Reviews for I Am Madame X

The average rating for I Am Madame X based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-09-18 00:00:00 Ethan Quillen This is a fictional treatment of Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau, the "Madame X" of John Singer Sargent's famous portrait. It was published in 2003, just one year too soon to benefit from Strapless, the first book length biography of Madame Gautreau. The story begins on the family's plantation in Louisiana. Gioia Diliberto created a thrilling escape scene (the Union Army threatens their estate) worthy of Hollywood movie. In reality, their flight was probably quite dull. In Paris they did not settle into flea-bag apartment; they went to a property they owned, but Diliberto's imagination is much more fun. Where Diliberto may be spot on is in grafting a personality on to the portrait. Written in the first person, Gautreau shows herself to be adventuresome and daring particularly when it comes to making herself the center of attention. She is obsessed with her looks and who notices them. Her social climbing mother tries to get invites to parties with royalty (and former royalty - this is belle epoch Paris) and marry her daughter "up". Diliberto shows how these were perfect conditions for someone to agree to this project, which was daring for its day (think: Janet Jackson, wardrobe malfunction). The author's ideas in creating Gautreau's life are excellent, but the text seems too detached to be the voice of her subject. For instance, descriptions of Gautreau's mother's reception and the brief text of the Salon unveiling are well thought out events as are how Gautreau's marriage was sprung on her and how the "folk" expressed pride in their mistress's picture. These are excellent vignettes for conveying what may have happened but the narrator does not sound like the person who lived it. Similarly the situations depicting her conflicts with the mother, how her teenage heart was broken, the realities of a "marriage blanc" an affair with a politician, the boredom of sitting for a portrait and the issues that arise when someone takes control of your image is are excellent creations. They are told like a reporter and not like a survivor. Purists will not like this book because it strays from the facts. I appreciated the creativity of the author and believe authors of historical fiction should have this sort of poetic license as long as they separate fact from fiction in the preface or the notes as Diliberto has done.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-10-19 00:00:00 Michael Moeller Although an entertaining read, this book's prose is average and there is no major lessons to be learned. In this historical fiction account, Virginie Gautreau is a 19th century equivalent of today's version of model/actress socialite who is thrown by her social climbing mother into French society. The few things I got out of this book are 1) Children need a stable environment to grow up properly 2) Exposing children to success at young age without having to work for it causes them to have a sense of entitlement and disaster stikes when you are on top at such a young age. 3)Any ones first sexual experience needs to be with someone they love in a LTR so they will understand and associate sex with love. 4)I do not consider marriage outside of love to be a marriage out all, I think marriage as an institution should institutionalize two people in love. I think the institution of marriage is cheapened if it is done for other causes such as saving face, solely resulting form an unwanted pregnancy, political/social alliance. In these cases, I definitley see a need for external dalliances like what happened in the past. But, I think it is very hypocritical to get married and say those vows and have external relations outside marriage.