Written by Robert Gildea
I’ve been circling this book for months. I’ve always had a sneaking fascination with the belle époque era of French history, and during a rummage through the history section of my local Chapters book store, I came across this book, which seemed to cover every little bit of what I had been looking for on the subject.
However, the book was a rather pricey hardcover, so I bided my time until the paperback arrived. I immediately pounced on it and tried to devour it…only to be disappointed…twice!
First of all, the binding of the paperback version is an abomination of publishing. The binding appears to be made out of the most unforgiving cardboard material, and the pages feel (even smell!) like the cheapest, most industrial newsprint available. It reminds me of the look and feel of old elementary school scrapbooks, after they have been filled to capacity with third grade art. The end result for both scrapbook and history book is that either one looks as if it had been used to plug a hole in a particularly violent rip in space/time. I should have splurged for the hardcover…
…at least, I would have splurged if the book had ended up being remotely satisfying. Children of the Revolution is an exercise in thematic info-dumping, on a Dan Brown/DaVinci Code scale. The chapters are divided logically, the information is laid out in a straightforward manner…but the writing style is dry, tedious and the written equivalent of droning, half-awake university professor, staggering at the front of a class you would usually skip. Some of the chapters have bite, thanks to the gossipy subject matter (relating the love life of Georges Sand will tend to do that), but the majority of the book caused my eyes to glaze over on more than one occasion. How can such a momentous topic as France between 1799 and 1914 manage to be conveyed in such a substandard manner?
Part of the problem might be because it’s TOO broad. The Napoleonic Era should never be distilled into such a compact work — it’s simply too grand an epic to contain in such a small cage. In fact, most of the book should be expanded…with each section deserving far more examination, detail, and (dare I say) salaciousness. This was a series of events that brought out the best and worst of the French nation…but nine times out of ten, it’s presented in the most antiseptic and perfunctory of fashions. I’ve read columns in the Toronto Sun that were more erudite than the majority of this book.
Hmm…look at it from another perspective. The Pillars of the Earth is historical fiction that takes place over a mere 30 years, but required 900+ pages to tell its astonishing, epic tale with the care & attention it deserved. Children of the Revolution requires a similar approach. It would have necessitated many extra volumes, but I believe the end result would have been far more palatable & worthwhile than this overly-compact attempt at research. It’s like trying to fit The Lord of the Rings into a Danielle Steele novel. We should ALL be spared such crimes.
On a separate note, a competent book binder wouldn’t go amiss…
