Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King

I was really surprised to find that Louis was a great husband and a very decent human being. I became fascinated by other characters in the book such as his young granddaughter-in-law. This is a wonderful book for people who appreciate excellent research and strong characters who really lived. Just loved it!

The book is a little slow in the beginning but once it gets going...it's an amazing journey. Hearing about the loves of Louis makes you realize how constrained life was for women. Some were major influences, others just toys to entertain a king. If you enjoy the detail of how daily life was for the king and his ladies this is the book for you.

This was my second audiobook, and I loved it and could hardly put down my iPod. This book helped me walk and walk for miles. I am a fan of French and English history and royalty, and the narrator brought this period to life with her sophisticated language skills. Her pronunciation of the French words was fascinating, although I am definitely not an expert. Antonia Fraser is a fine writer, too, and I enjoy all her books for their well-researched details.

Highly recommended, if you enjoy this time in history and are interested in the psychology of relationships.

This book does a very good job of capturing life at the court of the Sun King. It not only focuses on the brilliance of the court and the king but also his disappointments, his failures and his losses. And he lost a great deal, especially in his later years.

An incredibly important historical figure, the Sun King was so much larger than life it would be easy to create a caricature of him. Ms. Fraser avoids the easy road and makes us realize that someone, who in his time was revered and reviled on the same level as God and the Devil, was also a human and his life was shaped by very human tragedies.

Sometimes the authors biographies read almost like fiction. She can glamorize and idolize a person to the point that you know it cannot be accurate. She doesn't do that in this book. Perhaps because it would be hard to conceive of Louis being portrayed as more glamorous and more idolized than he actually was in real life.

I really enjoy books about France, French history -- particularly the 17th century. So I really looked forward to this book. But I was so disappointed. Maybe it's my own fault. I should have realized that the title meant it would be all about his excapades with women. But this was over the top. I could barely follow who was who...when and where. After 4 hours of listening -- I did give it a decent trial -- I gave up and am downloading a new book. Other than the narrator whose voice was really engaging and probably the only thing that kept me listening, I feel as if I wasted an Audible credit on this one.

This was a bit of a snore-fest for me. Some lives interest me, others apparently not so much. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I had a bad case of buyer's remorse halfway through "Love & Louis XIV."

interesting but after about 8 hours I was getting bored and frustrated with all the names I could not keep track of. I quit at 3/4 of the way through thinking that I know he was a womanizer and had lots of mistresses but what more can this book tell me. not much.

This was really hard to listen too. Could not keep me interested. Sorry, wish I could get my money back. Don't recommend it.