Customer Reviews

Queen Margot or Marguerite De Valois (Miramax Book)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alexandre Dumas pere was a master of story telling. If he was still living today he would definitely write some of the most popular television series. This is how this novel reads, as a TV series, and this is also how it was written, since it was first released in 2 page instalements in 19th century french daily newspapers. Every page ends in some sort of dillema or with an item a suspense. There is never a boring moment. Of course, even if this book is based on actual historical events, it cannot be considered a true rendition of what really happened. Nevertheless, Dumas succeeds in making his characters so alive, that you feel you are living through the intrigues with them. You feel what they feel. A true masterpiece of literature, in any language; and by the way, the book is a thousand times better than the movie.

If you have read this book and if you loved it like I did, I highly recommend the rest of the series. The Forty-five guardsman and Chicot the Jester follow this book in the history of the reign and fall of the Valois. Chicot is an amazing character. I recommend trying to locate these books. The Diamond Necklace also is about the fallen Valois just before the french revolution

I certainly would have given this book a 10 if it had not been for the horribly depressing ending. But besides that, this is a wonderful book. It's got everything a book could contain packed into it : love, murder, suspense, humor, mystery, horror, and tragedy. I doubt Alexandre Dumas has ever written a happy ending in his life!

The fantastic becomes real. This book has something for everyone. Romance, mystery, murder, history, intrigue, violence, and love.
A must for history buffs and romantics.- One you won't forge

I read this book in French two years ago, and then saw the film last year. As usual, the film does not do justice to the book.

Compared to "The 3 Musketeers" and "Count of Monte Cristo", this novel is clearly not the author's best work. However, there is compelling writing particularly at the beginning (the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre) and towards the end (the executions of the heros).

This story is required reading for Dumas fans who have finished his masterpieces.

When I started reading this book I thought it would be classic, boring, long story about some french queen - I was wrong. I could not stop reading it before I finishad. In my opinion every one who likes interesting books should read it. I am sure he will not regret it.

Buckle your seatbelts and prepare for a wild ride! "Queen Margot" is 542 pages of intrigue, plotting, treachery, doublecrossing, violence, and to sweeten the tone just a little, romance.

I am tempted to simply list a string of adjectives describing this book. Exhilarating. Gripping. Page turning. Suspenseful. You get the picture. It is an amazing piece of work. Yes, it is based on actual history- two plus years in the intrigue-filled history of France, from 1572 to 1574. Actual events which exciting in themselves, come to life even more thanks to the mastery of Dumas.

The story concerns Queen Margot of France, brother to then King of France Charles IX, and newlywed to King Henry of Navarre. The book starts off with their wedding, a supposed truce between the Catholic French and the Huguenot Navarre. The truce is a fake, however, and within days of the wedding, thousands of Huguenots are brutally slain in the streets of Paris, setting off the two years of deceit and treachery that Dumas details so thrillingly. Despite sharing no real love for each other, the Catholic Queen and her threatened Huguenot husband form a secret alliance, battling all manner of foe from the queen mother Catherine de Medicis, who wants King Henry dead, to the Queen's various brothers who each want the throne for themselves. There is an assassin, two hired renegade warriors, a perfumer who is also a poisoner, various women who serve as both lovers and conspirators, dukes who can't be trusted, executioners with hearts of gold, and a dozen more characters who come and go yet who Dumas somehow manages to never lose sight.

Blood is spilled, lies are told, plots are hatched and almost inevitably exposed, romance blossoms amidst the chaos, and despite the stereotypes which many of the characters inhabit (evil queen mother, incompetent King, sneaky spy, etc), Dumas never reduces them to those forms.

"Queen Margot" is a work of art by a storytelling master.

Several years ago I had come across an on-line entry of the book Margeurite de Valois. Since my family had been French Huguenot and had to flee France for Holland in the late 1500's, I had started reading it and enjoyed it immensely. Then, suddenly,I was no longer able to find it. Therefore, I was thrilled to find the book, Queen Margot, for sale on Amazon and, with the excellent summary provided, I realized it was the same story I had enjoyed. It tells the story of the French Queen, Margeurite, (Margot in the book), whose loyalties were in conflict between her mother, Catherine, and her husband Henri de Navarre. The story closely parallels actual French history at at time when men spent their days hunting or practising fencing etc. when not engaged in war, while women like Catherine plotted the murders of rivals to the crown, engaged in affairs and held lavish parties. The story is set in Paris mainly in the royal palace known as the Louvre, the royal palace we now know as the famous art gallery. It begins at the time of Queen Margot's marriage, the occasion which prompts the murder of a large number of Huguenots, gathered in Paris for the wedding of their Henri in St. Bartholomew, across from the Louvre. The massacre was orchestrated by the Queen mother, Catherine, who had previously poisoned the mother of Henri of Navarre. The book has been made into a movie and I look forward to seeing it.

I was excited to find this book. I had not heard of it before but "The Count of Monte Christo" is one of my all time favorites. Then seeing all of these positive reviews, and since the subject matter is of interest, I couldn't wait to dig in. I can still say that the subject is interesting. And I tried plugging along with it - the reason it gets 2 stars instead of 1 is that the story moves along quickly enough to hold one's interest. However, after about 150 pages I just couldn't go on.

This has got to be one of the worst translations ever! I don't know if all of these positive reviews are for this particular edition, but there is no credit for translation, and it's easy to see why. I don't speak French, but it seems as if someone who is not a writer did a straight translation from the French, without taking into account any of the idiom or sentence structure differences. And the constant repetition is soy annoying: everyone is always saying "ah, ah" at the beginning of their sentences. Another character says "mordi", whatever that means, at the beginning of everything he says. And words repeated as a sentence introduction, apparently to convey emphasis and excitement: "Well! Well!" "Go! Go!""Kill! Kill!" and so on, are just too annoying.

I don't have a problem with period dialog, especialy in a book written 150 years ago. But a translation needs to convey the intent and style of the writer, while making it understandable, and readable, in the language, and period, it is being translanted into. And it should be consistent with the period. Characters saying "thanks", mixed in with very archaic language forms everywhere else, just makes no sense.

It was all just too irritating and I didn't feel like I was reading something by Dumas. There are just too many great books out there - don't waste your time on this one.

Queen Margot is missing nothing. I read it after falling in love with the musketeer series, and was overjoyed to find that it was as good as the others.