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Summary: Loved this book!
Review: Bought this at the airport, expecting it to be difficult to get into. I could not put this book down! While it covers a period in history I don't remember as well as I should, the story takes over so that no effort is required to digest the history with the fab story. Recommend!
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Summary: The Other Boleyn Girl
Review: I am a historical fiction fan who has read countless books about the tyrannical reign of Henry VIII and his collection of wives. I have always found the love affair between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII to be particularly fascinating and have read and reread the story from the point of view of several of the characters including the self-serving Anne Boleyn and the "woe is me" Henry VIII. Philippa Gregory has certainly added an interesting perspective by writing this story from the heart and mind of Anne's all too often forgotten sister Mary Boleyn. In "The Other Boleyn Girl", Mary is portrayed as the heroine who is mercilessly forced by her power hungry family to become Henry's lover, and not the blithering buxom empty shell that she is typically portrayed as. Mary Boleyn is a woman with the morals and the courage to stand beside those that she loves. Without a doubt, "The Other Boleyn Girl" was a great read that kept me up at night turning the pages of a story that normally I could recite by heart, however written in such a new and refreshing manner that I could not help but hope that the final outcome somehow, someway, might be different this time.
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Summary: Wow!
Review: I am a writer and an avid reader, and this is simply one of the best books I've ever read. I was enthralled from the beginning to the end without a lapse. It created such a vivid picture of the people and their time that I feel as if I was there, that I knew them. The writing is faultless. The only problem with it is that it is over! I've finished it, and I can only wonder when again I'll have a reading experience as complete.
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Summary: An Enthralling read...
Review: If any of you are kids, reading the reviews for this book, I'd warn you, this book can be disgusting in places... Mary Boleyn is a gorgeous dame, who was Queen Katherine of Aragon's favourite made. Yet her beauty catches the rogue king's flirtatious eyes. They have an extreme affair, despite the king and Mary's marriage. Mary gives her heart, soul, and virginity, and becomes the mother of two children, both whose father is King Henry VIII. But the king is fickle. Soon, his sights turn to vain, witty, intelligent, and duskly beautiful Anne Boleyn - Mary's more ambitious and more intelligent sister. Anne was not a typical English beauty, yet her wits and personality was probably more to desire from the King's position. Anyway, if you believe you are mature enough, I'd say go for reading this book.
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Summary: The ultimate page turner
Review: I read an obscene amount of books and rarely do I find one that leaves me wanting more. Since I read this book I have had trouble getting into other books because they seem so much less. From the first page I was hooked and drawn into the story. The characters were stongly developed and I found myself sharing their emotions and thoughts. I could not put the book down, I finished it in two days and was sad to come to the end. I cheered for Mary, wished ill to Anne and sympathized with Mary's first husband who was cast aside. It was a side to Tudor history that I have never faced for little is mentioned about Mary in other books, except to make her seem like a trashy plaything for the King. I passed this book on to a non-reader and she was unable to put it down also.
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Summary: An Invitation to the Court of Henry VIII
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. From the very beginning, the reader is swept up into another time and place. I've read historical fiction before, and one thing I've always appreciated is when an author relates even small details of what life was like in the period they are writing about. Ms. Gregory does just that with this book. A reader can almost visulize what court life was like during the reign of Henry VIII - as well as smell the food at the feasts and feel the cloth used to make gowns. This book is longer than most at 600+ pages, but I still finished it in a week. It moves along very quickly for the most part. There are a couple of times in the book that scenes seem repeated, but it truly comes together at a later time. Also, there are a few historical inaccuracies, granted. But that is to be expected in historical fiction - operative word here being fiction. If this book were to be a biography, it would fall far short. But it is a work of fiction, and as such, the author does a fine job. I would give this book 5 stars, however, I felt the ending was a bit weak and contrived. But then again, anyone who knows about Anne Boleyn knows how it is to end, right? Yet, I felt Ms. Gregory could have worked in something a little more entertaining. However, this book is nicely written, moves along at a good pace, and draws the reader into its presence. With all of that, it is certainly worth the effort.
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Summary: A Wonderful Surprise!
Review: A friends daughter gave this book to me knowing how much I love to read. I knew nothing about the book when I got it. It is going to be high up on my all time favorite list. It's a thick book, but it's so good when I'm not reading it I'm thinking about reading it! Even though it's fiction, there are so many historical facts that I wasn't aware of, it's very educational and has made me want to read more accounts of Anne Boleyn and the other wives of Henry VIII.
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Summary: Juicy and Fun
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the Tudor Court. Gregory does a fantastic job of developing an engrossing story with the soap-opera of Henry VIII's court at its center. I've heard differing opinions on just how historically accurate this novel is, but in the end I think it matters little. Gregory stays close enough to the facts to be believable and ultimately it is a work of fiction. My only critique is that she works so hard at sanctifying Mary Boleyn while villifying Anne. She asserts on several occasions that Mary is as preoccupied with family and personal advancement as Anne, but the story she tells seems to indicate that Mary is an unwitting participant in all the intrigue. In the end, that one flaw vanishes in the sheer beauty and scope of the novel. It is not an undertaking for the faint of heart, at over 600 pages, but it is well worth it. I found it to be a quick read despite its length. Here's to, as Eddie Izzard would say, "sex, death and religion in an interesting night-time telly kind of way"!
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Summary: We've Come a Long Way Baby!
Review: I thoroughly enjoy reading historical fiction; I find it both entertaining and educational. That said, this was one of the better books available in the genre. The Other Boleyn Girl revealed a side of the pawn-like roles assigned women in the past I'd never considered. Imagine, sleeping with a man (ok, so he WAS the king of England)at the express instruction of your family; being forced into adultery, dis-avowing an existing marriage merely to enhance the family's standing in the king's eyes. Such greedy, self-serving behavior at the expense of a young woman's virtue is considered shocking in the modern world. Imagine the outrage if it were discovered Monica Lewinsky's parents had instructed her to do what she did, for the sole purpose of financial gain for their family. Philippa Gregory sheds light on the rigors of court life as no other author has ever done. I felt weary myself simply reading about the time and effort both Mary and Ann Boleyn put into pleasing the king. The plotting and scheming done by the Howard family was diabolically amazing. Uncle Howard's lack of feeling for anyone but himself and the advancement of the family name gave me chills. The romance between Mary and William Stafford was the only warm and fuzzy aspect in a novel filled with the darker facets of human nature. Gregory's decision to refer to the rumored incestual relationship between Anne and brother George further added to the image of the overall depravity of the Howard family. Anne's willingnes to sleep with her brother in an effort to produce an heir illustrated her desperation not to be put aside by Henry, and foreshadowed the evidence given for her ultimate demise. This book has it all: greed, murder, sex, incest, homo-sexuality, love, treachery, war, religous and social upheaval.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction.
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Summary: Two thumbs WAY up
Review: Having never read historical fiction before, I was marveled by Gregory's work. I started it wondering if it would grab me enough to hold me for 600+ pages. Instead, I found I was drawn to this book like practically no other - every spare moment I had was spent reading it and I finished it in under a week. Gregory spins her tale seamlessly and enchantingly and her book has piqued an interest in Tudor England that I never would have had otherwise. She made every character spring to life and I felt like I was inside those courts everytime I opened the book.
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