Rating: 
Summary: The Other Boleyn Girl
Review: This book was wonderful from start to finish. The characters came alive and seemed very real. A difficult book to put down as the story was always in my mind when I was not reading. During this very difficult time of war and uncertainty it was a welcome escape from the real world. The only disappointment for me was that the book ended. I would have loved to follow Mary's life after she left the court, as well as her children's lives. I'm hoping this is the first in another trilogoy!
Rating:
Summary: It's the kind of book that stays with you forever.
Review: "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory is amazing. It's over six hundred pages long, but not one page of it was dull (like most long books turn out to be). I felt like I was right there experiencing everything with Mary and her siblings. It's hard to describe such a beautiful book in less than a thousand words. Just buy it. You won't regret it, I promise.
Rating:
Summary: The Other Bolyne Girl
Review: If you like historical fiction, this is a "must-read". You can't put it down once you get started.
Rating:
Summary: Not Anne, But Mary
Review: I don't know why this book had such bad reviews. From the first page of this book to the very last this book kept me interested, awake, and well-immersed in the Tudor courts. I may only be in middle schoolbut I have read many adult books, mostly historical fiction, and this is one of the best I have ever read. Sure, this may be historically inaccurate at some parts (like the age difference in this book goes Anne is the oldest, then their brother, then Mary when in real life it went Mary, Anne, and their brother) but it is still a good read, a very interesting read, and a very needed record of the forgotten Boleyn girl who bore Henry two children and was his first mistress who established the Boleyns at court. Anne is shown in the light she should be told in this book: power hungry, beautiful, a devoted girl to her closest of friends, and simply someone who wanted to make it in the world but went too high and was brought down. Mary will be sympathized in the book and may seem a little whiny at times but you will be scared, happy, upset, and carefree along with her through all the chapters. I recommend this book to all people from 9th Grade+ because of the adult references and I am sure you will enjoy it no matter how inaccurate it may be and how girly it can be. Can't wait to read Phillipa Gregory's next novel, historical hopefully!
Rating:
Summary: ** Brilliant **
Review: This was my first Gregory novel, and I LOVED it. I was led to the book by Robin Maxwell's 'The Secret Diary Of Anne Boleyn' (also very good) - Mary Boleyn was mentioned in Secret Diary. I hadn't been aware that Mary had been mistress to Francois 1 and Henry VIII before reading Secret Diary, thus I was excited to find The Other Boleyn Girl (TOBG).
Interestingly, it is a very different Anne depicted in TOBG to that given in Secret Diary, a very dark and selfish character .. but fascinating. Mary is also depicted somewhat differently. In Secret Diary she is presented as a silly, sluttish girl, yet in TOBG she is a more rounded, beleivable character .. and valid reasons given for her conduct.
The book is well written, although I felt the author did 'flounder' a little in a couple of places. I felt she was 'padding out' the story, but don't let this put you off reading it, for she more than makes up for this in other areas. The conversation between Queen Katherine and Mary in the chapter headed 'Summer 1529' is heart wrenching; and (I hesitate to admit that) I had tears in my eyes at the description of Anne's execution.
After reading this book I was compelled to search the Net for details of this neglected and interesting person from history (Mary Boleyn), & it was fascinating to discover that Mary's son (by Henry VIII) also named Henry served his cousin Elizabeth 1 and greatly impressed his sovereign and his nation. King Henry evidently chose not to believe he had fathered the child, although the baby was conceived during his relationship with Mary. Henry did however meticulously provide for Mary's son after her husband's death. Mary's daughter, Catherine Carey became gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber at Elizabeth 1's accession , married Sir Francis Knollys, and became the grandmother of Lord Essex, Elizabeth 1's favourite in her later years.
A clear view of Mary's individual character would be difficult to obtain from surviving documents. Her personal history is obscured by the more tumultuous life and death of her younger sister Anne, and glimpses of Mary's life must be garnered from footnotes or brief mention in the works about her sister, her father and the two kings whose lives she touched (Francois 1 and Henry VIII). She was mistress to these two kings, twice wed to men of Henry VIII's Court and mother of children who served their cousin, Elizabeth 1, and must have been an enigmatic and intriguing figure .. and this author has served this character from history well.
If you are interested in historical fiction, or even just interested in the Tudor period, I highly recommend this book. I don't think you will be disappointed.
And, please don't let the reviewers who have criticised this book, put you off. I admit there are a few inaccurasies in the book, but for goodness sake, if you pick up a FICTION novel then you must accept the authors 'version' of the story. If you want to read totally accurate facts don't browse or shop in the Fiction section of the bookstore .. there's a place for people who can't stand someone else's interpretation .. it's labelled Non Fiction in the store. I suggest the 'critics' try this section & leave this author alone. I for one think she's done a fantastic job on a character from history who, as I said previously, would not have been easy to research.
Thank you Philippa Gregory.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: The Other Boylen Girl was in my pile of books waiting to be read ~ I don't know what took me so long to finally read it. I loved this book!! I loved Mary reading her story I wanted her to find true happiness and true love. Her sister Anne was something else, I was getting so mad!! I hated the way she treated Mary, Anne thought she was all high and mighty. Like when they send Mary away she didn't have any contact with her parents or brother and sister. Then When Anne is send away she gets a taste of what it felt like so I was happy about that. Mary just wants her two children and live in peace but her parents want great things from her they want her to marry the King even though he is already married but since the Queen can't have any children she can't give him a boy, but Mary doesn't want that life style and Anne does. As you keep reading along you are hoping everything will turn out good for Mary. This book deserves 5 stars great read!!
Happy Reading Lisa
Rating: 
Summary: "Other Boleyn Girl" a future Lifetime movie for certain
Review: The hallmarks are all there--the air of virtue and innocence, the first love quickly disillusioned, jealousy, backbiting, a second romance that proves to be the reason for living--yes, we will someday see some actress playing Mary Boleyn on the Lifetime channel in "The Other Boleyn Girl." That's all this novel is fit for. Mary Boleyn is the most bovine "heroine" I've ever encountered, and Philippa Gregory's writing never gets above the Weepie of the Week level. The Boleyns are a fascinating subject for fiction; they aren't served well or made interesting by Gregory's book...
Rating: 
Summary: An Intresting Approach
Review: For the most part I liked this book. It was an interesting approach to have Mary, Anne's sister, narrate the story. It's a twist, and I admire the author for trying it. However, I do believed the story dragged on in some parts. At times I felt as if it would never end. I don't blame the author so much as I do the editor who could have fixed this problem. I enjoyed Mary's evolution, but I was annoyed by her constant whining about her kids. Overall, I would have to say I liked this book. But if you are a die hard history freak, who wants every detail correct, you may not like this book. The author does take some liberties.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical embellishment
Review: An elaboration on a well-known story could easily turn off many history buffs, but not this novel. Unique and well-developed, the reader feels pulled into the plot line and torn between wanting to savor the tantilizing details or rush headlong into the story. A very unique perspective... not for the historically squeamish. Worth the time, every time!
Rating: 
Summary: Occassional brilliance, but mostly frustrating
Review: This is one of those books which I felt started off really badly - and so any other brilliance in it was very much marred by the bad start. I found the first part which is a description of an execution rather curious - although it is clearly written to shadow a scene at the end of the book - but Mary Boleyn - the narrator of the story is watching an execution and waiting for Henry to commute the sentence...which she apparently believes he will. I cannot recall a single instance where in the middle of an execution he did this - there may well be but they certainly don't seem to be well documented. So right at the start I was a bit nonplussed.In the very next chapter Mary describes herself as 'the youngest Boleyn girl" who is waiting for her sister Anne to return from France. Now this is patently wrong. Mary was the eldest girl - she went to France first in the retinue of Henry VIII's sister who married the King of France. Anne Boleyn, her younger sister, followed later. Francois, the king of France even described Mary Boleyn as the most promiscuous woman at the French court - and this was at a time when the French court was highly promiscuous. After that I found myself very much at odds with much of the material in the book - I found it hard to enjoy what was patently a plot device (making Mary the younger sister) to try to build up some kind of rivalry between the two sisters over Henry's affections. There was a great deal that was well written and an interesting interpretation of what very little material there is on the Boleyn life at court (of any of the family) and one of the most memorable instances is when Anne and Mary are talking together and I think it is Anne who points out that they are valueless really except that they are interchangeable by their family who wish to get on at court and thus will throw either one or the other under the eye of the King to try to get preference. There is also a great deal about the rivalry between the Somerset family and the Howard's (Anne and Mary's mother was a Howard) and the changing fortunes of each family as they managed to get their profferred female into Henry's bed. Interesting but disappointing at the same time.
|
