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Madame Tussaud A Novel of the French Revolution Michelle Moran Books

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Madame Tussaud A Novel of the French Revolution Michelle Moran Books

This book is a hard review. It's more of a 3.5 if you can get past the first 200 pages.

The book is about Marie Gresholtz who lives with her uncle Curtius and her mother Anne. They have a place on the Boulevard in Paris where they have rooms with wax statues that they use to tell the news. They are friends with many of the soon to be "patriots" in the French Revolution and they also have had King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette visit the wax museum. After this visit Marie Gresholtz is called to tutor Princess Elizabeth, King Louis XVI's sister, in the art of wax sculpting.
As the book continues we learn how the revolution starts, the many people included in it, the tightrope balance between being a patriot and/or a royalist. All through this time we keep up with many characters, including Gresholtz's 3 brothers, the royal family, the patriots, the dressmaker and many others. Also there is Henri, Gresholtz's next door neighbor and love interest and Lichin the shops only other employee, a teen boy who mainly announces what the attraction in the shop is that day. The book follows her from the beginning of the revolution to after the revolution and The author does do one of my favorite things about her books an afterword on what happens to some of the main characters.
So why in my opinion am I not giving this a higher review? Her Egyptian books were excellent, descriptive and hard to put down. This book put me to sleep many times. It does have action at some points and the last 200 pages speed up with complete action but it took so long to get there and so many characters, I would lose the way.
I did learn a lot about the French Revolution that I never knew. The wax news was interesting but a little too much was put in about it. The royal family are just visits here and there and those have more to do with wax modeling and religion then any of the intrigues going on. I would still recommend this book to historical fiction people and book clubs, especially history ones.


Tags : Amazon.com: Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution (9780307588654): Michelle Moran: Books,Michelle Moran,Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution,Crown,0307588653,FIC014000,France;History;Revolution, 1789-1799;Fiction.,Historical fiction.,Wax modellers;France;Fiction.,1761-1850,American Historical Fiction,Biographical,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Biographical,Fiction Historical,Fiction Literary,France,Historical - General,History,Revolution, 1789-1799,Tussaud, Marie,,Wax modellers

Madame Tussaud A Novel of the French Revolution Michelle Moran Books Reviews

Wonderfully written novel combines a fantastic story and the upheaval of the French Revolution. The young Marie is taught by her 'uncle' (her mother's significant other) the craft of modeling figures, which are then elaborately dressed and displayed in dioramas the Paris public clamors to see. Their family business is so successful, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette take an interest and the King requests that Marie spend time at court teaching his sister, who already has an interest in creating in the medium and desires to produce figures of all of the Saints.

As tensions grow in Paris over issues with the monarchy and food shortages, Marie, her mother and 'uncle' must tread uneasily between the people and the royals. They cannot have their alliances questioned by either faction, and do everything they possibly can to give the appearance of their neutrality. Their very lives depend on it. Marie is made to create death masks of dead nobles whose heads have been paraded through the city. When the King and his family are forcibly removed from governance, everyone associated with them is also arrested and Marie is imprisoned. Each day she fears beheading, as the guillotine is in constant use. She believes her brothers, member of the Royal Guard, to have been killed.

Although the novel is not entirely historically accurate, it is a good representation of events and is written so well and so thrillingly, I had a difficult time putting it down.
3.5 total stars. 3 mostly for how much I liked the overall execution (hummm...a pun?) and .5 additional stars for the ambitious nature on the part of author Michelle Moran.

The name Madame Tussaud is synonomous with the wax figure industry which originated in Paris and moved to the U.K, and now is a worldwide phenomenon. The historical context was well-rendered and quite accurate, giving some "cameo" appearances from Thomas Jefferson before he was the U.S. president, among other heroric political figures. I found the book a little heavy on names and historical accuracies and therefore didn't connect to some of the characters as hoped. I will say that as the French Revolution progressed, the story became that much more gritty and unsettling--however, I've certainly read more compelling historial fiction. Some reviews are claiming MADAME TOSSAUD is not Moran's strongest work, and having not read any of her other work, I am at loss on commenting on that.

I most definitely enjoyed the art and science behind the concept of wax modeling, but wanted a little more in terms of psychological unease.

See all of my reviews, including author interviews at www.leslielindsay.com
I've come to believe that reviews of books and music are just an exercise in personal taste, so take this with a grain of salt. It may not be your cup of tea, but I give this book high praise. When I first heard of the book, it sounded moderately interesting, but I didn't expect to be as good as I felt it was after finishing. Indeed, there are parts that are hard to read, because of the sheer horror of human behavior in that period. But that was the true story. During the Reign of Terror, apparently inspired by the American Revolution but overlayed with inhuman behavior, Robespierre and his cronies put to death an estimated 40,000 people, most of whom were guilty of nothing. Marie Tussaud, nee Grosholtz, was eyewitness to it all and in many cases was more or less forced to create wax images of the contents of the guillotine basket. Ever since I was a child, the French Revolution has invoked its own psychological Reign of Terror on me, and this was no exception. Even though this book is historical fiction, you truly feel as if you were there. As difficult an experience as it was, I was thoroughly engrossed and extremely glad I read this book.
This book is a hard review. It's more of a 3.5 if you can get past the first 200 pages.

The book is about Marie Gresholtz who lives with her uncle Curtius and her mother Anne. They have a place on the Boulevard in Paris where they have rooms with wax statues that they use to tell the news. They are friends with many of the soon to be "patriots" in the French Revolution and they also have had King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette visit the wax museum. After this visit Marie Gresholtz is called to tutor Princess Elizabeth, King Louis XVI's sister, in the art of wax sculpting.
As the book continues we learn how the revolution starts, the many people included in it, the tightrope balance between being a patriot and/or a royalist. All through this time we keep up with many characters, including Gresholtz's 3 brothers, the royal family, the patriots, the dressmaker and many others. Also there is Henri, Gresholtz's next door neighbor and love interest and Lichin the shops only other employee, a teen boy who mainly announces what the attraction in the shop is that day. The book follows her from the beginning of the revolution to after the revolution and The author does do one of my favorite things about her books an afterword on what happens to some of the main characters.
So why in my opinion am I not giving this a higher review? Her Egyptian books were excellent, descriptive and hard to put down. This book put me to sleep many times. It does have action at some points and the last 200 pages speed up with complete action but it took so long to get there and so many characters, I would lose the way.
I did learn a lot about the French Revolution that I never knew. The wax news was interesting but a little too much was put in about it. The royal family are just visits here and there and those have more to do with wax modeling and religion then any of the intrigues going on. I would still recommend this book to historical fiction people and book clubs, especially history ones.