any of those languages.
Overall a very good book!

I first learned about Sissi during my senior year of high school when my German teacher had a connection with someone in the international airline biz and could get her students back issues of German magazines like "Der Spiegel" and "Gala." I grabbed an issue of Gala and there was the most enchanting woman on the cover. It turned out to be Romy Schneider and the magazine was celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sissi's death.

I was utterly FASCINATED, reading about her life, her beauty cult, her self-abusive trials with anorexia and bulimia, her marriage to the emperor, and so forth.

A few years later, I got the chance to study abroad in Austria and hat the opportunity to visit actual historical Sissi-related sites.

When I got back to the US for my senior semester of college, I took a women's studies course and did a paper of the Austro-Germanic Beauty Cult surrounding Empress Elisabeth of Austria. This, along with my personal experiences in Austria and Hamann's book, provided me with a plethora of information about Elisabeth.

But what made me truly appreciate this book was the way that the author presented the material. This book read like a novel. I feel that Haslip provided a very well rounded amount of historical material that doesn't feel one-sided (very pro-Elisabeth or focusing solely on how beautiful she was).

If you're interested in a different "princess story," this empress will captivate you!

I really enjoyed this book, there was only a minor matter which rather annoyed me. I wonder why nobody seems to have taken the trouble of checking the proper spelling of all those European names?
As a native speaker of both German and Hungarian, I was quite
distracted by reading Gödollo instead of Gödöllő, to name just one of many blunders.
Crenneville sometimes becomes Grenneville, Marie Vetsera turns into a Mary, Maria Theresia is always Maria Theresa, robbed of an i, the Ballhausplatz is shortened into Ballplatz, and while Hapsburg is not exactly wrong, it was apparently never used officially - and you don't often come across it even in Austria.
Perhaps in future editions someone might provide corrections? I think the book is worth it.

Prior to visiting Vienna last summer, I hadn't known much about Elizabeth of Austria or Sissi as she was often called. Seeing Schonbrunn and the Hofburg made me curious to learn more about her, and this book certainly makes for interesting reading. The author provides details not only about Elizabeth and her family, but also about the politics of the day. Elizabeth comes across as a study in contrasts: on the one hand, she could be very charming and gracious, on the other hand she appears to have been fundamentally self-centered and unsuited for the duties of an Empress. Wrapped up in her own pursuits, obsessed by the thought of gaining weight, growing old and losing her beauty, she was restless, possessive and prone to depression. At the end of the book, I felt much more sympathy for the Emperor Franz Joseph who loved Sissi to her dying day, despite the many separations he endured that were caused by her constant wandering around Europe and despite her unwillingness or inability to perform the duties traditionally expected of an Empress. Overall, this is a well-written biography, and my only caveat would be that Haslip sometimes makes allusions, for example regarding Elizabeth's illness, that are not fully explained which can be frustrating for the reader.

I ordered this as a used book and it was in excellent condition. Very prompt delivery and no problems. Enjoyed reading about her life and family matters
and learned so much about the times in which she lived. Would even consider reading this again as it was so compelling.

book was in unbeliveable condition much better than expected, book was like new and shipped upon request, thanks

The writer has done a lot of historical research, which is nice. Nevertheless this book is far from objective in it's perceptions of Sisi, the emperor Franz Joseph and the archduchess Sophie. The writer seems to have made up her mind that Sisi is mentally ill and Franz Joseph never wrong (even when he starts cheating on his wife Sisi, the writer comments that it is Sisi's own fault for" lack of passion"...? How in the world does this writer state these so called facts, things that really only Sisi's lover(s) could have known, remains utterly without explanation.

It is sad, that in this day and age a woman would write with so little understanding of female struggles in the patriarchical world of the court of Franz Joseph. SIsi's struggle to at least be able to take care of her own children are certain proof of her selfishness, according to this author.
The author's opinion (which accounts for at least half of the pages of this book...at least it seems like it), is mostly biased, and oftentimes contradictory.
Even though I was highly interested in the historical facts I could only get halfway through the book, thanks to the author's personal interpretations.
I had to throw it away...