Versailles

This book merge historical facts with legends and outright fallacies. I do not recommend it for a reader not well aware of the real history. Putting that flaw aside "Versailles" is a delightful entertaining read. I felt MA's voice was very genuine as a middle-aged (for her time) sadder but wiser and can't quite regret the past spirit lingering in the French royal estate. I enjoyed the novel's structure, which focussed upon several specific events broken down into sketches. Some are written in play format, others utilize verse/song, and others are told in simply pretty prose. This is very much a tribute to MA's life, including the light-heartedness, the luxury, the boredom, the isolation, the joy, the danger and the tragedy. I don't think it's for everyone but it's a beautifully written sincere piece.

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.

A friend recommended Versailles, and though I don't usually like historical fiction, I couldn't put this novel down. The writing is poetic and addictive, and Marie Antoinette really comes alive here as a humorous but tragic-- and utterly appealing-- figure. An exploration of everything from royalty to architecture to the soul, this book dazzles and provokes its reader. The language Davis uses is at once precise and ornate and surprising. I plan to read Kathryn Davis' other books next!

I would read Kathryn Davis' grocery list, if she let me. Versailles is yet another brilliant effort, one that I will savor and buy as a gift for many people. She manages to get into the head of Marie Antoinette, in a way no one else- historian (THIS IS NOT A WORK OF HISTORY, anyway) nor novelist. I felt like I was actually there, in the palace, seeing the grounds abd breathing in the air. Davis has a magic touch, and it is all over this gem of a book!