The Quality of Mercy

Rating:
Summary: Too many historical errors
Review: Queen Elisabeth I was not a lesbian. Enough said.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting idea, but book is a bit trashy at times
Review: The Quality of Mercy encompasses many genres. It is a murder mystery, thriller, romance and a partial history.

Rebecca Lopez and her family are conversos, Jews who practice their religion secretly and help others escape persecution. She meets and becomes romantically involved with Will Shakespeare, a struggling playwright who is trying to put together the pieces of his best friend's murder. While Will longs to find the clues to discover Harry's killer, Rebecca longs for the excitement of being an independent person who can love the one she truly is attached to. Rebecca's father, who is Queen Elizabeth's physician, leads a secret mission to help Jews escape out of Spain.


While Faye Kellerman's novel is quite unique, intertwining historical and fictional elements, it came across as being a bit too trashy. There are many times Kellerman goes into great detail when describing something graphic or less than appealing (honestly, do we need a one page description about Queen Elizabeth's old wrinkled skin or health problems). The sex scenes are quite frequent and overdone throughout the novel, and there is a good deal of profanity (I didn't know they used the "f" word so often during Elizabethan times). Perhaps these sections of the novel could have been less blatant and repulsive, as they seemed to diminish much of the quality of the plot.


While the novel irked me on certain levels, there were also aspects I found refreshing. Kellerman's ability to bring forth all of the Shakespearean and Elizabethan background, all the while telling a murder mystery, was remarkable and not an easy task to accomplish. She is able to take many aspects of Shakespeare's life and insert them into her character Will Shakespeare, making many of the connections accurate. As one reviewer noted, it reminded me a lot of how the movie "Shakespeare in Love" was done, adding fictional elements with historical elements based on Shakespeare's life. Much of the feel of the novel is Elizabethan, and the descriptions and background for the London area definitely give the novel its credibility.

Overall, this is an entertaining read, based mostly on the plot and historical quality. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.

3 Stars.


Rating:
Summary: combo: romance, history, adventure, mystery, drama, poetry
Review: This book really held my attention. It was a wonderful combination of romance (William Shakespeare and the wonderful Rebecca), history (yes, many of the details of the story are true), adventure (a swashbuckling fight on the high seas), and mystery (Shakespeare is trying to avenge the unsolved murder of his best friend). Shakespeare came so alive for me that I longed to meet him while reading this book and for some time afterwards. Not many books make me cry, but I did at the end of this one. I won't tell you the ending, but it inspired true emotion in me

Rating:
Summary: This book is nothing more than a "bodice ripper".
Review: This book was a great disappointment to me. I really like her contemporary mysteries. The speech of the characters was a mixture of fake 16th century and anachronistic 20th century language, i.e. "attention span". The events that befell them were totally unrealistic and were rather like the "Perils of Pauline". Lots or gratuitous sex and violence. It was a total strain on my credibility. Don't waste your money or your time.

Rating:
Summary: RE: Review by 12 year old Portuguese reader
Review: To correct this readers review, the book states the Lopez family IS Portuguese, and not Spanish -- Page 220 in hardcover.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating reading experience....
Review: While I enjoyed the plot -- I did not care for Faye Kellerman's delivery. Now don't get me wrong - I love a good mystery, good historical fiction, and a good romance, but this book just didn't deliver. Ms. Kellerman's dialogue between our lovers was often overkill and would go on for pages and seemed rather unrealistic. There was no warmth between the characters. I was intrigued enough to get to the end of the story - but the who-done-it answer made me feel like I had wasted a lot of energy looking for the killer in the book. Just a frustrating experience.

Rating:
Summary: Great Shakespearean fiction
Review: Who knew Faye Kellerman, best known for contemporary thrillers, could write historical fiction so well? In this book, she gives Shakespeare a Jewish mistress, plonks him down in the middle of a murder mystery, and has him smuggling Portuguese refugees off a pirated ship - and it works.

Kellerman has observed the most important rule of writing about Shakespeare: Have a sense of humor. (After all, he did.) Even when tackling serious subjects or plotting suspenseful encounters, there is an easy feel about this book that makes it enjoyable to read.

Rebecca Lopez is the daughter of an expatriate Portuguese converso - Jews who supposedly renounced their faith. Yet her family has fled to England, where they can practice their religion, albeit secretively. She meets Shakespeare - how else? By dressing as a man and attending one of his plays, then challenging him to a duel. Shakespeare, meanwhile, is trying to solve the murder of his friend and benefactor Harry, and finds himself drawn further and further into the seedy underbelly of Elizabethan London at the same time as he is falling in love with Rebecca and becoming involved in the plight of the Jewish exiles.

Lighthearted without being farcical, poignant but not sappy, Kellerman strikes a great balance here with a wonderful novel.