‘French Revolution’ takes up in San Francisco

The book, Stewart’s debut, was first published on Twitter as a series of 3,700 tweets. While amusing and quite clever, this somewhat liberal reimagining of a landmark event in European history is plagued by flaws, which prevent it from rising above the level of light entertainment.

After Jasper’s mysterious disappearance, Esmerelda must raise the twins alone with only limited assistance from her alcoholic, depressive mother, Fanny Van Twinkle. As the children grow up, Robespierre’s status as the family’s golden child is highlighted by Marat’s failing grades, social skills, and poor skin. Eventually, the undernurtured, underprivileged children stage a revolt against their mother’s authoritarian power, forcing her to go on a diet and then taking off to make their way in the world.

Surprisingly, the stars begin to align for the Van Twinkles as Marat matriculates from the army and builds a promising friendship with aspiring politician Joel Lumpkin; Robespierre prepares herself for life as a lobbyist with an Ivy League education to her name; and Esmerelda, now svelte and sexy, re-enters the world of culinary arts. All this good luck paves the way for Jasper’s sudden reappearance.

The story is cleverly historically informed, transliterating the most influential characters and historical events from the French Revolution into recognizable figures and themes: Napoleon Bonaparte is Murphy Ahn, a hard-knock orphaned street kid-turned-politician; the Tennis Court Oath takes the form of a Van Twinkle family housing agreement; the Reign of Terror occurs simultaneously in the twins’ decision to enforce the gradual slimming down of Mother France and in Robespierre and Marat’s coming of age.