Customer Reviews

The Secret Life of Josephine: Napoleon's Bird of Paradise

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I will agree with the other reviewers who said this book had a lot of sex in it. In fact it seemed like the book should have been entitled the Secret Sex life of Josephine. Personally, I didn't mind all the sex in the book, but the overall plot, and lack of interesting characters is what doomed this book for me.

I thought the character of Josephine was a little flat. I didn't feel sorry about her situation, though I did feel sorry about her horrible teeth. The Josephine in the novel had no spark, and was dull.

Napoleon seemed whiney, nervous and not what I pictured him to be. Maybe this is how he was in real life? I am unsure. But, if readers are expecting a strong Napoleon this is not the story for them.

The writing was decent enough, but the characters made this book dull. So much more could have been done with it. I'm sorry to say this is the worst historical fiction novel that I have read by Ms. Erickson.

Pass on this one, or loan it from your public library.

I have read the other two historical fiction books by Carolly Erickson, and found them entertaining. I was very much anticipating this latest book on Josephine B., because I found her to be intriguing and had read the Sandra Gulland trilogy. For me, after reading that trilogy, this book was almost painful to read. I never connected with Josephine, which is the whole point of writing novels in first person, in my opinion. Also, I found the history sketchy at best-- going to Russia to follow Bonaparte? You have got to be kidding me. Josephine was not only difficult to like, but she was also a bit of a hussy-- the entire book shows her with a million different lovers. I realize that Josephine was more than likely no prude, but the book makes her out to be a prostitute.

If you enjoyed Sandra G's trilogy about Josephine, don't pick up this book. It is not well researched, lacks an endearing protagonist, and belongs in the erotic literature section of the bookstore.

I understand that Erikson is trying only to write a novel...However, I thought that her story skewed to far from the actual events of Josephine's life. The real story has enough drama and interest to be written as a novel. Erikson's story is too off base. Also, if you are pro-Napoleon, this would not be the book for you. Sandra Gulland writes a more accurate description, but, remember, Gulland's series are also novels, too. Gulland's accounts are highly researched and gives Josephine a better reputation. If you are really interested in the topic, do your own research on authoritative resources. Leave Erikson's book to the "pure fiction" realm.

This book has little to no relationship with historical fact, except that it appears Erickson once-upon-a-time read a general life-and-times biography of Josephine and decided that the characters were too complex, the time period too interesting and the mentions of Josephine's love affairs weren't explicit and boring enough.

Thus, this travesty of a novel was vomited forth into hardback.

I cannot begin to say how truly awful this book was. I hated it. I hated every historical inaccuracy, I hated every character Erickson introduced and I hated the fact that an intelligent, politically astute, clever woman was reduced to Miss Look-Who-I-Slept-With (which is apparently most of Europe). There was so much more to Josephine than the fact that she had sex! Unfortunately, Erickson either doesn't believe so, or feels that a complex emotional, spiritual and/or intellectual inner life makes for boring reading. Ditto with historical fact. Who cares how Napoleon's Grande Armee, the largest military force Europe had ever seen, met with disaster in Russia if there isn't sex involved?

And then, there is her godawful Napoleon. This is a man who is still revered as a hero, who inspired the poorest, worst-supplied army in Europe to capture Italy from the supposedly unbeatable Austrian forces, who created an entire legal system, who seized control of France when he was only thirty and whose army was so devoted they turned on Louis XVIII to support Napoleon at Waterloo. You'd be surprised by that if your only knowledge of the Napoleonic era came from this awful excuse for historical fiction. Napoleon is truly hateful and amazingly stupid. Though he hates Josephine (this from a man who, according to his generals, worshiped his wife, and whose existing letters are embarrassingly explicit) and grows to loathe her over the course of the novel, he bows to her every whim. God alone knows why, since this Josephine was one of the most unappealing characters I've had the misfortune to read. She is flat, one-dimensional, boring, and so annoying I lost sympathy for her before she got raped (which is just one of many "what the hell?" moments for anyone with a passing acquaintance with the historical time period or personnages).

I would like to give this novel no stars for not only failing to be even accidentally historically accurate, but also failing to have any of the conventional traits of fiction, like, well-rounded, interesting characters, a compelling plot, wit, intelligence or proof of the author's basic literacy. What was the point of writing a prologue displaying that she had, in fact, done research, when absolutely NONE of it made it into the book?

I was looking forward to a lively historical biography, but found this book to have an adolescent obsession with sexual coupling over personal interaction. From the enigmatic ragged boy who first deflowers her to the grimy prison liasons; from the bawdy post-Terror celebrations to the pitiful efforts to remain young in a decadent Royal Court, Josephine is all about the sex. Where is the highly intelligent Josephine who deftly used her wits (in addition to her body) to rise above her precarious situation to become the melancholy Empress of France? Even Napoleon is one-dimensional here. The novel resembles nothing more than a hyped-up Harlequin Romance.

In her "A Note to the Reader" the author does mention that she isn't going for historical accuracy here. In the same note she makes references (Hippolyte Charles, etc.) to show she has done some research, and goes on to explain that the intent of this book is "historical entertainment" and not to create a "historical novel"

Having said that (user sighs) I appreciate the idea, but really disliked the implementation... it just didn't "do" it for me. Like many readers, I had to force myself to finish it. (And I only managed *that* by constantly repeating, "Any resemblance between the fictional characters depicted herein and any real persons living or deceased who bear the same names is totally accidental.")

Josephine, as mentioned in previous reviews, is an uninteresting, unsympathetic character. What *anyone* sees in her is hard to tell. (Oh, wait, she does mention having large breasts; that must be it ;-) After a couple of chapters I hit the point of not caring what happened to her... not a good start. Napoleon (believe it or not) fares even worse. He hates her early on, and loathes her by the end (and since the story is told from her point of view, one starts to wonder what she did -and didn't bother reporting to her reader- that made him feel that way). *He* is basically smelly, neurotic, sadistic, cruel, homicidal, and easily lead by the woman he can't stand the sight of. She's boring beyond words. The Perfect Couple.

(I suppose that someone who loves romance novels, and either isn't too familiar with the era and its famous characters or isn't bothered by Extreme Deviations might enjoy this book. And I use "might" loosely.)

If you absolutely have to read this, go to your local library. I'm donating my copy to mine, so at the very least it won't occupy shelf space at home.

(And where'd she come up with the "Bird of Paradise" tag... did she change the plot-line after that was written???? No signs of paradise in the relationship depicted in this book.)

Those who read this book, expecting some good, historical fiction will be sorely disappointed, which undoubtedly accounts for the book's many negative reviews here on Amazon. Historical fiction this book is not, as it contains but a smattering of fact, embellished with a good deal of fiction and quite a bit of romance. This is really a historical romance and would probably meet with more favor were the author to stop dancing around the reality of what her book is. Calling it historical entertainment just does not cut it, as those expecting historical fiction will be disappointed and those who love historical romance will not even know about the book.

Once I got over the issue that the use of facts was thin and fiction and romance predominated, I was able to find the book mildly entertaining, just not my cup of tea. The book details Josephine's rise to fame and fortune, her romantic encounters along the way, and her relationship with Napoleon, painted here as a total nut job with Josephine as his bird of paradise. This is a book that only those who greatly enjoy the historical romance genre would love, as it is short on history and long on romance.

I try not to write a review until I've finished a book or movie, but sometimes I do because it's awful.

I picked this book up at Target because it looked pretty interesting. I normally don't read historical fiction, but the prologue drew me in.

I am far from completing this book and I'm not sure if I'll be able to force myself to finish it. Like everyone already has said, it is full of sex and not much else. So far the plot is thin and Josephine has no real personality yet.

In fact, the book brushed lightly on her getting raped while still living on the island, but she welcomed it and is so non-chalant about it. I don't know. I just find that really strange. It was glossed over and didn't seem real.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an interesting take on Josephine. I feel you would be really disappointed.

While I haven't read much historical fiction, I do recommend you check out the young adult series by Libba Bray that starts with A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) as well as Walkabout by James Vance Marshall.

It is unfortunate that this author has taken the life of one of the world's most interesting women and reduced it to the level of a second rate romance novel. There is no attempt to adhere to historical accuracy and little evidence that any substantive research was done on any of the characters involved.

Josephine is depicted as little better than a common trollop, Napoleon is turned into an unfeeling monster. The author is badly in need of some guidance in making characters more than one dimensional. It is a sad commentary that the reader is left without the ability to develop some empathy for any of the extremely flawed individuals depicted in this unfortunate work.

It is also a shame is that a publisher would consent to put a work that is this flawed on the market. Needless to say, I will avoid both author and publisher in making future purchases.

What is it with historical nonfic writers thinking they can write fiction??? Is everyone so hot to jump on the Boleyn Girl bandwagon?

This book was crap. There is absolutely no growth in the character of Josephine even though the books covers almost all of her life, she seems that same silly 15-year-old throughout her thirties, forties, and beyond. The dialogue is appalling, the characters one-dimensional, and the plot ludicrous.