European Royalty discussion

Please discuss The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court here.
Anyone reading this thread should have finished the entire book, therefore you do not need to worry about spoilers :)
Also, please let us know how you rated the book!

The one thing that surprised me about this book is that the protagonists speaks directly to the reader and it is written in the first person. I don't think I have ever experienced this except, perhaps in a play!

I've read other first person narrative books, but I normally haven't cared for them too much (and I've only read a small amount that switched the narrative around like this). I thought it worked well here though. How did you like it Beve? It is pretty different if you haven't encountered it before.

Sara W wrote: "I've read other first person narrative books, but I normally haven't cared for them too much (and I've only read a small amount that switched the narrative around like this). I thought it worked w..."

I am not hating it. I noticed it because it is so rare that I come across the first person used this way in a novel. I guess, I am so use to a narrator. Having said that I am liking the book thus far- very colorful characters--Pauline, Paul in particular. In addition, although I am yet to encounter Napolean I doubt he will be wearing pastels!

I was really intrigued by Paul. I would be interested in reading more about him (although I realize there isn't much out there for source material). Same for Pauline - it was difficult to tell if she was just really eccentric or if she had some sort of mental health issue. Either way, she certainly had a unique way of thinking.

I read this book last year when it first came out some my recollection is not the best to participate in the discussion. What I did enjoy about the book (and Michelle Moran as an author) is that it was about characters that I was not familiar with. With the exception of some books about Josephine (and a historically inaccurate favorite of mine, Désirée), I have not read much about Napoleon and his family. I would certainly enjoy reading more about them as a family rather than about Napoleon's military exploits. They certainly seemed like a dysfunctional family so I'm guessing that there is a lot of material there to write about.