“During my life, I have witnessed many extraordinary events and met incredible people,” writes Melania Trump in the foreword of Melaniaas if to prepare his readers for the pile-up of platitudes to come. Although it’s a cliché in the publishing world to sum up a new book by its reading time, I confess: I read Melania in one go in just a few hours, shortly after its release. However, it is appropriate to qualify: I did this for strictly professional reasons, the publisher Skyhorse having refused to send Vanity Fair a promotional copy ahead of its publication date. And to be clear, I wouldn’t recommend anyone do the same.
Over the course of its 256 pages (including the substantial photo insert, which takes up quite a bit), Melania Trump puts her life into words – already too many, some would say, and never quite the right ones –, awkwardly gathered around a few central themes: grudges, moments of jubilation, motherhood, her special ability to communicate with Donald Trump, some curious anecdotes involving the greats of this world, and lots and lots of limousines.
We find in the book almost everything we have the right to expect from Donald Trump’s companion. There, a shaky and approximate return to the 2020 election (she castigates “the media, Big Tech and the Deep State” and perpetuates unfounded allegations of “suspicious electoral activities”); here, caresses in the direction of the hair with movement trad wife (“My priority was always to look after his well-being, tending carefully to every aspect of his life,” she wrote of her early marriage and, later, “my career failed take precedence over the most important role of all: being a devoted mother).
An immediate “feeling of comfort and well-being” in your first limousine
She also devotes a lot of ink to recounting in great detail the compliments she received. As after her appearance on the TV shopping channel QVC: “Viewers were calling to compliment my style and my jewelry: “It’s so nice to listen to you talk. I really like your style, I really like your jewelry.” » Elsewhere, she writes: “People regularly asked me about my diet, amazed by the good health of my skin. » She notes that she was “delighted to hear [son] name also chanted, among the cheers” during the 2016 presidential election, leaving the polling station where she slipped a ballot for her husband Donald into the ballot box (it’s crazy how much we cheer for the Trumps in this book, a real festival of shouts, songs and loud applause).
It is, after all, hardly surprising that Melania, granddaughter of a famous Slovenian onion grower and, in her own words, holder of a “deep appreciation for the finer things in life”, feels at ease wherever it shines. The story of his origins is full of anecdotes intended to refute the “dark and inaccurate image of his youth” in his native Slovenia: of his father’s collection of “exquisite vehicles” – Ford Mustang, BMW, Ford Cougar XR7, ” prestigious Mercedes-Benzes”, Citroën Maserati SM – to her “private nanny”, an alternative to nursery school, who prepared elaborate cakes for her and her sister.
When she arrived in New York after landing a modeling contract, she wrote that the limousine sent to the airport by her new employers “exuded elegance.” “I immediately felt a sense of comfort and well-being. » The night she meets Donald at a party at the Kit Kat Club, she arrives in an “immaculate black limousine”. She does not forget the two limousines in which she, Donald Trump, Michelle et Barack Obama went up on the day of her husband’s inauguration and includes a photo of her in the presidential limousine, nicknamed “The Beast.” His enthusiasm and vision of New York is limited to “the chic boutiques of Madison Avenue and the bustling streets of the Financial District.” She dwells on the descriptions of her wedding dress and her inauguration outfits. “In my haute couture dress, I danced with my husband to the timeless melody of Frank Sinatra’s iconic “My Way” at the Liberty Ball and the Freedom Ball. »
