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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Everyone knows who Katherine of Aragon is. She's the first "Divorced" in the Tudor rhyme. I knew a lot about her life while she was Queen of England but very little before that. We're introduced to Katherine in Gregory's book The King's Curse, but here, we get up close and personal with the princess, her poverty, and her supposed passion for the first Tudor prince, Arthur.
I LIKED this book. I tried to like more of it because Katherine is such a fascinating woman, and I'm genuinely curious about what happened between her and Arthur historically. She's driven, cunning, and resourceful but also vulnerable with her own needs and disappointments. Gregory showed us this woman, but this woman was sometimes lost in the noise of Katherine's whining about how much she loves Arthur. Girl, you were with him for 5 months tops. You're trying to tell me he was the greatest love of her life? That everything she did was because of a deathbed promise to him?
It cheapened her. I fully support women falling in love and going after the men they want (Three Sisters, Three Queens does this fabulously), but Katherine was stripped of all personality except for Arthur. There were a couple throwaway lines near the end about how this was secretly her ambition all along, but I don't buy it. Too busy getting hammered over the head with Arthur. It's such a shame because there was so much rich, material here.
Regardless of this fault, the story was still well-written, and you can sympathize with Katherine of the pages she isn't talking about Arthur. When she resists Henry VII, survives poverty, starts to fall for Henry, and becomes regent and fights the Scots you see a brilliant woman and the descendant of Isabella of Castile. You just have to go looking for her sometimes.
I LIKED this book. I tried to like more of it because Katherine is such a fascinating woman, and I'm genuinely curious about what happened between her and Arthur historically. She's driven, cunning, and resourceful but also vulnerable with her own needs and disappointments. Gregory showed us this woman, but this woman was sometimes lost in the noise of Katherine's whining about how much she loves Arthur. Girl, you were with him for 5 months tops. You're trying to tell me he was the greatest love of her life? That everything she did was because of a deathbed promise to him?
It cheapened her. I fully support women falling in love and going after the men they want (Three Sisters, Three Queens does this fabulously), but Katherine was stripped of all personality except for Arthur. There were a couple throwaway lines near the end about how this was secretly her ambition all along, but I don't buy it. Too busy getting hammered over the head with Arthur. It's such a shame because there was so much rich, material here.
Regardless of this fault, the story was still well-written, and you can sympathize with Katherine of the pages she isn't talking about Arthur. When she resists Henry VII, survives poverty, starts to fall for Henry, and becomes regent and fights the Scots you see a brilliant woman and the descendant of Isabella of Castile. You just have to go looking for her sometimes.
The constant point-of-view switching was very distracting, and I felt like the first 2/3 of the book moved extremely slowly in comparison to the last third. Catalina's arrogance about her home country was also aggravating at times -- every chance she got, she would go on these paragraph-long rants about how much better Spain was than England. It's not a bad read; I just would recommend the Other Boleyn Girl or the Boleyn Inheritance (in the latter, she is much more successful with the POV-switching) first.
emotional
slow-paced
not my favourite and often found the language/imagery quite insensitive but still such an enjoyable series
The structure of this book threw me somewhat. I didn’t always love the shifting in POV between first person and third person. Catalina was an interesting enough character, but this moved a little too slow for me.
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very long but in digestible chunks. Fascinating the way the tone of the world was portrayed. The book did a good job of portraying the opinions towards other religions at the time without penalising them or offering a negative view of them to the reader. Hopefully I’ve explained that well. I enjoyed it.
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoy Gregory's style. She makes us not only feel we know these historical characters, but tells us things we haven't heard or imagined even though most of her subjects are pretty infamous. That was certainly the case here, with Catalina/Katherine of Aragon, first Queen to Henry the Eighth.
I've read quite a few books about the Tudors, and Katherine tends to come across as a good woman, but something of a religious zealot. Gregory's Katherine is religious, every woman of the time was to an extent, but she was no zealot. She simply feels she was chosen by God and groomed by her mother to be the Queen of England. Nothing else. Since the age of three. God and her mother are never wrong, so Queen she will be despite the obstacles she faces.
Everyone knows the story. Was she Arthur, her first husband's lover, or was he impotent? If they were never lovers, then her marriage to Arthur's younger brother Harry, later, King Henry, is valid. Here Gregory decides Arthur and Katherine were true lovers, but because they have plans for the Kingdom England can become, Arthur begs Katherine on his deathbed not to reveal this. They both know her only path to the throne is through marriage to Harry. A marriage to Harry can only be valid if she comes to him a virgin. This is Katherine's Great Lie. Gregory presents this in a way that seems not only reasonable, but actually honorable.
After many years of waiting, and thwarting other plans for her, Katherine finally does become Queen of England. She is a good queen, proving that, once again, God and her mother are never wrong. Gregory leaves no doubt Katherine is a much better ruler and manager than Henry. He was, after all, the second son, so not really trained to be King. Katherine lives her life in service to her country and her King and it comes across the page as a labor of love. Unfortunately Henry is not a faithful man.
I had to rate this book 3 stars, instead of the 4 stars most of it deserved because of the ending. Katherine's story is told in exquisite detail, from her young girlhood until she is accused by Henry of being Arthur's true wife and therefor not his. Gregory leaves us, literally, on the threshhold of the court. The abrupt ending was very unsettling to me. My guess is that Gregory wants us to go on to read [b:The Other Boleyn Girl|37470|The Other Boleyn Girl|Philippa Gregory|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255579290s/37470.jpg|3248536], and I will, but this was Katherine's story. I wanted a proper ending.
I've read quite a few books about the Tudors, and Katherine tends to come across as a good woman, but something of a religious zealot. Gregory's Katherine is religious, every woman of the time was to an extent, but she was no zealot. She simply feels she was chosen by God and groomed by her mother to be the Queen of England. Nothing else. Since the age of three. God and her mother are never wrong, so Queen she will be despite the obstacles she faces.
Everyone knows the story. Was she Arthur, her first husband's lover, or was he impotent? If they were never lovers, then her marriage to Arthur's younger brother Harry, later, King Henry, is valid. Here Gregory decides Arthur and Katherine were true lovers, but because they have plans for the Kingdom England can become, Arthur begs Katherine on his deathbed not to reveal this. They both know her only path to the throne is through marriage to Harry. A marriage to Harry can only be valid if she comes to him a virgin. This is Katherine's Great Lie. Gregory presents this in a way that seems not only reasonable, but actually honorable.
After many years of waiting, and thwarting other plans for her, Katherine finally does become Queen of England. She is a good queen, proving that, once again, God and her mother are never wrong. Gregory leaves no doubt Katherine is a much better ruler and manager than Henry. He was, after all, the second son, so not really trained to be King. Katherine lives her life in service to her country and her King and it comes across the page as a labor of love. Unfortunately Henry is not a faithful man.
I had to rate this book 3 stars, instead of the 4 stars most of it deserved because of the ending. Katherine's story is told in exquisite detail, from her young girlhood until she is accused by Henry of being Arthur's true wife and therefor not his. Gregory leaves us, literally, on the threshhold of the court. The abrupt ending was very unsettling to me. My guess is that Gregory wants us to go on to read [b:The Other Boleyn Girl|37470|The Other Boleyn Girl|Philippa Gregory|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255579290s/37470.jpg|3248536], and I will, but this was Katherine's story. I wanted a proper ending.
lively and vibrant characters as always. Always enjoyable to have historical figures come to life in new perspectives.