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A review by alannaj
Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert and the Death That Changed the Monarchy by Helen Rappaport
3.0
The book felt very well researched, with the author providing very personal and intimate details of the lives of the Royal family at the time of Albert's death. This helped to set a tone and provide context to what could have otherwise been a book full of speculation.
I struggled with the author's tone at points in the book - I understand that the purpose was to dispel some of the myths around Victoria and Albert having a fairytale romance, but I felt at times that there was a cross into a more opinionated, personal feeling on the subject, rather than just presenting what happened and allowing that to speak for itself. I came away from the book feeling that the author wasn't filled with much respect for Queen Victoria, at least at this time in her life, giving an impression of her as self-indulgent, selfish and childish in her grief.
I also feel that the title of the book was misleading; I expected a focus on how Albert's death impacted her approach to running the country and how that left a mark on her legacy, which in some ways was given, but the emphasis was very much on how it impacted Victoria as a person rather than how it impacted her monarchy. There was much more focus given to the build up to Albert's death than I expected (100 of the 260 pages), and a further focus on the immediate ramifications that it had on those around him (another 60 or so pages), which left little room to actually deliver against the title and explain what that meant for the wider monarchy. Disappointingly, just as the content starts to delve into how Victoria picked herself back up again and became what history now recognises her as, the author cuts off and ends the book.
The delivery of the content was generally well-handled, it would have been easy to make the book feel stuffy and overly serious, but the author strikes a good balance between dignified and colloquial writing. Despite this, and an interesting subject matter, I battled to feel totally engaged with the book as a whole.
I struggled with the author's tone at points in the book - I understand that the purpose was to dispel some of the myths around Victoria and Albert having a fairytale romance, but I felt at times that there was a cross into a more opinionated, personal feeling on the subject, rather than just presenting what happened and allowing that to speak for itself. I came away from the book feeling that the author wasn't filled with much respect for Queen Victoria, at least at this time in her life, giving an impression of her as self-indulgent, selfish and childish in her grief.
I also feel that the title of the book was misleading; I expected a focus on how Albert's death impacted her approach to running the country and how that left a mark on her legacy, which in some ways was given, but the emphasis was very much on how it impacted Victoria as a person rather than how it impacted her monarchy. There was much more focus given to the build up to Albert's death than I expected (100 of the 260 pages), and a further focus on the immediate ramifications that it had on those around him (another 60 or so pages), which left little room to actually deliver against the title and explain what that meant for the wider monarchy. Disappointingly, just as the content starts to delve into how Victoria picked herself back up again and became what history now recognises her as, the author cuts off and ends the book.
The delivery of the content was generally well-handled, it would have been easy to make the book feel stuffy and overly serious, but the author strikes a good balance between dignified and colloquial writing. Despite this, and an interesting subject matter, I battled to feel totally engaged with the book as a whole.