Nicolas Rouelle Rouelle itibaren Laureles, Uruguay
I read this a while ago, and all I remember is it being disjointed, pretentious, and unsatisfying. Hated Bianca, hated the dwarves or whatever they were supposed to be. Casting Lucrezia Borgia as the stepmother was weak and caused one to wonder whether Maguire was simply trying to fit himself in with her mythology for the sake of absorbing some residual historical flair rather than true literary impetus. I'd call this my least favorite Maguire book, but to be fair I can't get 10 pages into Lost without getting bored.
Catherine M. is the editor of some high-brow French art magazine. She's also quite a slut. (Not calling her a slut disparagingly, but with love and affection.) The book is about her extraordinary sexual adventures. She's obviously quite intelligent and knows how to write, but the book is dull and unexciting. She even fails to be a rigorous intellectual and give a good psychological analysis of her behavior. Her stories get boring and repetitive very quickly.
This book has some wonderful illustrations as Alice travels to different part of the country. The time of the story is in 1909, therefore, I can use this book so children can determine the difference between now and then.