Review: Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Crown (February 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307588653
ISBN-13: 978-0307588654
genre: historical fiction
target group: adults


Synopsis:


The end of 18th century, France. Marie Grosholtz, a young woman of Swiss origin, lives with her mother, an uncle and three adult brothers in Paris. Her uncle is a showman by trade - he owns le Salon de Cire (the salon of wax) and Marie and her mother work for him - Marie is responsible for making clay and waxwork heads of different celebrities, her mum runs the house and sells tickets . In an age when the majority of commoners are uneducated or poorly educated at best, Marie and her family are able to provide people with the latest information on political figures and moods. Marie is a very gifted sculptor and a clever businesswoman – she even manages to secure a visit of the French royal family to their salon. The queen Marie Antoinette is impressed by her own wax figure's likeness so much that Marie is invited by the sister of the king Louis XVI, Madame Elisabeth, to Versailles to be her wax modelling tutor.

On the other hand Marie’s uncle, Philippe Curtius, befriends people from quite different walks of life – Robespierre, Marat, Desmoulins, Lafayette– who soon will become the main figures of the approaching French Revolution. While Marie discovers the charms and dangers of the royal palace, her uncle is more and more involved in revolutionary plottings. He does it on purpose - Marie's family are "survivalists" who try to straddle both worlds until it's clear which side will be the victor. However, they never come across as opportunists – you quickly understand they simply had no choice living in such difficult times. Balancing two opposites becomes more and more precarious though, especially that Marie truly befriends and sympathizes with her royal pupil and falls in love with a young promising scientist called Henri Charles who is her uncle’s neighbour and not a big fan of the Revolution either. Soon enough Henri asks for her hand but she hesitates. Although she loves him she can't imagine having a family and managing the business in an efficient way at the same time. She is clearly that workaholic type. ;)

Madame Tussaud's museum in London via Wikipedia

When the Revolution breaks out Marie is ordered to show her patriotism by making wax models of important people decapitated by the guillotine. Post mortem. It is a very grim task but she must do what she is told or she might soon become one of the victims herself. Henri decides to flee to London and he proposes to Marie again but she doesn’t want to marry and follow him if it would mean leaving the rest of her family behind. As the Reign of  Terror approaches Marie finds herself more and more disillusioned with the Revolution which brought her only fears, sorrows, deaths and pain. Finally Robespierre asks her to do something truly horrible, she refuses and is arrested, along with her mother. While awaiting the execution  she meets a young engineer, Francois Tussaud, who helps her and her sick mum to cope with the ugly reality in one of the most horrid Paris prisons. The book ends when Robespierre is decapitated and the days of terror are over. What will the future bring to Marie and her friends? Will her salon prosper once again?

What I liked:

I have no doubts that this book is better than Nefertiti. Marie Grosholtz/Madame Tussaud was a very good choice of a main character– she was as fascinating as the times she lived in. Miraculously she got to know not only the royal family but also the major figures of the Revolution – and lived to tell the tale. She was an independent woman who knew and liked her trade and could earn a decent living – a rare thing in 18th century! Moran portrayed her character in a way that was genuine and realistic.

The times of French Revolution were described in a way that is historically correct (but, as I am hardly a French Revolution scholar so treat this statement as only my very subjective opinion), with plenty of interesting details. The book was a real page-turner – I read it in two days! As there are a lot of characters in this novel, you can find a very useful list of them in the front of the book along with the time line, historical notes and also a glossary for those who are unfamiliar with French words as the book is peppered with them.

Madame Tussaud's self-portrait in wax

The softback cover is really very nice!

What I didn’t like:

Believe me, I wanted to like this book very much but it left me puzzled and somewhat cold. In my view it lacked the grittiness of the average person’s experience. The French Revolution remains one of the most interesting periods in the European history and here I couldn't feel it. Neither the horror of the guillotine nor the grandeur of the royal court are presented in all the glorious/gory details. Writing historical fiction means that you want to reconstruct the events and the atmosphere of a given era. The events are right in place in this book, no problem, but I didn’t feel the atmosphere; it was as if I visited an old-fashioned museum, where you can admire interesting exhibits in glass cabinets, read about them and their history but somehow you don’t feel involved because you can’t touch anything.

My other huge reason to complain is the ending – in my opinion the book ends right in the middle! The blurb clearly promises that we are going to be shown how "a young girl comes to be known as the woman behind one of the most famous museums in the world" but the novel doesn't deliver! We find out about the rest of Marie’s story, I might add the crucial rest, from a short paragraph in the last “After the Revolution” chapter. Perhaps the authoress decided that the whole focus should be given to the years of the French Revolution but I found it really strange and unjust. When you write about such an interesting character as Madame Tussaud and you omit one half of her adult life (maybe even more) you either fish for a sequel contract or you simply don’t do your work properly. I felt cheated, especially as the book is told from Marie’s point of view. Ok, she survives, she marries Francois and what, end of the story, nothing to write home about? I doubt it, especially that we are very succinctly informed that Marie's marriage to Monsieur Tussaud was a big fat disaster - so big that she finally decided to leave France with one of her sons and settle in London, reuniting with the love of her life. Isn't it  fantastic material for some additional chapters? Wouldn't it be lovely to read how she rearanged her private life and restarted her business in the Great Britain?  If not, perhaps the title of this book should be changed into something like "Marie Grosholtz witnessing the Revolution" or even better - "The French Revolution observed from le Salon de Cire". "Madame Tussaud" without madame Tussaud is really a senseless idea.

Final verdict:

I am left conflicted. The book is undeniably well-written and interesting but somehow it didn’t manage to move me. The history of French Revolution is treated with respect but the main character and her personal story – not. Reading it wasn’t a waste of time but it wasn’t the time of my life either. One thing is certain – now I would love to find out more about Madame Tussaud! I might even visit Madame Tussaud’s museum in London just to admire her autoportrait in wax! I am not sure, though, whether I am going to read another of Ms Moran's books. The jury is still out.

Marie Antoinette by Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun

Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1 edition (July 10, 2007)

• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307381463
• ISBN-13: 978-0307381460
• genre: historical fiction

I got this book in the digital form courtesy of my friend Kasiul - thanks a lot!

Synopsis:

The Eighteenth Dynasty, ancient Egypt. Nefertiti and Mutnodjmet (Mutny), two daughters of a powerful Egyptian vizier, grew up in a rural sleepy town. All this comes to a sudden halt when Nefertiti, aged just 15, is chosen to be Chief Wife of the young, hot blooded heir apparent to the Egyptian throne – Amunhotep the Younger. The prince has an obsession for Aten, a minor Egyptian god representing the Sun disc, and he hates priests of Amon, as, in his opinion, they wield too much power and are too rich. Nefertiti was chosen by her father and her aunt, the old Pharaoh's wife, just because they believe she would be able to reign in Amunhotep and temper his hand.

Akhenaten worshipping the Aten with his family via Wikipedia

The prince has already been known for being power-hungry and ruthless. In 1351 B.C., he allegedly murdered his older brother who had had a bad chariot accident; that’s how he became next in line to Egypt's throne. Now he's 17, and he already has a wife, but Kiya's blood is not royal, and she is hardly as bewitching as Nefertiti. Things get tense when Kiya gives birth to a son and the popular Nefertiti has only daughters. When the old Pharaoh dies in mysterious circumstances the new Pharaoh decides to force Egyptians to change their old religion and worship only Aten. He even changes his name to Akhenaten. He also decides to build a new city for himself and his Chief Wife. He seems to be deaf to the pleas of his generals –  Hetits have been attacking Egyptian borders and the king is wasting money on useless statues and temples.

Meanwhile, Mutny – now being Nefertiti’s handmaiden, closest friend and the best confidante - secretly longs for a family of her own. Nefertiti and her father don’t even think of allowing her to do so. As her sister rises higher and higher, Mutny feels more and more trapped in the court full of dark intrigues and dirty politics. She falls in love with a young general but the Pharaoh doesn’t like soldiers and doesn’t trust them so she can’t marry him. Finally, a tragedy occurs and it forces Mutny to claim her independence and start her own life on her own terms. Just in time - as the royal family is making one mistake after another a revolt against them and their new god is brewing. Not to mention the plague.

What I liked:

Mutnodjmet is a very nice character – the real highlight of the novel. Her relationship with Nefertiti is beautifully depicted. There is a scene where they are both praying to the Hippopotamus goddess of fertility but they just can't seem to stop their sisterly bickering long enough to get through the prayers - it was very funny and real. I don't know if the author really intended the scene to be humorous but I found it charming and well-written. Unfortunately, overall it was one of few good scenes.

What I didn’t like:

Writing a historical novel set in a such distant period is always a risk. In most cases such a novel will contain minor (and sometimes major) distortions. The Eighteenth Dynasty, especially those years which were dominated by the "heretic" king Akhenaten and his fascinating queen, Nefertiti, is an enigmatic era in Ancient Egyptian history, filled with speculations, theories and questions that will probably never be answered by us. If your fictional narration is supposed to work you must try to present it in a believable way finding clever explanations to some of these questions. I’m afraid Ms Moran failed to come up with good theories and her only saving grace is the fact that it was her debut novel and she chose a difficult topic (but hey, who made her to do so?).

Most of the book reads as if it was written by a student. The dialogue is simplistic, main characters, especially the young Pharaoh Akhenaten (presented as a one-note shrill and over-ambitious lunatic) were annoying. The plot was hardly better - especially the climax seemed to me rather ridiculous. How anyone who has done even the slightest research into the times of the Pharaohs, (as Moran is said having done) would expect a reader to believe that the king of Egypt could be quarantined in his own palace until he dies? The Pharaoh was a living god and could not be touched, let alone be left to die in some sealed up room while everyone just looked on and waited. The death of his beloved Nefertiti was also rather abrupt and unbelievable – it looked as if the authoress has suddenly run out of time and, in order to tuck away all the odds and ends, grabbed the first idea that came to her mind. Not a very brilliant idea.

Nefertiti, presented as a ruler (with a crown on her head) is pouring wine to her husband via Wikipedia

Also the authoress didn’t explain well why it was necessary for Akhenaten to marry Nefertiti at all. Well, let me straighten it up - in order to be crowned as the Pharaoh the heir apparent had to marry one of royal blood princesses – that’s why different princes often married their sisters or half-sisters, nieces, aunts and even daughters. Committing a horrible incest, I know, but keep in mind that these guys were thought to be living gods; they followed different laws and only the royal female bloodline could provide them with the crown. Some Egyptologists even claim that this custom was clearly the remnant of  matriarchal society. That’s why Kiya, even being the mother of a royal prince or two, couldn’t have been the Chief Wife (let alone a woman-pharaoh). On the other hand Nefertiti qualified not because she was daughter of a Mittian princess (as it was stressed out in the book several times) but mainly because her aunt was the Queen of Egypt so she belonged to the royal bloodline and apparently Akhenaton had no sisters or other female relatives closer than her. That’s why the fact that Nefertiti from the novel is so anxious to have a son is beyond credibility – it is not an European queen, her daughters were more than enough as anybody who wanted the double crown of Egypt would have to marry one of them anyway.

But the biggest leap of logic this book in my opinion takes is to blame the downfall of Akhenaten's city, Amarna, and his new religion on the Black Plague. I truly did a double take reading this. Now it's not impossible that the plague existed back then, but this is the first time I've heard of it. Most Egyptologists assume that the unpopular Akehnaten was overthrown by a public revolt, which seems the most likely theory to me.

Final verdict:

Fortunately this book came free to me via one of my Internet friends. It is perhaps a decent read as far as a romance goes, but if you know anything at all about Egyptology steer clear of it - IMHO it is a total waste of papyrus.

Isn't she lovely? Image via Wikipedia