Rating: 
Summary: a superior scholarly analysis
Review: Although this is my first Mary Gordon book, I am fairly impressed by both her narrative skills and fairly in-depth analysis on the life of Joan of Arc. After reading all the readers' poor reviews on this book, I feel responsibile to defend Gordon and voice out some objections towards the readers' harsh comments on Gordon. Although her book is not an excellent source for Joan of Arc as an biography, Gordon did a good job in informing the readers some rare (instead of popular) historical background during the time as well as Joan's personal motives which contribute to her uprising. It's true that Gordon did not tell a straight forward story about Joan, it does not mean that she is a bad writer who intends to omit important details. In the book she gave a detail chart of dates and events of Joan to compensate the biographical account for Joan (if she did not expose it enough in her book). I am impressed to find that in a short work, Gordon's intensive research on Joan gave vivid, clear, historical and sometimes critical analysis about Joan herself and her actions. Gordon's style is both narrative and analytical. Gordon's book may not an important biography for Joan but it's definitely a wonderful and exciting read for those who wants to know the Joan behind the scenes.
Rating: 
Summary: A short history of the patron saint of France.
Review: Gordon's book is a little wooden, but it packs a lot of history in this short 170 pages. Some of the other Penguin life books have been a little wacky in their interpretation of the life of these great people, but Gordon does very well in her version of Joan of Arc.
Joan of Arc was a great leader of people in the unification of France. However her life was very short, and her military insight was slight causing her to be ultimately defeated. King Charles may have been a slacker but at least he saw his goal of a united France, long after Joan went up in flames. I think Gordon does a good job in detailing this.
At the end, Gordon shows us the after effects of Joan being burned. The Catholic Church bowing to political pressure started the process of making Joan a Saint in the late 1800s. Gordon relates these events in a concise summary. A good short read for those interested in the history of France.
Rating: 
Summary: A Readable Term Paper
Review: I've read (and loved) everything Mary Gordon has written. And I like biographies of historical figures, so I figured this book was a sure-fire winner. But as Joan herself would have said, non.It's not a bad book. I learned a lot, and was surprised by a few things (for example, Joan's successful military career spanned only 5 months). But the writing is uninspired, a recitation of facts with only a little meat on the bones to make it interesting. It read like an over-long term paper. Overall this book was interesting enough to make me want to read a *real* biography of Joan of Arc. But it also made me swear off any more non-fiction by Mary Gordon, or perhaps any of the other books in the Penguin Lives series.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed character sketch of the "warrior-maiden"
Review: If you are looking for a detailed biography of Joan of Arc, do not begin with this slender little book. Although it contains the basic events and chronology and although it includes color from bits of social commentary, it is not an in depth analysis, nor does it purport to be. Rather, it is an extended character sketch of a remarkable woman whose life -- except for the short time during which she went to battle, was captured, and endured a trial whose outcome seems to have been pre-ordained -- is obscure. It is interesting to realize that many of the details of her life come from her confession and from testimony at her trial. Mary Gordon's is at her best when analyzing the dichotomy inherent in Joan of Arc's appeal as a warrior-maiden. Her ruminations lean at times a bit too much toward stream-of-conscious; however, she does prove capable of inserting quite a bit of information in the short format imposed by this series.
Rating:
Summary: A 5 or 9 month career
Review: It's not 5 but could be 9 depending upon where you count. The book is heavy on history and that's it's strongest point. I learned allot of the history and truly enjoyed that.
But as a bio? Sorry it's missing something of the woman.
Having read 4 of these Penguin lives, basically you get a snapshot of the person and more of their 'milieu', odd that they call it 'Lives'. It should be Times.
Rating:
Summary: Solid and informative.
Review: Nothing spectacular, but a good, solid biography, this book does a solid job of telling the story of Joan of Arc. Some might find the chapter on movies that have been made about the story of Joan superfluous; others may find it an interesting extra; likewise, some might be put off by the unabashedly non-religious perspective of the author, while others may find it a refreshingly different perspective. But for the most part, this book is simply a good, solid telling of the tale.
Rating:
Summary: SAINT OR CRAZY TRAIN?
Review: One of the most famous woman warriors ever known was Joan of Arc. The only thing I really knew about her before reading this book was what was filtered through movies and oral legend. To me, there has always been a thin line between saying Joan was schizophrenic, or mentally deranged, or a charlatan, or a person who truly heard God. From the outset Mary Gordon makes it clear that this is not a standard biography, but more a meditation on Joan of Arc. Joan was born into a time of petty squabbling amongst the nations of Europe. For example, there was a huge dispute going on in France as to who ruled there. Was it England or the French heir to the throne, Charles? After about a hundred years of war, they were no closer to settling the dispute. As in World War II, part of France sided with the invader armies of England. The other part sided with Charles. The problem was that Charles was almost bankrupt, demoralized, and unmotivated to seize any power or take any action. Enter the rejuvenating force of Joan, a peasant girl who claimed that God had told her to crown Charles king of France. Instead of having the divine right to sit on his keester all day, Charles woke up to the fact that he just might have the divine right to RULE. While giving Joan symbolic power over his armies, she was mainly just seen as the mascot as she inspired French armies to throw the English out of Orleans, even though she took part in the fighting. (She later dubiously claimed she never killed a man in battle). Gordon points out that anyone that leads merely by charisma is doomed to go downhill without victories and, after just a few victories, Joan suffers just that fate, is captured, and after a show trial reminescent of Stalin, burned at the stake for heresies against the Church. In this biography, Gordon focuses more on the social force of Joan than a standard work would. Being such a short book, we did not get enough of the actual trial transcripts which were taken down as the events happened. To me, the introduction took up too much room, and the last chapter was just about literary works inspired by her. Gordon believes that Joan sticks out in the minds of Europe because she was a woman who threatened the male hierarchy. I don't mean to make this sound like Joan of Arc is a feminist book. The reason why the English hated her so much was because they believed that women were inferior and it was shameful to lose a battle to her. So she had to be stopped. The church hated her because she went against conservative ideas. In that era, just as now, the Church was reactionary. It was dangerous that a person could speak directly with God. If that became the norm, what would the Church's reason to exist be? Even the king she helped crown was embarassed by his beholdeness to her and abandoned her to be executed without even lifting a voice in protest. Joan was too revolutionary a force to survive in an orthodox age. The problems I had with her was that Joan seemed a little too much to enjoy the pomp or her position. She always wanted to look good, even in battle. She wanted nice lace capes etc. Ironically, she was captured by a soldier who was able to pull her off her horse by grabbing on to her cape. It seemed like she was some berserker fashion model. She wasn't very rational either, taking hundreds of troops to battle against thousands. She was a source of inspiration and could have done a good job as a figurehead but she wouldn't settle for that. I also have doubts that God would find any interest in whether France or England ruled each other or not. In the end, I believe that Joan either was delusional or made up the whole story of the voices, just as people today see the Virgin Mary in windows.
Rating:
Summary: "There is no one like her"
Review: Previous Amazon reviewers of Mary Gordon's Joan of Arc often criticize Mary's choice of writing a "meditation" instead of a "real" biography. One particular reviewer especially disliked the Introduction which he thought was just plain awful.Well, put me in the other camp - I thought the Introduction was wonderful, and in fact the best chapter of the book. Why so? Because Mary Gordon, very much like Johan Huizinga who she references, immediately grasp an essential truth about Jehanne - there is no one like her. Huizinga was an historian who realized Joan could not be comprehended with the ready-to-hand tools of the historian. Mary Gordon realized the very same thing with respect to the tools of the biographical reviewer. A "meditation" is not a failure. Rather, some such "indirect" appraoch is necessary, whether it be poetic, or reflective as in Mary Gordon's approach. As Harold Bloom might say, the essence of Joan is her irreducible "strangeness". I am absolutely convinced that persons who do not realize this will never be equal to the task. As Mary Gordon says her Introduction : "There is no one like her". That is why Mary's approach succeeds.
Rating:
Summary: "There is no one like her"
Review: Previous Amazon reviewers of Mary Gordon's Joan of Arc often criticize Mary's choice of writing a "meditation" instead of a "real" biography. One particular reviewer especially disliked the Introduction which he thought was just plain awful.Well, put me in the other camp - I thought the Introduction was wonderful, and in fact the best chapter of the book. Why so? Because Mary Gordon, very much like Johan Huizinga who she references, immediately grasp an essential truth about Jehanne - there is no one like her. Huizinga was an historian who realized Joan could not be comprehended with the ready-to-hand tools of the historian. Mary Gordon realized the very same thing with respect to the tools of the biographical reviewer. A "meditation" is not a failure. Rather, some such "indirect" appraoch is necessary, whether it be poetic, or reflective as in Mary Gordon's approach. As Harold Bloom might say, the essence of Joan is her irreducible "strangeness". I am absolutely convinced that persons who do not realize this will never be equal to the task. As Mary Gordon says her Introduction : "There is no one like her". That is why Mary's approach succeeds.
Rating: 
Summary: Really bad
Review: Since I listened to the unabridged version, I continued through the end. If I was reading, I would have quit long before the finish. The text was awful, the reading worse!! It took a dynamic historical personality and reduced her life to some kind of soap opera persona.
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