The Baroness: The Search For Nica, The Rebellious Rothschild (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Life of a forgotten Rothschild by a current Rothschild. The lot of women in the gilded Rothschild cage in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries doesn't sound to have been all it might be cracked up to be. Nica escaped, but whether or not she used her access to interesting people and places in the wisest way is open to debate. Very good on the anti Semitism that she and the rest of family encountered. The author did an excellent job of organizing her thoughts in this book. She was capable of going off on tangents, relating a memory or an anecdote, bringing together interview quotes, and then getting on with the story. The transitions were seamless. I admired her craft. So that's style. As far as substance goes, I think she did a remarkable job of bringing a sense of humanity to her powerful and aloof family. And I think she presented each person in as accurate a light as she possibly could. She told the negative as well as the positive, which must have been difficult because many of her family members are still alive and disapprove of this project. For instance, she mentioned briefly that her grandfather, Victor Rothschild, was a domineering man who bullied his family members. And she didn't shy away from Nica's recreational drug use. I think it would have been easy to present her family members as perfect saints for the sake of appearances, but she didn't take that route. Still, she was more interested in understanding her family than with castigating them. When she toyed with several reasons why a certain person might have done what they did, she almost always settled on the kindest possible explanation. I find that I'm comfortable with that. I didn't need this book to be a gossipy tell-all about the Rothschild family. I'm all right with a Rothschild daughter who sees her family members' flaws but who still wants to believe the very best about them. Nica is a fascinating person, and I felt as if I would really like to know her and her sisters. I felt the author's disappointment when her aunt died before they could really get to know each other. But I think Nica comes through clearly in this portrait. Her story is really interesting, and I'm glad I read it.
What do You think about The Baroness: The Search For Nica, The Rebellious Rothschild (2013)?
An interesting read about a woman I knew nothing about and who followed her own passion.
—28120
Informative,fascinating and in some respects quite sad. Money does not buy happiness!
—gpnema
Disappointing - lacked substance about the central character.
—daisy
