Beatrice & Julia

Rating:
Summary: Simply Marvelous
Review: A friend gave me this book recently for my Birthday and I found myself reading it well into the night. I only wish there had been more about Beatrice and her story and less dialogue. But having said that, I was really surprized to have enjoyed it as much as I did. It has the makings of a good biography about the Cenci woman whom I knew virtually nothing about. Though Beatrice is a Renaissance character, some of her greatest problems seem to be modern ones, while the modern character, Julia, is more repressed and hesitant to plunge into life. Almost playing out role reversals until the end. The author captures their strengths and weaknesses in their final choices. Julia, after all, becomes the one who is saved in the book. Yet, at the same time, she also plays the part of the sensitive judge who gives Beatrice a second chance in history. It's possible to find hints of Julia's private preoccupations about freedom and justice totally let loose [eloquently] in Beatrice's words. Almost as though Julia needed Beatrice to display her passion while staying cool herself, as any good lawyer would be!

Rating:
Summary: Passionately Intriguing
Review: A wonderful novel--beautifully written, mysterious and extremely perceptive. Through each detail, the author draws the reader into the world of art and deception, into the very mood of the haunting journal she explores. An impressive first novel.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: Christie is a masterful storyteller who has woven a fascinating book propelled by vividly drawn characters who are achingly human and passionately sensitive against a modern and 16th century landscape.

Read this book and read it again!

Rating:
Summary: Beatrice & Julia
Review: Four hundred years ago, Beatrice Cenci created the female language for freedom. Beatrice & Julia, filled with full-bodied writing, reveals the twenty-two year old Beatrice as a woman ahead of her time.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and Pretentious
Review: The author's style of writing is difficult to follow. The story seemed convoluted, oft times making no sense. The character developement suffered at the expense of the author's desire to show her "knowlege" of the era. Author's review promised a book that "yields spiritual wisdom and promises to stay long in the mind." There was no spiritual wisdom, and the only thing that stayed in my mind was the fact that I had wasted money on this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and Pretentious
Review: The author's style of writing is difficult to follow. The story seemed convoluted, oft times making no sense. The character developement suffered at the expense of the author's desire to show her "knowlege" of the era. Author's review promised a book that "yields spiritual wisdom and promises to stay long in the mind." There was no spiritual wisdom, and the only thing that stayed in my mind was the fact that I had wasted money on this book.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars
Review: This is a delightful book, well written and hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: A Passionate Book
Review: This is a passionate, well-wrought and inspired novel. Christie's book is a work of beauty, love of Italy, and the renaissance. There is no doubt she is in love with both. A finely-crafte piece of work.