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Lädt ... The Darkness of Wallis Simpson (2005)von Rose Tremain
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This is not the complete book, but just the actual short story in the collection by the same name. It's quite a grim tale of Wallis Simpson's last years, where she is obviously dementing and there is some strange person/carer/jailer who is looking after her and who keeps pressing her to remember details of her life with her third husband, which are long gone. Instead, Wallis reviews all odd snippets from other parts of her early life and marriages and you get an idea of where she came from and influences that may have created the person that she became. Although certain things may try to make the reader gain sympathy for her, and indeed nobody would wish an end-of-life story like this on anyone, I'm afraid my opinion of Wallis Simpson really hasn't changed from the one I had before reading this short story, though her ending, which apparently did happen like this, was quite sad. I didn't read the book. I listened to the radio play preparatory to reading [b:That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor|10866215|That Woman The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor|Anne Sebba|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330066232s/10866215.jpg|15781412]. I was impressed by the script, less so by the story. This is just a brief review because the words of the author on her own book illuminate this strange, dark play better than I can. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8202340/Wallis-Simpson-Just-who-di... Since she and her husband, the King Edward VIII who abdicated for her (the only king to have ever abdicated by his own free will in the UK) were best mates with Hitler and Edward was to be restored as (the puppet) king when Hitler rolled in triumphant to the defeated UK, I think the whole entire world got served best by his abdication. She was just a money-hungry adventurer, and the entire mystery lies in what this plain woman had that attracted so many men, so much money and created so much scandal. This is the first time that I have read short stories by Rose Tremain and I was amazed at her skill in this difficult form of prose. "The Darkness of Wallis Simpson" is the longest story and appears to have been first published in this book. It is the story of the heartbreaking emotional war between the dying and demented Simpson and her possessive and controlling lawyer. The remaining stories are a delight. This is a very readable book, I finished it in an evening. This is a wonderful book and the title story is an absolutely fascinating look at the last days of the Duchess of Windsor's life as she lay in a coma, aided by the evil Maitre Blum. Every story in this book is exquisite. I just discovered this author (like Alan Bennett) and cannot wait to read more. keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
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"Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American woman for whom Edward Vlll abdicated in 1936, ended her life (as the Duchess of Windsor) as the prisoner of her lawyer who would not allow anyone - friend, foe or journalist - to visit her in her Paris flat. Rose Tremain takes this true story and transforms it into an imaginative and ironic fiction. Her thesis is that Wallis, gaga and bed-ridden, has forgotten the king who gave up an empire for love of her. This superb story plays with the selectiveness of memory: why does Wallis recall the seemingly unimportant, while forgetting the glory days of her notoriety? She can remember her first two husbands - one a bit of a brute, the other very boring - but not the world-famous third one. The other stories in this magnificent collection range over a variety of themes, equally original and unexpected. An East German border guard, redundant after the Berlin Wall comes down in 1989, imagines that he might still have a purpose in life: he tries to reach Russia by bicycling across the hostile wastes of Poland. A jilted man gets his revenge. A baby grows wings. A character in an Impressionist painting escapes from his 'frame' - or does he? And th Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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The stpries were narrated by a variety of people and in some cases, the accents were approaching a parody that felt unecessary.
It's a good read, but I think that reading it all at once it could become rather opressive. ( )