Rating: 
Summary: Tragic Story of French Revolution's Famous Victim
Review: Lady Antonia Fraser newest biography is a familiar story but she fortunately brings many new facts and forgotten figures to light. By including "The Journey" in her title, Lady Fraser's
main purpose is to convince the reader that Marie Antoinette did
indeed transform herself from the frivolous and disinterested Queen she was purported to be. This the author accomplishes brilliantly and with the historical facts needed to back herself up.
Within the first few pages, Lady Fraser thoroughly trounces that famous and oft-repeated statement attributed to the Queen ("Let them eat cake!")as nothing more than a vicious slur while
acknowledging it as the first of many to do permanent damage to her image and character. Lady Fraser is able to separate rumors
from facts and does so through her inexhaustible research and innumerable sources. The long and painful incarceration of the Royal Family is quite detailed here and sheds new light on not only the ill-treatment of the Queen, but particularly of her son (who died miserably and isolated in captivity).
This is undoubtedly a sad story but one not unique for the victims of the French Revolution: a revolution that ended up
devouring itself and its leaders in the immolation of the Terror.
Lady Fraser certainly makes the case that, like most of the victims of this volatile period, Marie Antoinette was sentenced to death by a pre-arranged "kangaroo court" and was in essence
"murdered" not for what she had done, but for who she had been.
A rather sly reference in the epilogue notes that her chief harasser on the Revolutionary Committee, Jaques Hebert, ended
up in the same graveyard as the former Queen within a few short months: a deserving victim of the chaos and terror that he himself instigated.
All in all, Lady Antonia Fraser has written an outstanding
biography that compares well with her previous work and, in some instances, surpasses it. Thanks to this book, readers and historians alike will be able to obtain a far truer and balanced picture of a much-maligned historical figure. It is certainly a "Journey" worth taking.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent read, but what happened to the facts?
Review: Like all her previous historical biographies, Antonia Fraser's MARIE ANTOINETTE is extremely well written and insightful. Unfortunately, there are pages and pages of factual errors which jump out to those of us who have read almost every book written on the queen and which lead me to question one of my fellow reviewers' comments about her "impeccable scholarship". Ms. Fraser even gets the location of the queen's execution wrong! Her editor must be receiving indignant letters from the queen's other biographers in droves. As always, however, a very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: The Tragic Queen
Review: Long a fan of Antonia Fraser's meticulously researched writing, her current offering on the tragic life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, has climbed new heights in scholarship. She writes as a sympathetic but silent witness to this woman's travails, from the time of her sharply curtailed happy adolescent life to her eventual execution and brings her to life in such a way that tears were coursing down my cheeks by the time I had finished the book, I was so deeply moved - and I don't weep easily. Anyone interested in the period around the French Revolution or in the French Royal Family should read this. It is a very powerful book and one that will stay in my mind for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Scapegoat of the Revolution
Review: Marie Antoinette has fascinated countless generations since she met her untimely death at the guillotine during the height of the French Revolution. Was she a wanton woman concerned only with her own pleasure or was she loving wife and mother, caught up in circumstances beyond her control? The general consensus now seems to be the latter and biographer Antonia Fraser makes a strong case for this perception. While Marie Antoinette had many faults (reckless spending chief amongst these), Fraser points out that Antoinette was only fourteen when she married Louis Auguste, the Dauphin, heir to his grandfather Louis XV. Never properly educated by her mother Empress Marie Therese of Austria, Antoinette did her best to fulfill her number one purpose in life-to produce an heir. Unfortunately, the Dauphin had almost no sexual drive at all, and the marriage would be unconsummated for years. It was during this time, that public opinion seemed to form its worst opinions of Antoinette. Seen as a reckless gambler, more concerned with parties and spending, Antoinette did court disaster with her own behavior. However, as Fraser points out, the inability to produce an heir was not her fault entirely but rather simply two very young and inexperienced people who had no real idea of what was expected of them. A visit from Antoinette's brother, the Emperor Joseph II led to a frank talk with both and soon after that, the marriage was finally consummated. It was not long before a child was born (a daughter), followed in turn by two sons and one more daughter (only two children would survive Antoinette).At this point, Marie Antoinette the mother becomes dominant and she no longer occupied herself with frivolous past times. But the die had been cast with the French people who could never see her than anything else but a pleasure loving seductress, living off the misery of others. Fraser does an admirable job of point out that Antoinette's expenditures were no more than the others around her and she possessed a real desire to help the French people. Those who knew her intimately thought her a kind and loving person and these qualities were put to the test after the French Revolution left her and her family at the mercy of the mob. It is in the last three years of her life that we see the real Marie Antoinette, a woman devoted to her husband and her family, a woman willing to do whatever she could to avoid bloodshed. But events moved too swiftly and hundreds of years of oppression by the nobility had focused the hatred of the French people on perhaps the most innocent of victims. I think it is interesting to note that Louis XVI had no mistresses, unlike his previous two successors, and that this allowed the French people to concentrate their hatred on Marie Antoinette since they felt no on else could have swayed his decision making. In previous reigns, the mistresses had been accused of leading the king astray. Madame Montespan, Madame de Pompadour and the Countess du Barry had been seen as the villains in early times and they bore the brunt of the ill feelings against the court. While Marie Antoinette is the main focus of the biography, many other lives are illuminated. Maria Therese, Empress of Austria and mother of Antoinette is a stern woman, bent on ruling over the lives of all her daughters, regardless of their location or position. Louis XVI is a weak man, unable to make decisions when needed yet never cruel or vindictive. Count Fersen, the only viable candidate as an actual lover of Marie Antoinette, who never stopped trying to help her and her family during her final years as a captive of the revolution. Antonia Fraser has done a marvelous job of making Marie Antoinette come to life, portraying both her good and bad qualities yet ultimately demonstrating that she surely never deserved what fate finally had in store for her. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a fuller understanding of the events leading up to the French Revolution and how a scapegoat was made of a young wife and mother unable to control the events around her.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Reading a Train Wreck
Review: Marie Antoinette's story is such a sad one..reading Antonia Fraser's book is like watching a video of an accident. You know how it's going to end, but the people in the story don't. Ms. Fraser inexorably sets up the events leading to the demise of the royal family in the French Revolution. She paints a sympathetic picture of Marie Antoinette, but leaves the reader to decide if she deserved to be as reviled as she was. It is beautifully researched and well written (as are other Fraser biographies, in my opinion). Thomas Jefferson, in Paris during the events that led up to the beheading of the Queen, said (and this is paraphrased:) "There is no doubt that there would not have been a Revolution if Marie Antoinette had not been the Queen of France." Do you agree? I'm not so sure.
Rating:
Summary: Very good biography on Marie Antoninette
Review: Marie Antoninette proves to be a highly readable and nicely research biography. Antonia Fraser made it pretty clear that this Queen of France was probably one of the most misunderstood and most falsely maligned personalities of the French Revolution, accused by her enemies from being a lesbian to a drunkard. While Marie Antoniette was a person of many weaknesses, the author made it clear that outside of her undereducated and immature mind, her spendthrift ways which probably wasn't good for France, Marie Antoniette was none of the things that she was accused of being. Actually in reading this book, I was bit surprised how ordinary and somewhat boring her life was until the last six years before her death. But here's lies the weakness of the book. The book really doesn't go that deep into Marie Antoniette's life during that crucial period. I have read more detail accounts of her life in other books that dealt strictly with the French Revolution then I have in this biography. The book was very good in informing the reader of the pre-French Revolution period of Marie Antoninette's life but faltered afterward. Maybe Antonia Fraser should have stop in 1789 since she really didn't have much to add that wasn't written before by other authors. (Of course, if she did that, it won't be a "complete biography".) Overall though, this book is well worth any reader's time to read if you have such interest in the life and time of Marie Antoninette. For those who don't read much on the French Revolution, its an excellent choice! Author's effort to rehabilitate Marie Antoninette's reputation proves to be pretty successful and with certain justice, long overdue.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but sometimes rushed
Review: Overall this was an excellent book. Beautiful pictures helped enhance the reading experience. Versailles truly came alive during her early reign. Miss Fraser threw a curve ball by suggesting Louis XVI never had an operation for his sexual 'problem'. Such an operation would have stopped his hunting for at least a week. Louis kept a very accurate hunting journal and there are no date gaps that would have suggested his 'problem' was corrected. So did this king not like Marie Antoinette? He kept no mistresses, so one can only asume he was gay or impotent. I mean c'mon almost seven and a half years of marriage before consumation? The book also describes the so-called 'affair' between Axel and Antoinette. The book never says for sure if there was an affair, but if there was, it was suggested there was intercourse at least once. When the family was being held shortly after their return from the famous and ill-fated escape attempt. Parts of this book seemed rushed. For instance, arguably the most exciting moment of Marie's life was the escape attempt from France. Other books go into much more detail. The September massacres were briefly mentioned except for the killing of Princess de Lambelle. Although I learned in this book that before her head was paraded under the Queen's window, the murderers actually took the head to a beautician's parlor to have her hair done so the Queen would instantly recognize her! The death of Louis XVII was brief, one sentence. There was no mention of his abuse at the hands of the jailors. True this is Marie Antoinette's story, but it is only from her biographies we get any information about her children. The fate of Joseph Louis in the Tower was a tragedy, and we can only be happy the Queen was not alive to know about it. The Queen's trial was covered well, but I've read better. This book is truly a treasure for those most interested in Marie Antoinette's childhood and early reign, that is where the author seemed to put most of her effort. I read new information on the child and 'dauphine' that would become Queen Marie Antoinette. A recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: The Austrian woman
Review: Pampered daughter of an Empress, doomed Queen of France, Marie Antoinette is one of the most Romantic figures in world history. Though many denounce her as selfish and stupid, she has her champions who see her as a compassionate woman victimized by historical circumstances. One of these is Antonia Fraser, whose "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" (2001) may well be one of the most sympathetic portraits ever written of a monarch, aside from "official biographies". (But then, the author handled Mary, Queen of Scots the same way.) Beginning with her childhood as an Archduchess in Vienna, daughter of the doting but stern Maria Theresa, the book follows Maria Antonia's journey into France as the fiancée of the hapless Dauphin, becoming the sparkling Marie Antoinette. Extraordinarily popular (at first), she usually displayed the finest discretion and kindness, despite her haughty attitude towards the Comtesse du Barry (who, incidently, was to share her fate). So many of the nasty rumors circulated about her were most likely untrue, including the "Let them eat cake" story, which Antonia Fraser says was first attributed to the wife of Louis XIV in the 17th Century. The libelles accusing Marie Antoinette of cruelty and promiscuity only prove that trashy publications are not confined to our era. Her attachment to Count Axel Fersen is recounted unblushingly, and it becomes particularly touching in 1791, when the dashing Swede tried to to help the Queen get her family out of France. Probably the most complicated and incriminating episode in Marie Antoinette's life was the Diamond Necklace Affair (Napoleon said it more than anything else led her to the guillotine), and Antonia Fraser describes its intricacies carefully -- emphasizing, bien sûr, the Queen's innocence. Oddly enough, of the many portraits of Marie Antoinette, few show her displaying a necklace at all, much less anything resembling the rivière of the scandal. For a woman supposedly so enamored of jewels, she didn't seem to wear many. (There are more than 50 illustrations, most of them color plates.) The book is nearly 500 pages long, but the descriptions of court life and an increasingly dangerous political situation make for easy reading. Despite her husband's respect and the adoration of her children, Marie Antoinette will always have her detractors. But this biography shows that the Queen's final torments, as well as the judicial travesties enacted against her, more than compensate for any mistakes she may have made during her luxurious journey to disaster.
Rating: 
Summary: boring
Review: The author seems to be trying very hard to fill up the book on a subject whose life comes across as "uninteresting". For example, the description of Marie Antoinette's nose and looks fill up pages. Bits and pieces about some individuals are spread among several chapters, making it difficult to get a full insight of these characters. In other words, the book is poorly laid out, and the stories are fragmented ... perhaps it is because there isn't much to say about Marie Antoinette in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Unquiet ghosts of Versailles
Review: The best biographers know they have to be sympathetic to their subjects somehow or the biography just isn't very interesting; fortunately in Marie Antoinette Antonia Fraser found not only someone sympathetic but even someone who was, for all her faults, ultimately admirable in her composure and grace in the midst of horrors. Fraser does not whitewash the queen's extravagance nor her intellectual limitations nor even her affair with Count Felsen of Sweden, but she also shows that the Austrian-born consort has been unjustly maligned for being excessively Machiavellian (which she was almost incapable of being) and for the Diamond Necklace Affair (where the queen was almost wholly innocent, although she did mismanage her own exoneration). She is also very moving in her descriptions of how Marie Antoinette was a pawn in her mother's dynastic strategies, and perceptive in her explanations of how Louis XVI's sexual awkwardness resulted initially in the queen's constant anxiety regarding her inopportunity to provide an heir and then later in her unlucky assumption of the roles usually accorded to the king's mistress. Fraser writes beautifully, with a strong sense of narrative and character: I found it a hard to stop reading. The color photo inserts are also quite well chosen. My only strong gripe would be the inadequate genealogical charts Fraser provides, which is especially unfortunate given the multiple (and confusing) titles assumed by the king's and queen's immediate Bourbon and Hapsburg family members. Fraser wastes space providing a chart showing how both Louis and Marie Antoinette are descended from mary Stuart--something of great interest to her, perhaps (as the foremost biographer of Mary, Queen of Scots), but not to her readers, who would benefit more from a chart explainging other things.
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