Versailles: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: At times I enjoyed "Versailles". At other times I found it maddening. Some chapters are written in script format -including stage direction - I found this silly. At other times, we 're treated to Marie-Antoinette's inner dialogue - or inner babble, depending on one's take. Again, there were inspired sections but ultimately I felt she was trying too hard with the end result being inconsistent and just a little precious.

Rating:
Summary: Not for Everyone But Still Enjoyable
Review: Marie Antoinette.

Hers is a life full of rumor and scandal, passion and extravagance. The true details of which may never be fully understood, outside of the fact that it assisted in spurring on the French Revolution.

In Versailles, Marie takes a posthumous journey through her own life in all its glorious disarray. From the time she first traveled to become the dauphin's bride, through the almost desperate attempts at creating an heir to the throne that had been thrust upon the unprepared couple and along the corridors of time to the their fateful end. An inevitable finale to the life of one despised by the court and ignorant to the people's most pressing needs.

Marie's world revolved only in the direction she chose, and if it was the wrong direction, she wasn't completely unaware of that, but rather unconcerned by it. She had not invited the turns her life had taken, but was in no position to do other than embrace them the best she knew how...never realizing she would be opening the door to such a dark future.

While Marie may have seemed crass to those living outside of her immediate existence, she was not completely unfeeling. She had the ability to hurt emotionally, but may not have appreciated that aspect of herself until it was too late. Much too late.

Versailles is not a historical account of Marie Antoinette's life. Neither is it a systematic fictional story. Instead, it is an abstract piece of literary art gracefully entwining her own retrospective autobiographical-like musings with the structural beauty that is Versailles. It is not a tome everyone will necessarily enjoy, but most will appreciate its poetic inclinations. Kathryn Davis has brought an entirely unique perspective to an age-old story.

Rating:
Summary: The Inner Thoughts of Marie Antoinette
Review: Versailles is an interesting approach to understanding Marie Antoinette. Kathryn Davis takes an essentially fictional look at her life and gets into her brain. What we get is an essentially stream of consciousness meditation of Marie Antoinette looking back on her life, with little regrets. Davis writes beautifully--the words seem to glide off the pages effortlessly. Marie Antoinette is not a wholly likeable narrator, but she is certainly human and certainly not a monster. Versailles is an interesting exploration of not history, but a historical figure.