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Sissi. Die schöne Kaiserin
Sissi - the beautiful but tragic Empress. She was just 16 1/2 when the Emperor Fraz Josef of Austria chose her as his bride, but what should have been a fairy-tale romance, soon soured. Sissi, an independent-minded, free spirit disliked the Viennese court with its strict etiquette and rigid rules. Nor did she like her mother-in-law, or any of the palace staff. She felt suffocated in her guilded cage and quickly learned the knack of becomong suddenly indisposed, as a way of avoiding her Imperial duties and her husband. Her time was spent instead in taking care of her slim figure and her beautiful long hair, in writing poetry and riding horses. But none of this brought her peace--she felt great melancholy and sought to eascape by travelling incessantly from one end of Europe to the other, until in 1898, on one of these trips, she was assassinated.
Her popularity among the Austrian people, who were seldom favoured with a glimpse of her, was limited. But later generations have been fascinated by this beautiful, unruly Empress. Her fame and the memory of her, which are revived in this richly illustrated biography, were kept alive not least by the "Sissi" films with Romy Schneider in the starrting role.
Text taken from the book.
Her popularity among the Austrian people, who were seldom favoured with a glimpse of her, was limited. But later generations have been fascinated by this beautiful, unruly Empress. Her fame and the memory of her, which are revived in this richly illustrated biography, were kept alive not least by the "Sissi" films with Romy Schneider in the starrting role.
Text taken from the book.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 2, 2008
I debated on just how to rate this book, I finally decided to go with 3 stars, because despite its faults I did actually like the book. It has a lot of lovely pictures, some of which I'd not yet seen before.
The text itself is, for the most part, factually sound. It gives one a broad overview of Sisi's life, and thus could possibly be of some use to someone wishing to know more about her, but not wanting to attempt one of the lengthier biographies. But, only if one to were to read it with the knowledge not to take everything in the book as the gospel truth. Which leads me to say:
Please be warned: With this book, you will not be getting a very balanced look at Sisi's life. For whatever reason, this author seems to be very negatively biased toward the Empress, and it shows in the text.
She was far from perfect and made many mistakes, but she wasn't quite as bad as the author makes her out to be at times, at least in my opinion at any rate.
I got a copy of this book used and paid less than $5 dollars for it. It's definitely worth that much for the pictures alone.
The text itself is, for the most part, factually sound. It gives one a broad overview of Sisi's life, and thus could possibly be of some use to someone wishing to know more about her, but not wanting to attempt one of the lengthier biographies. But, only if one to were to read it with the knowledge not to take everything in the book as the gospel truth. Which leads me to say:
Please be warned: With this book, you will not be getting a very balanced look at Sisi's life. For whatever reason, this author seems to be very negatively biased toward the Empress, and it shows in the text.
She was far from perfect and made many mistakes, but she wasn't quite as bad as the author makes her out to be at times, at least in my opinion at any rate.
I got a copy of this book used and paid less than $5 dollars for it. It's definitely worth that much for the pictures alone.
September 12, 2024
quick read - intriguing person
October 16, 2008
The pictures are nice - lots of big and small ones, both photos and paintings - and pictures are the main content of this book. The text isn't terribly much use, though. It's very negatively biased against Elisabeth (and I can agree with a fair bit of criticism of her, but I hated the excessively negative bias of this book) and not very professionally written. Still, if you can get your hands on it for free or for a cheap price and what you want is a picture book on Elisabeth, this may be worth getting. I haven't got other picture books yet so I can't compare whether others are better when it comes to the picture selection.
March 15, 2017
Lovely pictures in the book, that's why I gave it 4 stars, the author portrays Sissi's personality quite negatively, the events however are facts. With all this in mind I was able to identify the non true descriptions of Sissi as the tour guide in Vienna mentioned there are a lot of non truthful descriptions of Sissi and this book would have to be it.
The book has many printing errors too which is quite disappointing to be sold at the museums.
The book has many printing errors too which is quite disappointing to be sold at the museums.
June 22, 2012
I purchased this book while on vacation in Bavaria. It is an excellent introduction to the Empress during all stages of her life. But it is only an introduction. It doesn't have the most information, or the best pictures, but if you are looking for a place to learn more about Sisi than what you saw on the films starring Romy Schneider, this will be a great place to start.
June 23, 2014
Two different feelings after reading...
1) interesting and kinda disappointing to know the truth about her(or what this author sees as truth), one of my idols, a woman i feel so close to........
2)great book cos my darling bought it for me when we were at the Sisi Museum in Vienna :)
1) interesting and kinda disappointing to know the truth about her(or what this author sees as truth), one of my idols, a woman i feel so close to........
2)great book cos my darling bought it for me when we were at the Sisi Museum in Vienna :)
November 21, 2015
Not a comprehensive biography but entertaining. It has some really nice illustrations and photographs. I think it might be a book one would get at a museum or something like that. I got my copy second hand so I am not exactly sure.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews