Book Reviews of Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

If you like fiction based on historical fact you'll appreciate this book by Sena Naslund. Naslund blends letters from Marie and her mother in Austria against the background of the Court of Versailles. If you've been lucky enough to travel to Paris and seen Versailles, you can really see the events as they occur. If you haven't, rent the movie Marie Antoinette which helps you "see" the court as protocol ruled it during the 18th century. It's a wonderful read.

History has portrayed Marie Antoinette as an extravagant, and sometimes cold monarch - Naslund gets the reader past that, to see the young Austrian girl sent to a foreign land to marry the man who would be king. She brings a reality and presence to the world of Henry XVI and Marie Antoinette that few others have managed to accomplish. This is a page turner, and well worth the read!

Loved this book, I know its not historically correct but never the less I loved it, Could imagine how they were dressed and what life might have been like. Would recommend to any one who likes historical novels

I believe that this book was good. But due to the theme ( Marie Antoinette and her Husband not able to comsumate their marriage, there are sexual scenes and overtones...you may not care..but i enjoy when people tell me.

Overall: Ok book

Loved it, loved it! Sparkling with her personality and even though you know how the story ends, you are filled with sadness because you have grown to truly like her and who she is.

Very well-written novel, based partly on Marie Antoinette's letters to her mother.

I'm not usually a huge fan of historical fiction, but really enjoyed this book. The characters suck you in, and it does not get too bogged down with historical details.

Fantastic book. Loved hearing this well known story from Marie Antoinette's perspective.

Very wonderful read. Masterfully puts you in the life of Marie Antoinette, and leaves you longing to change the outcome of her life.

This book depicts Marie Antoinette as I have imagined her- complex yet childish, ostentatious in taste yet with no context for comparison, educated and very passionate, self-centered, but with a real desire to rule well.

Versailles is essentially a character in this story- evoked in an almost dreamlike sense, seemingly endless, gilded and gleaming.

Though the narration is almost claustrophobically close to Antoinette's thoughts; other characters are well-developed, enough to seem real and understandable, and Marie herself is charming enough that the closeness is more friendly than uncomfortable.

Though the events and end of the story are unchangeable, this is a Marie Antoinette you can sympathize with and cheer for throughout- flawed, but genuine.

This was an awesome book - very well written as coming from Marie Antoinette's view.

Great book.

An overwhelmingly intimate portrait of France's last, ill-fated queen, "Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette" is also one of the finest historical novels I've ever read. The book begins with the 14-year-old Marie's trade-off to France and ends with her execution, so any and all events in the woman's life are covered throughout the narrative. Told in first person through many short chapters, divided further into five acts in the tradition of a Shakespearean tragedy (the perfect word to describe Antoinette's life), the novel offers views into Marie Antoinette's internal conflicts as she tries desperately to fulfill her roles as princess and eventually Queen of France, all while growing up and living in one of the most outrageously opulent palaces in Europe. Court gossip, fashion and food, and sexual scandal are all present, as are the more quiet moments of the Queen's life. The picture author Sena Jeter Naslund conjures up is of a typical woman trying to be the best wife, mother, and woman she can be. This is a truly sympathetic book and reveals how Marie Antoinette was at most a scapegoat for the rightfully-angry French citizenship to blame. If you're at all interested in Marie Antoinette, be sure to give this fantastically-written historical fiction novel a read!