There are a few things I find remarkable about Sena Jeter Naslund's novel of Marie Antoinette, not the least of which is her ability to highlight her protagonist's frivolity and self-centeredness, yet still make her genuinely intriguing and likeable.
Told in the first person, Naslund channels the voice of Marie Antoinette convincingly. The notoriety of Marie Antoinette -- and the fact that those reading about her come into the novel with preconcieved notions of who she was -- no doubt makes this an even more difficult and impressive feat. One leaves the novel with a deeper awareness (and surely, appreciation) to this French Queen and her relevance to today's socio-political issues.
And oh my, the language. I love the baroque feel of it all. It captures the opulence and luxury of the Sofia Coppola film, without the irony and strangely discomforting presence of Jason Schwartzman:
"Perhaps my life is but a series of disrobing and robing again for the task at hand. Perhaps all lives could be measured in such terms....I could not emerge from this brocade chysalis by myself."
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