The Emperor's Last Island : A Journey to St. Helena

Rating:
Summary: I have seen Napoleon face to face.
Review: I have dined off his fine china and watched him play with the children of his initial host on the island. I have been transported through time and space, a reaction I have had only rarely. Ms. Blackburn has created a reality worthy of attention. The aura of the house, the luminosity of Napoleon's complexion and the thinking of his English overseers are only a part of that reality. The prose is clear and compelling. The past, the natural history of St. Helena and Ms. Blackburn's present day doings complement one another. On the map, St. Helena is as much "in the middle of nowhere" as any place on earth. And Ms. Blackburn makes going there an enlightening journey.

Rating:
Summary: This is full of interesting details, also historical errors
Review: I read with fascination the details on Napoleon's last exile. But the historical erros threw me off. He arrived on St. Helena in 1815, not 1814. His birthday was August 15th, not August 17th. His second wife's name was Marie Louise, not Marie Teresa. With all these easily confirmed facts in error, I wonder what else is inaccurate.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was really disappointed in this book. What the author did not understand, and probably never will, is that the readers are not the least interested in her life or the lives of her children or husband. I am not in any way interested in her own impressions about St Helena, I am not interested in the Island's history or geography or what others might have thought about it. It is Napoleon that concerns me and when I purchased the book I though it would be about Napoleon's journey to the Island and his last days there. Instead it was the author's journey to the island in the 90's and her own days , which does not interest me and I doubt if it would be interesting to anyone bet herself. It was a real disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written but pointless
Review: Julia Blackburn's meditation on St. Helena is beautifully written but nearly as dull as Napoleon's years in exile. The early chapters about Fernando Lopez were quite the best thing in the book -- after that, I wondered why the author had wasted her prodigious talents on material this boring. I also found her "personal" insights grating! It was truly a struggle to finish this one.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant, subtle meditation on solitude.
Review: Julia Blackburn, a finalist for this year's Orange Prize, has crafted a luminous meditation on Napoleon's final exile to the distant island of St. Helena. Not just a book for history buffs, "The Emperor's Last Island" combines travelogue, natural history, and Blackburn's thoughts on the weight of the past and the corrosive effects of isolation. The writing contained in this slim volume is simply beautiful - limpid, direct, evocative. For all who admire the gentle art of the essay, this book should not be ignored.

Rating:
Summary: A personal, elliptical meditation on life
Review: This book is not easy to classify ' part biography, part memoir, part essay. After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, the British exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he lived the few remaining years of his life. This book, written in the early 1990s, consists of the author's sensitive and insightful musings on Napoleon's life and death on the island, the relations between him and others in that most unnatural setting and those most unnatural circumstances, the history of St. Helena, the world of Napoleonic studies, the author's visit to St. Helena, and much else. The book is very elliptical and personal, and is perhaps best described as an extended meditation by Blackburne on life and human relationships as displayed in these events. Hard-core Napoleon fans and others looking for a straightforward narrative are likely to be disappointed (though I suspect that more insight into Napoleon's character can be gleaned from this book than from any more prosaic narrative). The book will appeal to readers who enjoy an intimate conversation with a thoughtful woman who, taking as her point of departure the unique and timeless spectacle at the core of the book, has much to say about all of us.

Rating:
Summary: A personal, elliptical meditation on life
Review: This book is not easy to classify � part biography, part memoir, part essay. After Napoleon�s final defeat at Waterloo, the British exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he lived the few remaining years of his life. This book, written in the early 1990s, consists of the author's sensitive and insightful musings on Napoleon�s life and death on the island, the relations between him and others in that most unnatural setting and those most unnatural circumstances, the history of St. Helena, the world of Napoleonic studies, the author's visit to St. Helena, and much else. The book is very elliptical and personal, and is perhaps best described as an extended meditation by Blackburne on life and human relationships as displayed in these events. Hard-core Napoleon fans and others looking for a straightforward narrative are likely to be disappointed (though I suspect that more insight into Napoleon's character can be gleaned from this book than from any more prosaic narrative). The book will appeal to readers who enjoy an intimate conversation with a thoughtful woman who, taking as her point of departure the unique and timeless spectacle at the core of the book, has much to say about all of us.

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest, most readable books I have ever read.
Review: This is a beautifully written book, not in any poetic sense, but in the sense of being readable and thoroughly interesting. I feel that I personally have visited St Helena and viewed the remains of the places visited and lived in by Napoleon during his exile until his death. EXCELLENT!!!!