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Marie Antoinette: The Journey
by Antonia Fraser

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17157.Marie_Antoinette_The_Journey?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Marie Antoinette: The Journey" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1166804505m/17157.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17157.Marie_Antoinette_The_Journey?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Marie Antoinette: The Journey</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6582.Antonia_Fraser">Antonia Fraser</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12540655?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>I'm listening to the audiobook. It's good, not cheesy salacious historical biofiction, but still engaging. I've learned a lot so far (I'm on cd 12 of 17 (!)) about Marie Antoinette that runs contrary to what I'd been taught growing up. I can't wait to rewatch the movie when I'm done, since it was based off of this biographer's exhaustively detailed portrayal. That said, you'd be better off with the actual book, because the narrator has a delightful British accent but apparently no knowledge of French, and I frequently find myself cringing on her behalf. Almost as bad as when I listened to the Da Vinci Code (please, G-d, let me have those hours of my life back) and the narrator described the Jewish notion of the feminine divine not as "shecheeNAH" or even "sheCHEEnah" but as "sheCHInah," striking an unfortunate (though apropos) rhyme with "vagina."
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<br/>Addendum: Finished it. Nice epilogue too. Fraser made her out to be a sympathetic, but also flawed, figure. This makes her story all the more tragic, and also situates it in the larger picture of the changing nature of government in Europe. To a certain extent, Marie Antoinette was born into the end of the era of monarchal rule and extravagant court culture, and so very publicly went down on what was really a much larger sinking ship. 
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<br/>Also, the narrator actually mispronounced "eschew." Unless it's a Britishism.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/769376?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Spencer's review
rating:
recommended for: francophiles, feminists

I'm listening to the audiobook. It's good, not cheesy salacious historical biofiction, but still engaging. I've learned a lot so far (I'm on cd 12 of 17 (!)) about Marie Antoinette that runs contrary to what I'd been taught growing up. I can't wait to rewatch the movie when I'm done, since it was based off of this biographer's exhaustively detailed portrayal. That said, you'd be better off with the actual book, because the narrator has a delightful British accent but apparently no knowledge of French, and I frequently find myself cringing on her behalf. Almost as bad as when I listened to the Da Vinci Code (please, G-d, let me have those hours of my life back) and the narrator described the Jewish notion of the feminine divine not as "shecheeNAH" or even "sheCHEEnah" but as "sheCHInah," striking an unfortunate (though apropos) rhyme with "vagina."

Addendum: Finished it. Nice epilogue too. Fraser made her out to be a sympathetic, but also flawe...more

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