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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
A bit long-winded, but I quite enjoyed most of this book. Watching Katherine of Aragon's evolution from the fiery Infanta of Spain to the Queen of England she became was quite interesting. My only complaint was that it dragged in some places, particularly in the beginning during her marriage to Arthur, and how sickeningly in love they were.
Spoiler
In particular, I enjoyed the twist of Katherine actually lying about her virgin status when she married Henry. For centuries, Katherine has been portrayed as the virtuous, maligned wife who spoke only the truth. In Gregory's book, she is as human as the next person, who lied for what she believed was the greater good. It was a fascinating twist.
This book was so inaccurate. I did however enjoy the story. I hated how inaccurate this book was but I couldn’t put it down.
I just finished reading The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. It is the story of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Katherine was first married to Henry's older brother Arthur, but upon his early death, she claimed that their marriage was never consummated and she waited out his family until she could be married to Henry. This book claims that her marriage to Arthur was consummated and that she lied in order to fulfill a death bed promise to Arthur. Apparently this is a much debated topic in her history. She had a very interesting upbringing as her parents were involved in the Spanish Inquisition and raids to defeat the Moors. I read The Other Boleyn Girl first almost 2 years ago and in that book, she was portrayed as a plump, dull, woman, but she obviously had a much more interesting existence in her young adulthood as she lead England to war against the Scots while Henry was out of the country doing battle with France. This was another great book by Gregory.
I started reading the ebook before switching to the audio book. Both are library loaners so I wasn't paying that much attention to specifics. I didn't realize the audio version was abridged until I started listening to it, but if I didn't know certain scenes were cut, I wouldn't miss them. The last book seemed to drag on and on forever (possibly because Henry VIII's story is told so much and you know what's coming next), so I decided I'm okay with this one being truncated.
Reason for switching: I borrowed a huge ebook volume containing several books in the series but didn't get very far into it before my loan was up. Rather than get back on the wait list, I went with the readily available audio book.
Final review: Nope. This dragged on and on and on, and it was even abridged! There's probably too much overlapping in the stories here, because the same story is told from different angles in at least three different books. It's so unnecessary.
Reason for switching: I borrowed a huge ebook volume containing several books in the series but didn't get very far into it before my loan was up. Rather than get back on the wait list, I went with the readily available audio book.
Final review: Nope. This dragged on and on and on, and it was even abridged! There's probably too much overlapping in the stories here, because the same story is told from different angles in at least three different books. It's so unnecessary.
What I learned from this book is that one should never read a Philippa Gregory book immediately after finishing a Neal Stephenson book. Occam's razor just really has no place in a Gregory novel, because it killed a lot of my enjoyment. Usually, I like Greogory's novels as nice travel or beach reads; something to amuse but not engage too deeply. But this time, I wasn't really amused, and I certainly wasn't engaged.
The problem is this: Queen Katherine, who was born Catalina of Spain, daughter of Isabel and Ferdinand, married King Henry VII's oldest son, Arthur. They were married for five months before he died. Katherine later was able to marry Henry VIII, Arthur's younger brother, by claiming that her first marriage was never consummated. This doesn't really add up. The entire court put them to bed on their wedding night, the sheets were shown in the morning (doesn't that just make you cringe?) and nobody mentioned this non-consummation until after Arthur was dead, when it became extremely convenient for the people involved to believe Katherine never slept with Arthur. Henry, of course, divorced Katherine many years later by announcing that their marriage was never legal because she hadn't been a virgin. Now, because we all like Katherine a lot more than we like Henry, we went with her story, even though it doesn't really ring true. However, just because Katherine and Arthur's marriage may have been formally consummated, that does not mean that they were hopelessly in love with each other, sneaking around to secret romantic interludes, and pledging their undying love. It seems far simpler to conclude that they had the relationship contemporaries witnessed: formal, stilted, but fully legal. And the Razor says the simplest conclusion is most likely the truest.
But of course that wouldn't make a good novel. So in this story, Arthur and Katherine had the kind of legendary love that makes for good stories, and, as he lay dying, he made her promise to marry his younger brother, become queen of England, and fulfill all their plans as they'd laid them. And Katherine spent seven years mourning her dead lover (husband) and reluctantly putting all the pieces into place that would make her King Henry VIII's wife, and Queen of England. And, just for spice, Gregory also has Henry VII lusting after her, while he's still alive.
I'm not saying it was bad. I just didn't enjoy it. There were some good scenes, especially Queen Katherine's interactions with her Moorish doctor. And Katherine's life was extremely interesting without all the romance frippery added. So it was good. Just . . . not really captivating.
The problem is this: Queen Katherine, who was born Catalina of Spain, daughter of Isabel and Ferdinand, married King Henry VII's oldest son, Arthur. They were married for five months before he died. Katherine later was able to marry Henry VIII, Arthur's younger brother, by claiming that her first marriage was never consummated. This doesn't really add up. The entire court put them to bed on their wedding night, the sheets were shown in the morning (doesn't that just make you cringe?) and nobody mentioned this non-consummation until after Arthur was dead, when it became extremely convenient for the people involved to believe Katherine never slept with Arthur. Henry, of course, divorced Katherine many years later by announcing that their marriage was never legal because she hadn't been a virgin. Now, because we all like Katherine a lot more than we like Henry, we went with her story, even though it doesn't really ring true. However, just because Katherine and Arthur's marriage may have been formally consummated, that does not mean that they were hopelessly in love with each other, sneaking around to secret romantic interludes, and pledging their undying love. It seems far simpler to conclude that they had the relationship contemporaries witnessed: formal, stilted, but fully legal. And the Razor says the simplest conclusion is most likely the truest.
But of course that wouldn't make a good novel. So in this story, Arthur and Katherine had the kind of legendary love that makes for good stories, and, as he lay dying, he made her promise to marry his younger brother, become queen of England, and fulfill all their plans as they'd laid them. And Katherine spent seven years mourning her dead lover (husband) and reluctantly putting all the pieces into place that would make her King Henry VIII's wife, and Queen of England. And, just for spice, Gregory also has Henry VII lusting after her, while he's still alive.
I'm not saying it was bad. I just didn't enjoy it. There were some good scenes, especially Queen Katherine's interactions with her Moorish doctor. And Katherine's life was extremely interesting without all the romance frippery added. So it was good. Just . . . not really captivating.
Not as good as The Other Boleyn Girl, but better than The Boleyn Inheritance.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but my the end, I was hooked. Philippa Gregory does a great job of creating suspense, considering that we all know how the story ends.
It was very interesting to see Katherine of Aragon's point of view on how she came to be in England and married to King Henry. I would have been interested to see this go a little bit further into the conflict with the Boleyns (which was briefly talked about at the end), but she was an intriguing woman that I now look at much differently than after reading the Boleyn books.
It took me a little while to get into this book, but my the end, I was hooked. Philippa Gregory does a great job of creating suspense, considering that we all know how the story ends.
It was very interesting to see Katherine of Aragon's point of view on how she came to be in England and married to King Henry. I would have been interested to see this go a little bit further into the conflict with the Boleyns (which was briefly talked about at the end), but she was an intriguing woman that I now look at much differently than after reading the Boleyn books.
The horse is dead. How many ways can you retell the same story? Even if you explore the perspectives of a character you didn't really address in another book about the same topic, the story has largely been told and it's not that interesting.
Queen Katherine is my favorite character in the Philippa Gregory books I've read so far.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No