Customer Reviews

La Reine Margot (Oxford World's Classics)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a lesser known Dumas novel than, say, the Count of Monte Christo. But it is just as good as the others he did: vivid personalities, attention to detail, and fabulously intricate plots. It tells the story of Margot and her marriage to the King of Navarre, an ambitious Hugenot in constant danger of assassination. With the backdrop of the religious wars, she finds love in a knight that she attempts to cloister from the dangers of court intrigue. It ends in tragedy, hope, and the promise of further adventure.

Based on available historical sources at the time and embellished with Dumas' unique sense of drama, it is a spectacular read, full of danger, sudden developments, and psychological depth. While it may not be as deep as Stendhal's best works, it is absolutely first rate as a historical novel, a genre that Dumas helped to develop. It stimulates the reader's desire to plung more deeply into French history as well.

High recommendation.

This is one of my favorite novels by Dumas. Spellbinding to the end, it follows young Margot and her power-hungry family from the St. Bartholemew's Day Massacre to King Louis' death. Dumas is at his finest, rivaling The Count of Monte Cristo with his provoking prose and poetic descriptions. The characters and plot, based loosely on real figures and events in French history, evoke a variety of emotions in the reader and the final chapters leave one breathless. If you plan on reading any book by Dumas (besides the Count), read THIS one.

La Reine Margot is a fascinating read -- one of Dumas' more serious and complex work, with more depth and plot twists and more gray areas in character portraits than his those in his other novels. Although some of the story has been changed from historical fact (with some of Dumas' own interpretation and value-judgment), Dumas manages to weave fact, drama and fiction together very well with his characteristic details in the lifestyle and protocols of the period. The fact that his heroine (Queen Margot) and hero (the King of Navarre)both have character ambiguities only make them all the more believable as human beings. At the same time,Dumas never fails to remind us that bearing the heavy burden of being a reluctant king and queen, they need these ambiguities to survive -- and we can't help but admire their greatness. Anyone who likes Dumas' other works and historical fiction will love this book! After this, perhaps readers should see the french movie La Reine Margot starring Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil etc. (not the other way round!)

Just so you know: the Oxford World Classics edition of LA REINE MARGOT is abridged. Oxford "justifies" the abridged version by saying it's the best known, but I think if MARGOT were as popular as THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, Oxford would spend the extra money to give it to us in full. I understand things like Readers Digest condensing books for the masses, but shouldn't something as scholarly as Oxford World Classics give us the real thing? What about Dumas fans who want to read his stories they way he wrote them? Most Dumas readers aren't afraid of long books, especially if they've read MONTE CRISTO or VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE(which is almost TWICE as long as MONTE CRISTO). Unfortunately, the unabridged version seems only available in French. But I'm a biggish Dumas fan, so I read Oxford's abridged MARGOT rather than nothing. It's great, Great, GREAT, but a shadow hung over the entire book making wonder what I was missing. What Dumas-esque character moments did I miss? What details?

This is a Historical novel that takes place in France, in the XVIth century. There's a very very bad black widow -as a matter of fact, black mother as well this is Catherine of Médicis-, a beautiful and amorous young queen married to somebody she does not love but with whom she forms an alliance just in order not to be a widow herself and go to a convent, a romantic heroe, his true friend -who sometimes loves him a little bit too much and a bunch of intriguers. Alexandre Dumas, in his newspaper serial style - this novel was first published that way-, interweave different stories aboiding boring descriptions and getting to the point: quick dialogue, short chapters, attractive characters, and everything to catch you from the first page, which he achieves. It really is a page turner, with several love stories that never goes with marriage and several marriages that never goes with love but with alliances. I have read that some United States reviewers are a bit confused because of the historical part and that's a problem unless you know European History or have a book with comments and notes. If you end the book and want to know what happened afterwards, read British Enciclopedia or something like that, because all characters are historical, even the Romantic hero La Mole and his friend. To those that have seen the 1990s French movie, you have the advantage of imagining the whole story with the beautiful faces of Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Perez, and the great soundtrack and spectacular staging from his director, which reminds of an opera. To those who doesn't I'd say go to your videoclub and try to find it!! It's not a substitute but a perfect complement.

I adore this book; but then, I adore most of the work of Alexandre Dumas. This is a fabulous work of historical fiction; Dumas' roots as an actual historian are displayed here. The history is not quite accurate-- romance and drama were obviously the author's priorities this time-- but is close enough to help high school students nail European history exams. Trust me on this one.

The characters are vibrant (especially Margot, which is something of a surprise because Dumas' female characters are not as often sympathetic as are his male characters); the plot is intricate; and the adventure and emotion run high. Margot is daughter, sister, and wife to kings of France, so you know that a great deal of intrigue will be present as well.

I have a small complaint about the translation. Sometimes the translator's decision to leave a word in French or translate it seems arbitrary. Additionally, sometimes a badly chosen English word interrupts the flow of the story. However, this minor annoyance should not dissuade anyone from reading a truly thrilling five-star book.

First of all, the Kindle French-language edition seems okay at first glance: the French accents are correctly placed, which is not true of the French accents in Christie's MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. There it's a minor annoyance because there's little French in the book; here it would be devastating, but the French seems perfect.

Dumas fans know that he wrote four great books OR SERIES: The Count of Monte Cristo, a stand-alone; The Three Musketeers series, of which Twenty Years After is actually the best, though lots of readers don't get to it; The Reine Margot series, whose great character Chicot the Jester has a book of his own which is also better than the first book in the series, La Reine Margot; and The Memoirs of a Physician series. These series are gigantic. Dumas himself said The Three Musketeers was the best, and The Count of Monte Cristo didn't quite live up to it. Most readers think they're equally good. The other two series are of similar excellence, and Dumas fans know it.

Dumas worked with collaborators who did ninety percent of the writing. This kind of writing factory is still in existence today, of course. It matters how good his collaborators were, and in these four series they were all excellent. His other 400 (!!!) volumes are not as good -- but the four top series alone add up to about fifty modern novels in length.

The previous review was right on the money. Having said that I will add that, not being 100% fluent in French, I thought I would have a tough go of it at the beginning, with all the Msr. & M., but I found it to be a spellbinding tale of intrigue and historical significance set in a time when civility even applied to one's worst enemy.

It's 1572 and in an effort to ease tensions between the Catholics and the Huguenots Henry III King of Navarre is married to Marguerite de Valois (Margot). Shortly after the marriage the Huguenots are slaughtered at the order of Charles IX and his mother Catherine de Medicis on Saint Bartholomew's Day. Catherine is also bent on destroying Henry as her astrologer has foretold that her three sons will die and Henry of Navarre will rule France through the Bourbon line. Margot's dashing lover La Mole and his compatriot Coconnas are our two heroes and their fates weave in and out of the lives of the French Court.

Outside of that, this is really too difficult of a storyline to describe unless I wanted to write a book report and give it all away, and you know I don't do that. In typical Dumas fashion and flair La Reine Margot overflows with treachery, intrigue, hidden staircases and doors, poison, murder plots, gallant heroes and best of all - Catherine de Medici is the most deliciously over the top villainess I have come across in a long time. What fun! Despite a very difficult start trying to grasp the political complexities and characters, by the halfway mark I was rocking along and had a hard time keeping my nose out of it.

While I loved it to bits, just be warned if you are new to Dumas this is probably not the book for you - the first few chapters will frustrate you so much you'll never want to try him again. I'd try The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers first. The Oxford Classics addition has a very helpful forward and character notes in the back - but be careful reading too much or you'll pick up a nasty spoiler or two.

I would like to respond to these people commenting on whether these Oxford edtions are abridged or not. I just picked up a copy of the Oxford-"Count of Monte Cristo". And yes, the editor, this David Coward owns to the fact that some of it is missing, he also mentions that chapters are REARRANGED!!!! Which I find mind blowing. Coward is a Brit who apparently is a scholar of French literature. I did not know La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) has some cuts too. This is a tad disappointing. I think it is a little funny how Oxford has resurrected all these old translations of Dumas' novels. The editions do not even say who the translator is. Or they are "anonymous". They are like old hardback editions you could find in a used bookstore. And they are from the nineteenth century. Going back to "The Count of Monte Cristo", I intend now to buy the Penguin version translated by Robin Buss; and see exactly what is what. Having faith the Penguin edition is a more complete edition.