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NAPOLEON’S EXILE

Name: NAPOLEON’S EXILE
Author: Patrick Rambaud
ISBN: 0-8021-1826-7

by Patrick Rambaud & translated by Shaun Whiteside ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2006

Lively, true to history and a pleasure for period buffs.

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Everybody loves a winner. Lose your throne to the combined armies of Europe, though, and it’s a different story.

Prix Goncourt winner Rambaud continues his epic study of Napoleon Bonaparte (The Battle, 2000; The Retreat, 2004) with the events of 1814, which find the world conqueror in dire straits. To the south stands Wellington’s army, “swollen by elite Spanish and Portuguese troops”; to the east and north are Russians, Swedes, Poles, Austrians, Prussians and Netherlanders, all mightily ticked off; back in Paris, the monarchists are dusting off their fleurs-de-lis, even though, as one provocateur admits, “Everyone has forgotten the Bourbons.” There are some rotten apples lurking in the Tuileries, such as Talleyrand (“prince of intrigue”), but Napoleon is the big prize. Rambaud draws sharply detailed portraits of the actors in his well-paced historical drama, which attains moments worthy of Hugo, as when a crowd of boulevardiers and solid citizens gathers to greet the allies: “We’ve been waiting so long for this liberation,” says an excited young noblewoman, which earns the rebuke, “Of course we have, Zoe, but a countess doesn’t hop up and down.” Finally caught, Napoleon is hustled off to a presumptively shameful exile off the Italian coast, where he stuffs himself with chicken dumplings and wine and plans great things, mostly in the nature of remodeling the house (“Ah, Pons!” he exclaims. “See how busy my mind is, spending money that I haven’t got”). The Bonaparte who emerges from Rambaud’s pages is a likable fellow, fond of practical jokes. But he’s too driven to stay put, and in no time, he’s organized agricultural reforms (so that the island of Elba no longer has to import wheat), recruited an army and worked his way back to the mainland to do his special mischief—a matter, we imagine, that Rambaud will take up in his next book.

Lively, true to history and a pleasure for period buffs.

Pub Date: June 9, 2006

ISBN: 0-8021-1826-7

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Grove

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RETREAT
by Patrick Rambaud & translated by William Hobson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BATTLE
by Patrick Rambaud & translated by Will Hobson

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.