The Hidden Diary Of Marie Antoinette (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
I had not expected a wonderful, thrilling, romantic read. I had not expected a great novel. I had not expected a novel that would become one of my favorites.I did expect, however, a historically accurate, well-written, interesting book with characters I could relate to and like.I did not get any of this.Instead, what I got was a mediocre novel full of characters who were ill-explained and given clumsy personalities. And the historical accuracy...God help us.Carolly Erickson is a historian. She has written biographies of Alexandra of Russia, Catherine the Great, and Elizabeth I, among others. She has written a biography of MARIE ANTOINETTE HERSELF.So WHY, I ask you, is this book so chock-full of blaring travesties???????Not only is Marie Antoinette's traumatizing entrance into France (stripped naked and shoved under a huge building on the border of Austria and France to get her into the country; then forced to give up everything of her home country, including her name, Maria Antonia) not even MENTIONED IN PASSING, but the affair of the necklace is totally, completely, absolutely ignored. It's infuriating. The woman has forgotten all of her research.The book spans more than 20 years, with very poorly written diary entries about six months apart on average. It's difficult to keep up with what year it is and even harder to relate to the shallow, showy Marie, who is not particularly likable mostly because she isn't a person. She does everything Marie Antoinette does and has her name but nothing else.No one actually falls in love. Marie and her lover, Axel Ferson, don't fall in love as much as fall into each other's arms. It's unconvincing and inaccurate - I hope Carolly Erickson's nonfiction is better than her novels, because if not...Plus, Marie takes a trip to Sweden! To spend time with her lover! This never happened. What happened to historical accuracy? What happened to real characters and good writing? What happened to this book with such a lovely cover?????????Beach Read Qualification: Read it and forget it.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Marie Antoinette. And, what I do know probably comes from the movies. She usually isn’t portrayed very kindly there. I had built this image of a young women who liked parties, clothes, and basic extravagance. This book took an extreme opposite view. It touched on the rumors surrounding the Queen, but I never got a good feel for how the Queen felt about this. The book seems to down play all of that, when in fact that malicious gossip eventually made the people of France hate her. She had to have realized that but she seems really detached from her people and her country. I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Although, I’m sure we will never know the whole truth surrounding all the gossip. I did really enjoy the format of the book. The diary entries made it seem like more of a possibility that this was who the Queen really was. I learned a few things I did not know. Plus, it made me want to read more historical fiction about Marie Antoinette. Some seem to complain about some characters being made up, but I able to take that in because I know it is historical fiction. I know that not everything is fact. Overall, and interesting read, but I feel it’s steeped more in fiction than in fact.
What do You think about The Hidden Diary Of Marie Antoinette (2006)?
Prvo sam mislila da cu ovoj knjizi dati cetvorku, ali onda sam promjenila misljenje i to s dobrim razlozima. Prva primjedba mi je ta sto iako je ova knjiga pisana kao dnevnik ima previse razgovora (i to poduzih) koji su zapisani. Da vas pitam nesto; jeste li iada vodili dnevnik? Ja jesam i nisam nikada zapisivala razgovore, samo bi ih prepricavala ili bih zapisala pokoju recenicu koja bi mi se urezala u sjecanje, ali nikako cijele razgovoer. Mislim da je autorica u tome pogrijesila - to je barem moje misljenje. Onda drugo, malo mi smeta sto je u pricu "morala" uvesti likove poput Erica i Amelie (za koje i sama priznaje danisu stvarni) samo kako bi malo zacinila pricu. To mi je nemastovito. Trece, u toj knjizi Marija A. Putuje u Svedsku iako je sama autorica u svojoj Biljesbi citatelju napisala: "Koliko je danas poznato, Antoaneta niada nije psjetila Svedsku..." cemu onda ta Svedska u knjizi??? Mislim, vjerojatno, zapravo sigurno, je bil svih tih razaranja u vrijeme pobune protiv kraljevske obitelji, ali cudim se sto je nakon svega toga Pariz uopce ostao citav. Sesnaesto pglavlje mi je toliko odvratno da sam imala osjecaj ko da mi je zeludac u centrifugi! Zlo mi je od opisa svih tih odvratnih prizora!Eto, to su sve moje zamjerke na ovu knjigu.(ispricavam se na mogucim tipfelerima, ova recenzija je pisana na mobitelu i nisam ju pregledala jer nakon ove knjige vise bas i nemam snage :/ )mislim da necu vise nista citati od ove autorice.
—Nina @ Life of a Bookworm
Let me begin by saying I wanted to like this book, I really did. I love reading about Marie Antoinette. I actually kept trying to read this, and I am definitely one of those unfortunate people who HAS to finish a book no matter how much they suffer. But I hate to say *sigh* I gave up. There were too many historic liberties taken in my opinion to make it enjoyable, the characters left me wanting more from their one or two dimensions they were allowed, the writing at times was redundant. To be honest I'm not here to bad mouth the book or the author but I really just couldn't swallow the pill, and we will leave it at that.
—Twinkle
I just started reading this book, actually I am on page 49 and I don't think I can continue to read this. While I love historical fiction I believe the author should stay true what history tells us about the person. The first thing that bothered me about this book was that there is no way a high born princess would have been left to traipse around in the woods in a cave having a make out session with the stable boy. I was also bothered by the fact that there was no mention of the process that Ma
—Dana
