Customer Reviews
Educates and enlightens while it entertains. - By: ncmc, 09 Jun 2008 
This is the first of Antonia Fraser's historical biographies that I have read & on the strength of it I have already bought her biography on Henry the Eighth & his six wives & I intend to buy more. I absolutely adored the way this book was written, she sets the scenein such a realistic way that you can almost hear the baying of the angry mobs & smell the stench of the prison where Marie spends the last of her days.
Some historical biographies get too bogged downin historical data, quoting endless facts, dates & figures until you feel your brain can hold no more. This is the perfect biographyin that it gives you the important information you needin order to understand the causes & effects of the revolution, yet the book never forgets the main subject which is Marie A herself. This book charts her course from a naïve, slightly uneducated child, pawnin her mother's imperial game into the most hated womanin all of France. This book succeedsin cutting through the gossip & anecdotes of the time, which haunt Marie A to this day, & gives her a human face. Yes she was flawed, butin this account we find some of the reasons behind her faults & ultimately come to see her as misguided rather than a bad person.
If this book has a flaw, it is that Antonia Fraser is maybe TOO sympathetic to Marie,in parts of the book you nearly feel like she is making excuses for all of Marie's bad behaviour rather than admitting when she was at fault. However this is the only flaw I could findin this book. Her descriptions of life at Versailles are truly stunning. I particularly enjoyed her description of the pomp & ceremony involved justin getting Marie dressed every morning! Overall, if you want a historical biography with flowing prose & true heart, then you will not find better than this one. I for one came away from the book with a new understanding of probably the most misunderstood womanin history.
Antonia Fraser dispels the myths - By: Michael Mukasa, 23 Jan 2008 A highly recommended book. Superb research, if a little one sided but still a very engaging book that takesin the queen's entire journey. The pace is slow to start but still captivating from chapter one. As a historical book, it sticks to the facts for the most part although with the supposed affair with the Swede Fersen, there is no proper evidence & the author seems to really wish it happened just as if it would make up for all the sadnessin the queen's life. As a story it is quite magnificent. What a life! And it captures that dignity to the very end. The only criticism is the real causes of the revolution are not put into proper context here to show that she died because of what she representedin the French people's eyes. Nevertheless, Marie Antoinette is redeemedin my eyes.
Excellent read - a little one sided. - By: G. Battrum, 17 Oct 2007 
I've recently become interestedin this periodin history & found this book very enjoyable. It was an excellent read, & although a "heavy" book I had no trouble getting through it. It tells a lovely story from Antoinette's point of view & I was left with a distinct dislike for the revolution. However, having read other texts, this book could leave you with a biased viewpoint as Antonia Fraser fails to explain the problemsin France that led to the Revolution. Although I enjoyed the book I was left with a slightly bitter tastein my mouth that made me feel I hadn't got the full picture. Enjoy the book but make sure you read the whole story some where else.
A convert - By: sfweston, 13 May 2005 Less than a year ago I wrote a review of this book, giving it 3*. A lot of what I said then still carries weight - I'm not convinced of the whole Fersen aspect of things, etc. However, upon reading this book more thoroughly I confess that I have been converted by the author's talent as a writer & the sympathy she evokes for Mare-Antoinette's fate. Without doubt, this is the finest biography of Marie-Antoinette currentlyin print.
Perhaps not quite the definitive biography - By: sfweston, 03 Jul 2004 
I don't think it's particularly fair to label this book (as one Amazon reviewer has done) as "a royalist's view" of French history - although, interestingly,in terms of Marie-Antoinette's life, royalists have traditionally gotten it more right than others. I'd also completely reject the notion that this is "definitive" and/or "overly preferential to its subject."
This book's plus points are the wealth of detail Antonia Fraser presents about court etiquette at Versailles; the wayin which minor characters, like the Queen's maid Rosalie Lamorliere, are brought to life, & its excellent epilogue which explores Marie-Antoinette's placein history & the tragedy behind this most public of royal lives.
However, at times Antonia Fraser seems to be almost tripping over herself to be PC & unbiased. We're so used to hearing detrimental things about Marie-Antoinette that any biographer who goes complete the grain will inevitably be accused of "whitewashing." But the truth is that the real Marie-Antoinette bears almost no resemblance to the Marie-Antoinette of popular imagination, so why did Antonia Fraser's "defence" of this queen seem convoluted & riddled with qualifiers? More accurate portraits of Marie-Antoinette's character & her role as queen have been presentedin two modern studies - "The Lost King of France" by Deborah Cadbury & "The Fall of the French Monarchy" by Dr. Munro Price.
Antonia Fraser also fails to fully explain Marie-Antoinette's enormous political influence after 1789, something properly highlightedin Price's book. It's also true that the book at times fails to convey the full gritty reality of 18th-century life, which perhaps would have been usefulin explaining why Louis XVI & Marie-Antoinette were determined to uphold such high moral standards (thus partially alienating them from certain circles of the aristocracy) after the debauched decadence of Louis XV's reign.
And as for Marie-Antoinette's "affair" with Count Fersen, Antonia Fraser's assertion that the two enjoyed a couvert affair is based more upon wishful thinking than a balanced assessment of the facts. Marie-Antoinette's position made adultery impossible, it could never have been kept a secret, & her up-bringing & personality both conspired to make it fundamentally unlikely that she would commit adultery with anyone. Their relationship was one of the many Marie-Antoinette found safetyin - romantic, artificial, non-sexual gallantry.
This biography is an enjoyable one, & Antonia Fraser has done a good jobin partially resurrecting Marie-Antoinette from the "rubbish bin of history" but there's still a long way to go before this unlucky queen's "definitive biography" is written.
