The Queen of Subtleties

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: Anne Boleyn was one of the most interesting women in history, almost as interesting as her daughter, Elizabeth. Over the years I have read every book I have found on both of them. I have always had much sympathy for Anne since I felt she was caught up in a situation of which she lost control. She was a pawn in the hands of her father and uncle and in the end, she paid the ultimate price. However, if this book had been the first one I'd ever read about her, I would not read a second. In this portrayal she is mean, petty, a totally unlikable woman. And the device the author uses as to names--- Franky? Billy? Nick? I'm surprised that Dunn didn't have Anne calling Henry V111 just plain Hank. Other references were " Her stubborness" and "Her Oldbagness", meaning Queen Catherine. Totally distracting, and unnecessary. The story, had it been told in a more straightforward manner without all the silly names and more traditional language, would have been more true to the time, and I think Dunn went out of her way to make Anne a total villianess. I liked the side story of Lucy Cornwallis, but overall the book could have been so much better. Anne Boyelyn's life ended with a sword. Now she is getting a hatchet job.

Rating:
Summary: Who reads this drivel?
Review: I am absolutely mystified as to how something as poorly written and researched as this could ever be considered by an agent and/or publisher. I borrowed the book and, as another critique mentioned, could not finish it, although I skimmed the last chapters. My motivation was more curiosity than actual interest.

First, the language is absurd, both in regards to dialogue and narrative. The modern idioms are jarring, and the obscenties are both inappropriate to the character, and anachronistic. At times Anne Boleyn is shrewish and flat, at others, maudlin and melodramatic.

As a historian specializing in this period (medieval and early Renaissance England), I have never encountered a good piece of fiction concerning this tragic and complex queen. None have captured a period feel (not in language, setting, the accurate attitudes and thought processes), nor been historically accurate.

I simply do not understand why facts must be distorted, embellished, ignored, or created, as Anne Boleyn lived an extraordinary life in an extraordinary time.

Rating:
Summary: a silly waste of time
Review: I could not even go past page 100 - I never quit a book. But, the vernacular described by other reviews is accurate - stupid, out of place and never allows you to feel part of the time. I am fascinated by Anne Boleyn and the other wives but I had to put this book down as a waste of time. The newspaper will probably prove more interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Alright, But...
Review: I was thrilled to find that there would be a new novel about Anne Boleyn, and, I was a tad disappointed. The sections for Anne Boleyn are tedious, and i had to drag myself to read them. The Lucy Cornwallis parts were okay too, but they were also a little slow. As most novels, they portray Anne as a shrill woman who bashed around 'poor' Henry. What annoyed me was the unnecessary use of cursing going on...it was as if I was reading an 8th grade note! What were also annoying were the historical inaccuracies, but if you might notice at the end of the book there are explanations, which 'cooled me down'.

Rating:
Summary: Give it a try
Review: I wasn't all that thrilled with the vernacular, slang and jarring use of profanity (I have no problem with the f-word but it's distracting to hear it from the Queen of England). But there is a good story here--I kept reading, which has not been the case with many other novels that tell this well-told story. It's something different.

Rating:
Summary: All Three Stars Are for Boleyn - Not this book!
Review: Only one's fascination with the Tudor lifestyle and legacy will keep you crawling thru this book to the end. Since we all know Bolelyn's dramatic and tragic story, if it needs to be RETOLD, it must be done in an innovative way, when being recounted for the thousandth time. What it did NOT need, was to be filtered thru an "US Magazine" thesaurus!...Language like "partied", "awesome", and "bump" (for pregnancy), are actually used in their modern context! This is Tudor history... for Paris Hilton!

Rating:
Summary: Not even particularly interesting...
Review: To think I actually was looking forward to this book! It really is rather horrible. The language is too modern and just makes Anne Boleyn sound like some kind of mallrat...it's a shame that such an interesting historical character is treated in such a shabby manner.

If you really want a good read about Anne Boleyn, try Phillipa Gregory's "The Other Boleyn Girl," a historically accurate and interesting account that rings true.

Rating:
Summary: Superb historiography fictionalized accounts of Anne Boleyn
Review: While Anne Boleyn is incarcerated in the Tower awaiting execution on phony charges of adultery because King Henry needs to rid himself of his queen to marry Jane Seymour, she scribes her memoirs so her daughter Princess Elizabeth will never forget her mother. Anne's personal account of her meteoric rise from commoner to queen and collapse to death row prisoner is tainted towards making her look good in her child's eyes

At the same time, Anne works her journal; her servant Lucy Cornwallis provides a less biased account of the major events that she observed that impacted the queen. Much of what unfolded occurred because the Catholic Catherine held marriage as a sacred act of God and thus refused to divorce Henry when he wanted to marry Anne. Henry delayed the divorce until he felt strong enough to defy powerful Spain, the Pope, and a popular queen until he named himself head of the Anglican Church. Anne marries her king, but her happy nuptials fail to last as people blame her for bewitching Henry and he holds her accountable for not producing a male heir.

The chapters alternate quite cleverly between Anne defending herself and the more neutral Lucy who has no ax to grind. Thus fans receive a fabulous historiography fictionalized account of an individual whose relationship with a king changed how her country worshipped. Historical fiction readers will appreciate this delightful recounting by Anne, who remains somewhat stolid as events come around without remorse even towards Catherine and her daughter Princess Mary. The seemingly more accurate write-up is also enjoyable as the confectioner servant tells how she sees what happened. Combined readers get a taste of King Henry's pompous court.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read,but...
Review: While this book was an interesting read, and reasonably accurate as far as the events go, I found it a bit dissapointing in other ways. The chapters about Lucy are the best part of the book; it's a very accurate depiction of the average commoner's view of Anne Boleyn, and the whole divorce situation.
The chapters concerning Anne are much less effective. This is yet another book where Anne is the calculating shrew, and Henry is the poor henpecked fool in love with her. Like a lot of books written about Anne, the portrayal of Anne (and Henry) is very one-sided; Anne is bad, Henry is good.
That being said, I would have liked this book much more if not for its rather jarring use of modern day language. I found it very distracting and really kind of annoying. It's not that I was expecting the author to use historically accurate phrasing or anything, but it's really ridiculous to have Anne greeting a courtier with the phrase, "What's up?" It's just irritating after a while.