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Mrs. Adams In Winter: A Journey In The Last Days Of Napoleon (2010)

by Michael O'Brien(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0374215812 (ISBN13: 9780374215811)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: This is much more meandering than Louisa Adams' journey from St. Petersburg to Paris in Feb - Mar 1815. It's incredibly hard to follow. Each city where she stops comes with a "why this city mattered to her" and brings forth a cast of characters that are hard to follow. And some parts, where he's disputing her diary of the journey, seem like the author has a personal dislike of her. The frenetic pace of "In 1796, she was living in such-and-such. In 1835, when she wrote of her time in 1815 in such-and-such..." was difficult to follow and unnecessary. Actually, the book seems somewhat unnecessary - like he was struggling to construct a narrative out of a periodic diary. I may have learned something about Louisa & John Quincy Adams, but this was a most unenjoyable way to d... moreo so.
review 2: This falls into the "Life's too short to read this" category of books, though simply by being dull rather than being bad. I was not invested enough in the topic to be willing to sit through the author's caveats that she might have stayed in this town or in that, and whether she might have attended the theater while doing so. There's probably an interesting story in there, but apparently it occurred after I gave up. less

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