Los monstruos de Santa Elena (Histórica)

by Brooks Hansen

Barcelona. 20 cm. 377 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Colección 'Histórica'. Traducción, Nuria Salinas Villar. Traducción de: The monsters of St. Helena. Histórica (Verticales de Bolsillo) .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. ISBN: 978-84-92421-03-9

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Brooks Hansen is an American novelist, screenwriter, and illustrator best known for his 1995 book The Chess Garden. He has also written one young adult's novel. He lives with his family in Carpinteria, California. He attended Harvard University and was the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this wasn't a book based on fact, would I have continued to read it? If Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't one of the main characters and as I'm going through a French phase, would I have given up? Really as always I consider a book good if I don't want to put it down and this book became the one on my pile I read when I wanted to go to sleep. Within a few pages my eyelids would droop and yet I persevered to the end, reading night after night. It does have charm and the island itself has an interesting background of characters and events to round out the book. Other reviews have already mentioned the concept of judgement one of the obvious themes. I enjoyed more the concept of how the young girl Betsy and Bonaparte related as sometimes you do in life, when personalities meet and learn from each other with no obvious connections or reasons to do so. Kindred spirit, a much maligned phrase but if you haven't met one in your life, even for a brief time, you might not relate to the term or the characters in this novel.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is based on the real story of Napoleon Bonaparte´s exile to St Helena island. The Balcombes are a real family who hosted him until his home was completed.

The island is located in the middle of the South Atlantic so there was no possibility of him escaping like he did from Elba. The first resident of the island was Fernando Lopez in the 1500´s. His spirit through the slaves´ puppets are reincarnated. Both Lopez and Bonaparte are the "monsters" in this story. These two stories are woven together quite well.

The problem I had with reading this novel is that I was also reading another historical novel taking place in the middle of the South Seas. It, too, had an early resident named Juan Fernandez and an English settler in the 1700´s. The topography of both islands were similar. My problem was that I was confusing Lopez with Fernandez.

Otherwise, this is a good story.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is likely an enjoyable read, but it moved too slowly for me. The story focuses on the arrival of Napoleon B. on the Island of St. Helena and his relationship with the people of the island, primarily that of a young girl. I admit it, I became bored.

[Linore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not finish this book, but not because it was badly written. I gave it four stars for its promising beginning, but in the end dropped it due to what you might call a conflict of interest.

I picked it up because I am interested in the Napoleonic Era, overlapping as it does with Regency England. (I'm a Regency romance author.) I dropped it only because I did not want to fill my head with a fictional account of Napoleon, preferring to read non-fiction for my research, as I do with all the historical figures I sometimes put in my novels.

[Peter D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t like it as much as his other books. Thinner and slighter, though it conjured up its central characters really well. A parallel plot involving the slaves on the island didn’t work as well as the central relationship between Napoleon and a little English girl.

[Barbara Parrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel focuses on Napoleon’s exile to St. Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic. He is placed in the custody of Balcombe family while his residence on the island is being built. He develops a relationship with the young girl of the family, Betsy, as she speaks French. Betsy and Napoleon have an uneven relationship at times, but seem to truly connect despite their wide differences. The book also speaks to the history of the island and goes back to its founding by Fernando Lopez. The denouement of Napoleon’s life is becoming apparent, adding an essence of sadness to the tale. I found that the historical elements of the island distracted from the main story rather than adding to it.

[Rozonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming and melancholic, this (real) story about the friendship between fallen Napoleon and a teenage girl, Betsy Balcombe, is told with simplicity and charm and mixing it with the folk tales of the island, Hansen gets to make us think about the game of masks that sometimes we play when we label somebody we don't really know. Betsy , on her way to being a woman, will discover that thanks to Napoleon.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure what the point of this book about Napoleon's exile on the island of St. Helena was. Though intended to be a novel, you have to plot to be considered a novel, and this one really didn't have any. I think in many ways the author was trying to express that there was more to Napoleon that the conqueror but this book was painful.

[Fabian · Rating 2 out of 5]

El último exilio de Napoleón merece un mejor libro... No hay mucho que decir acerca de este trabajo de Hansen en el cual los mejores apartes corresponden, como debía suponerse, a las apariciones de Napoleón. Sin embargo, para los que esperan adentrarse en la psiquis del gran emperador, este no es definitivamente la obra apropiada.

[Karen]

Moving to the abandoned (unfinished symphony) shelf - I can't decide if I just don't like it, or if now is just not the right time. Either way, I find myself staring at the ceiling each night instead of picking it up, so I'm moving on.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very solid performance from the author of The Chess Garden. An interesting premise of Napoleon in his final exile befriended by a young girl on the island.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about a) the imprisonment of Napoleon on St. Helena b) The history of the island c) What we mean when we use the work monster

[Dlmrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5