Rating: 
Summary: Danish history at its best
Review: The Royal Physician, Struensee came to Denmark in the 1760s, to be the physician of the Danish king Christian VIII. The king is married to the young English girl, queen Caroline Mathilde. She was married to the king to give him a son, and as the king had spent one night with her, out of massive pressure, she had born him a heir.Struensee saw his chance to get power, and he took it. And in a few months he issued more than 600 decrees in the name of the king. A paper revolution took place from Struensee's desk. Through this time, which is called the start of the Enlightenment in Denmark, and in Europe as well, Struensee is doing the fatal mistake of falling in love with the young queen. The king knows what is going on, but in his narrow mind he loves both Struensee and the queen and has nothing against what is going on between them. Other people has though, and Struensee's future is sealed. We know already from the first page in the book that Struensee's "mistake" will be fatal for him, and he is to be killed by the end of the book. Though knowing the end, Enquist manage to hold our interest through the whole book. We get angry with Struensee, we cry with Caroline Mathilde, and we feel pity for the king, unable to rule his country. The books is a masterpiece in the way it tells part of the Danish history, and also part of the Royal history of Europe. Through the little girl Struensee and Caroline Mathilde get together they can be said to be father and mother of most of the European monarchy of today. Britt Arnhild Lindland
Rating: 
Summary: Literary masterpiece
Review: This book is based on an historical event. In 1766 Christian VII becomes king of Denmark. Christian is an anxious boy, made mad by the members of his court. Two years later Johann Friedrich Struensee becomes his personal physician. Very soon he gains the trust of the young king with his quiet behaviour. The king starts to give more and more power to Struensee, who, more or less against his own will, becomes the center of power. In a period of only a few years Struensee issues more than 600 decrees that improve the life of the ordinary Danes and make Denmark a frontrunner of the Enlightenment movement. However, Struensee does not realize how much resistance his actions cause in the surroundings of the king. In 1772 he is arrested and tried on the basis of his relationship with the queen. We follow the events through the eyes of a number of people: Christians private teacher Reverdil, the young queen Caroline Mathilde, Struensees rival and successor Guldberg and Struensee himself. Per Olov Enquist has succeeded in writing a monumental literary novel: the actors are real, full of doubt, passion and deceit. The description of the way in which the mind of the young Christian is broken is most impressive. A king has absolute power, but is not supposed to actually exercise it, so the whole court conspires to break his mind. What remains in the end of an intelligent, normal boy is a mental wreck who lives in a fantasy world.
Rating:
Summary: Something rotten in the state of Denmark
Review: This book was recommended by a friend who said that the mixture of history, sex and gore would appeal to me. She was right. I loved this book. Knowing nothing before of the pitiful king, Christian VII, his child bride Caroline Mathilde, and doctor J.F.Struensee, nor of Danish history, I found every page gripping. The interplay between these three persons, and the court officials around them make for a fascinating read. I even read some Danish history online to find out more. But I advise those thinking of buying it to get the unedited hardcover copy.
Rating: 
Summary: dragged a bit...
Review: When all was "said'n'read", the point the author wanted to make was clearly laid out at the end, but getting there was a bit of a chore. Lots more historical detail could have been added to make the story more interesting. Also, the protrayal of some of the characters could have been richer and deeper - they often seemed two-dimensional. Nonetheless, 'the idea' of this piece of historical fiction if not optimally executed was intriguing, so it's not to be dismissed entirely.
Rating: 
Summary: A moral sledgehammer
Review: While reading the very informative and fascinating history "Scandinavia Since 1500" by Byron J. Nordstrom, I became quite intrigued by the larger than life historical figure of J. F. Struensee in the court of Christian VII of Denmark. Here is a tragic figure worthy of Hamlet, Macbeth, and so forth -- a brave, intelligent heroic individual with an unfortunate flaw, which was the classic romantic one of falling in love with the wrong woman. There's a potential for great drama here, whether in a novel, play, or better yet, opera. Well, you won't find great drama in the Royal Physician's Visit, because the author is primarily interested in presenting a series of very irritating aphoristic fragments of the various characters and scenes of this story to emphasize the serious moral conflicts and the pathetic depths to which royal society had plunged. That's all very nice but it makes for terrible fiction, especially when every character is approached from the most oblique angles imaginable, and Struensee in particular gets a completely bloodless portrait. And if you're naive enough to think that a tragic story should have moments of humor, you'll be even more disappointed, because this novel will bludgeon you with its intensely gloomy moral tone, with one scene after another to emphasize the same points about moral decay and ambivalence. Not exactly a page turner. One of the pivotal moments in the drama, the meeting of Christian VII with the French encylopedists, is presented so superficially as to leave the impression that nothing of any consequence was ever spoken in a French salon. To be fair, it's generally intelligently written, given the author's apparent ambition to show the pathetic struggles and sexual fumblings of a couple misplaced in time, but a genuine history of Struensee and his world would have been immensely more satisfying, and I'm afraid that none appear to exist in English. The reader of this novel can never be sure what is fiction and what is history, especially since the writer insists on making references to the writings of various characters, without giving us nice details about such trivial matters of whether these are letters, diaries, or publications, and without a hint of whether this is merely a fictional device. Read at your own risk.
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