Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
“If she doesn’t do it, someone else will, and she will not let anyone cut the hair from her head. If it must happen, she will take charge of it herself. It is her hair. It is her head. They can take away her pictures and her paints; they can fill her body with medicines and cold foods and other things besides; they can poke and palpate her stomach and peer down her throat; they can lock her up in her rooms, but she will cut the hair from her own head before she lets anyone else near her with shears.”
“Look. Here is Lucrezia, a small figure in the corner of a landscape with a river, a forest, an imposing stone building. She is moving across open ground, through the dark winter night, running, running, with all her strength, towards the merciful canopy of trees.”
Dear God. I sobbed like a little baby during the last 2 chapters.
“Look. Here is Lucrezia, a small figure in the corner of a landscape with a river, a forest, an imposing stone building. She is moving across open ground, through the dark winter night, running, running, with all her strength, towards the merciful canopy of trees.”
Dear God. I sobbed like a little baby during the last 2 chapters.
With a slow start of days trying to get into it, I finished the other half of the book in one sitting on a nice morning off work. It was really hard for me to engage at the beginning; I had a hard time focusing because this book is rich in description, but after I was able to pass the pain threshold, I became intrigued and fascinating.
I knew very little about the main character, but the plot of the book is laid out clearly from the beginning.
I liked how atmospheric and visual this book is. There's no sparing of details; it comes with a great deal of information that, once it grabs you, drags you down as part of it all, even the onomatopoeias—at first they took me by surprise, but later I found myself reading them aloud, making my own special effects while powering through the plot nearing the end.
It is somewhat predictable; at some point, I started to plot what could happen and guess many things to come. However, I enjoyed getting all the way to the end just to prove to myself that that initial hurdle had not been in vain.
At some point, the main character feels nauseous, and it's the kind of reading —as a woman— that got a hard grip on my guts, making me feel just the same way. It made me wonder how books in the far future would write about today's potential historical figures. There's a moment where Lucrezia thinks certain practices are barbaric in her century, yet it brings to mind today's thinking about the many things we still do and allow as a society.
This is definitely not a book I'd have chosen to read; it was part of my book club. But now I feel like keeping Maggie O'Farrel on my bookshelves. I'll be reading Hamnet later on this year for sure, and I would look forward to any future work she shares.
Last but not least, I appreciated the books she acknowledged as instrumental in conceiving this fiction; a real treat.
I knew very little about the main character, but the plot of the book is laid out clearly from the beginning.
I liked how atmospheric and visual this book is. There's no sparing of details; it comes with a great deal of information that, once it grabs you, drags you down as part of it all, even the onomatopoeias—at first they took me by surprise, but later I found myself reading them aloud, making my own special effects while powering through the plot nearing the end.
It is somewhat predictable; at some point, I started to plot what could happen and guess many things to come. However, I enjoyed getting all the way to the end just to prove to myself that that initial hurdle had not been in vain.
At some point, the main character feels nauseous, and it's the kind of reading —as a woman— that got a hard grip on my guts, making me feel just the same way. It made me wonder how books in the far future would write about today's potential historical figures. There's a moment where Lucrezia thinks certain practices are barbaric in her century, yet it brings to mind today's thinking about the many things we still do and allow as a society.
This is definitely not a book I'd have chosen to read; it was part of my book club. But now I feel like keeping Maggie O'Farrel on my bookshelves. I'll be reading Hamnet later on this year for sure, and I would look forward to any future work she shares.
Last but not least, I appreciated the books she acknowledged as instrumental in conceiving this fiction; a real treat.
5+ - “Sadness keeps attempting to tie weights to her wrists and ankles, therefore she has to keep moving, she has to outpace it.”
Brilliant historical fiction which now has me eager to also make the pilgrimage to the humble graveside of Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici in Ferrara. One of my favorite novels of the year and possibly of all time.
Brilliant historical fiction which now has me eager to also make the pilgrimage to the humble graveside of Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici in Ferrara. One of my favorite novels of the year and possibly of all time.
I don't typically read historical fiction but this was highly praised and, of course, I am a fan of Maggie O'Farrell. This is definitely a slow book but the reading felt so effortless, the writing was so beautiful, descriptive and clear.
Loved this like I loved Allison Pataki's two novels about Empress Sisi of Austria.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Fictional but based a tragic true early death of a 16 year old de’Medici daughter in 1560’s Italy. In The Marriage Portrait, Lucrezia is the bohemian wild child of Florentine royals who is married off to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara. Lucrezia is the replacement bride to her older sister who (fortunately) died just before her planned marriage to Alfonso. Lucrezia is kept like a caged bird by Alfonso, where optics are more important than actual relationships. He puts more effort into their wedding portrait than actually building a union with Lucrezia. Unsurprisingly, Lucrezia’s only value is to produce an heir for Alfonso and in her short year long marriage, is unsuccessful. In real life, Duke of Ferrara was unable to produce heirs with 3 separate wives but you know who got the blame anyway. I thought this was going to be much stuffier than it read, O’Farrell writes beautifully and with easy to follow language. Lucrezia’s character is the wild animal caged for entertainment and killed off when no longer useful, just like the lions and tigers her dad kept. A life lived too short, but at least in O’Farrell’s version there may be some small redemption. I don’t know a lot about the de’Medici’s besides they were crazy powerful in their time and women lived suspiciously short lives on the regular. Just like other books I have read recently - being a girl born into wealth is a prison of its own.