City of Darkness, City of Light

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Summary: A humanizing look at the French Revolution
Review: After reading many historical and biographical accounts of the French Revolution and its aftermath, it was refreshing to read Piercy's book and have an opportunity to view the events through the eyes of very human and flawed characters. While most books tend to approach historical events in the most majestic proportions, Piercy shows that, monumental though it was, the French Revolution was the direct result of dissatisfied people from all walks of life. She shows how 'Great' individuals such as Robespierre and Danton, were really just women and men who desired change. Each of these characters are blinded by their own prejudices and I often found myself disliking them as much as I liked them. Piercy brings the Revolution down to earth..domesticating it as it were...giving the reader a good idea of how it might really have been for those who lived in the midst of it. A good, entertaining and educational read

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Summary: A disappointing treatment of the French Revolution
Review: As a long time admirer of Ms Piercy's work, I picked up a copy of "City of Darkness : City of Light" to enjoy on holiday. It seemed to promise all the enjoyment of "Gone For Soldiers" - an epic novel of WWII beautifully told from a number of perspectives. . Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations - or indeed the reviews I've read of it. Maybe the problem was that of the characters: all well-known players in the politics of the time. I knew a lot about them already and this book didn't seem to add much. I think Piercy deserves applause for her recognition of the role of women. However, if you want the really great contemporary novel of the French Revolution, try Hilary Mantel's "A Place of Greater Safety".

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Summary: Good but hard to get through
Review: I can't lay my finger on why, but this book was hard to get through. It usually doesn't take me that long to read a book. I keep thinking its because its seperated up into different characters perspectives---or because it is so detailed. As a historian, I am not too familiar with the French Revolution, so I can't tell you how "accurate" it is. I can tell you to, read the authors introduction, in which she states she superimposed our current culture onto the culture of the French people. IE it means she didn't mess around with historical jargon. I didn't mind that at all---especially since she explained that to us in the introduction. Some others find fault with it, I guess. It depends on what you prefer in historical fiction.
Ms. Piercey tells the story of women from several different walks of life, as well as the story from some of the major players in the Revolution. I can tell you that after I finished this book, I went to the bookstore and looked through a general history of the Revolution and was able to identify everyone pictured in it, as well as all the scenarios and events. So---yes, its very detailed. I liked it, it was just hard to get through...
Theres an actress, a chocolatier, Mme. Roland, whom I didn't care for, Nicholas Condorcet, who I did like, Danton and Robespierre. She shared all different walks of life for me, as far as I'm concerned. I appreciate that she took the time and effort to share with us the different aspects of the people, the very real people of the Revolution. She makes them so real.
She is obviously a feminist, too, by her style. But using her feminist background, she was able to explain to us exactly how and why so much of the Revolution depended on THE WOMEN. And NOT the rich, "educated," women! Pretty good; Just expect to take it slow!!

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Summary: Interesting and unique
Review: I enjoyed this unique look at some of the players in the French Revolution. Although it was sometimes difficult to keep all the characters straight, the character reference guide in the back of the book made it easy to catch up. It also humanized characters like Robespierre and Danton who often are dehumanized in the text books. I highly recommend this novel.

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Summary: Competent but uninspired
Review: I have bought dozens of copies of this book and given them to everyone I know. It is a beautiful study of the French Revolution from a socialist feminist perspective. Piercy's growth as a writer is evident, she develops a political contextualization of the French Revolution that goes far beyond her earlier works. This book shows the process of how political movements develop and grow, and how various forces and factions affect the balance of power. This book reminded me of the flash of brilliance Piercy showed in Women on the Edge of Time and proved that the early Piercy has grown and matured. Many readers will not be able to sit through the description of political infighting and factional power plays. But for me that was the strength of the book. Piercy placed personal stories into a larger political struggle and actually brings her characters to life. One last point. When I was in Paris last summer searching for the memorial to the Paris Commune (there isn't one!) I realized how Piercy had really brought the people of Paris alive as a revolutionary movement struggling to be free. A beautiful book.

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Summary: The Political is Personal
Review: I have bought dozens of copies of this book and given them to everyone I know. It is a beautiful study of the French Revolution from a socialist feminist perspective. Piercy's growth as a writer is evident, she develops a political contextualization of the French Revolution that goes far beyond her earlier works. This book shows the process of how political movements develop and grow, and how various forces and factions affect the balance of power. This book reminded me of the flash of brilliance Piercy showed in Women on the Edge of Time and proved that the early Piercy has grown and matured. Many readers will not be able to sit through the description of political infighting and factional power plays. But for me that was the strength of the book. Piercy placed personal stories into a larger political struggle and actually brings her characters to life. One last point. When I was in Paris last summer searching for the memorial to the Paris Commune (there isn't one!) I realized how Piercy had really brought the people of Paris alive as a revolutionary movement struggling to be free. A beautiful book.

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Summary: Through the eyes of the people
Review: Piercy's fiction/nonfiction account of the French revolution has high ambitions, and she achieves them--partly. Piercy views this momentous event through the eyes of six people, all of whom are historical characters, but the amount of historical information about each varies greatly. She starts at the top with Nicholas, Danton, and Robespierre, representing the enlightened aristocrat, the pragmatic revolutionary, and the extreme radical. Next on her list is Manon Roland, the wife of a mediocre beaurocrat who exercises influence and power through her husband. Last but certainly not least are Claire and Pauline, two women who led the women's revolution, driven to the streets by the lack of the basic necessities of life--bread, wine, meat--and a desire for equality.

Piercy excels in describing the everyday details of the lives of these people, and makes Danton and Robespierre human. Her portrayal of the Paris of the time, the teeming streets, the houses of the poor, the entertainments, the struggle for food--is masterful. In the cases of Pauline and Claire, she took the little that is known about them and developed them into strong, powerful women.

But Piercy also struggles under the weight of information she tries to incorporate into this "novel," and the result is often plodding. She is a masterful novelist, and "Gone to Soldiers" is a wonderful example of what she can do with a good story that has a historical background. But here she tries to do way too much--explain the politics, the history and life of the time, and also accurately render historical figures in a fictional way while being faithful to the facts we do know. The first third of the book is a chore, as she tries to set everything up for the characters to come together in Paris. It is no accident that her best characters are Claire and Pauline, about whom little is known, and who come alive under her wonderful novelist's pen. The three men are rendered more clumsily, especially when she tries to describe their feelings during historical events. And Manon is a failure--I suspect Piercy got bogged down in trying to be faithful to the autobiography this woman left behind. As the revolution picks up steam, the story does too, but I found myself reading along to find out how they all get out of the mess that they've created, rather than out of real feeling for the characters.

Having said all that, this book does send you back to brush up on the history, and also sparked a very lively discussion in my book club about why the American Revolution was so different. Was it because the English had a much longer tradition of democracy? Was it that a lot of tradition and custom that hampered change had been left behind in the Old World? Or was it because there was no need to take property away from the rich--there were limitless opportunities available to anyone willing to push west and start out fresh on his own land. Probably all of the above.

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Summary: Best novel I've ever read
Review: The people drove the French Revolution. From the most powerful leaders, such as Danton, to the people of the districts, like Claire Lacombe, who held their pikes, the Revolution was all about the people.
Piercy - a poet, novelist, and occasional playwright - mixes what is known about this time in French history with her vivid imagination. This novel must be called fiction, but Piercy's use of real events and people makes for an interesting study of non-fiction.
The work is written with the average person in mind. Still, one can not overlook Piercy's intense attention to detail and accuracy. This shows that Piercy may have been writing with the layperson in mind, but she also sought to gain scholarly readers. She took all of the facts surrounding the Revolution and filled in the gaps with logical speculation to create this masterful novel.
Centered on the lives of six main characters, the novel tells the story of the French Revolution from the vantage points of these six. At times their paths cross, and the large world of France becomes smaller to the reader. Characters like Maximilien Robespierre and Manon Roland come alive and history seems to make perfect sense. The cast of real-life characters is presented in a way that no history book ever could.
After reading this novel, a student of the French Revolution is better equipped to understand the finer points of the period in detail. Having a personality to attach to a name can make facts and situations easier to recall. Though the novel should not be taken as history, it is certainly a good base for future study of the French Revolution.
The novel also puts a human side to this turbulent era. Cold facts cannot convey intentions, feelings, or home lives of the major and minor players of any period. Piercy's work serves to promote understanding that these men and women who live on in history were just people like those living today.
Piercy's fascinating novel shows the French Revolution in a light that cannot be produced through historical texts. Her work brings the people and passion of the time to life.

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Summary: A good read needed to understand the future and the past
Review: This is a good read.
This is good history. This is great fiction. This is the honest story of the French revolution, told from the side of masses of working people, peasants, real French people, told from the side of women and men who live as we live. This is a story of people finding searching for truth and love. This is not about disillusion with revolution, disillusion with the great moments when masses of working people take the world in their hands, this is a celebration of it, of love. This is not about the tragedy of the French revolution, but about the glory of it, and the glory of working men and above all working women.
When big fights will rage to turn back the Clinton-Gore-Bush Cheeny billionaire led attacks on the standard of living of working people, their wars against people around the world, the hideous lame, stupid repulsive culture that blares out of the television and the radio monopolies, books like this will be in the hands of the young women, the young men who will lead the changes. Read this book and feel that young power, look into the past and see our future.

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Summary: An Interesting Slant on History
Review: This was certainly a unique way to study the history of the French Revolution - through the eyes of 6 main characters. I admit to reading this book purely because it was this month's piece for my Book Club but, unlike most of the others in my group, I did not find it difficult to follow the six separate stories. As a matter of fact, the less you worry about who each and every character in the book is, the easier it is to simply glide along and learn or re-learn the basics of the Revolution from a purely historical standpoint. For the most part, it simply doesn't matter which of the characters' chapters you are currently in - the basic timeline of history continues to unfold. I'm glad that I read the book and I did find it interesting but I can't go out of my way to recommend it.