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sparkleboymatty's review against another edition
The writing style was too hard to follow and very dull.
kitnotmarlowe's review against another edition
this was recommended to me several times by a friend (kit if you see this, i am so sorry) and i gave it my best shot, but ultimately i wasn't enjoying myself enough to continue. the book is written in a style mimicking 16th-century english, thou-you-formal-informal pronouns abound! this wasn't a problem for me (though some of the repeated interjections got on my nerves a little bit), and replacing quotation marks with dashes only made things a little bit confusing.
anyway, i've been interested in christopher marlowe since approximately age 10. interested enough to name myself. but this book simply could not hold my interest. i felt there was too much distance between hallett and her subjects that kept me from being emotionally invested.
anyway, i've been interested in christopher marlowe since approximately age 10. interested enough to name myself. but this book simply could not hold my interest. i felt there was too much distance between hallett and her subjects that kept me from being emotionally invested.
possums's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of my favorite books. It's tragic, it's funny, it's well researched, it's poetic, it's thrilling, and most importantly: it is very, very gay.
bonnielendrum's review against another edition
5.0
There are authors and books that make a powerful first impression. When that feeling is sustained through subsequent encounters in person and with their writing, then I know I’m in the presence of someone with a gift. Michelle Butler Hallett is such an author.
I met Michelle in the early 2000’s at the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. We were both in Alistair MacLeod’s seminar group and we have each written about that honour. Michelle was a student whose commitment to form and language was articulate and impassioned, yet quietly and respectfully stated. I, who was secretly stumbling about on my keyboard, was in awe that anyone could find the words to speak about writing. Since that time, Michelle has produced five novels and several short stories. Writing is as natural for her as breathing.
Michelle’s most recent novel, This Marlowe, a work of historical fiction is set in the twilight of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It’s a tense spell-binding story of the last year of Christopher Marlowe’s life. Marlowe, the son of a cobbler, was also a graduate of Cambridge. The two facts, an unlikely combination for a poor boy, add fuel to the speculation that Marlowe may have been a spy for the Queen’s Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil. Marlowe’s violent death at the age of twenty-nine adds to the mystery and the rumors of espionage.
This Marlowe immerses the reader in the political machinations of an unstable time against the backdrop of Elizabethan England with all its beauty and grit. There were times when I felt like I could see, hear, smell, and touch the surroundings and experiences of Marlowe and his lover Thomas Kyd. The writing is taut, yet eloquent. Michelle has captured her characters, their language, phrasing and cadences in a way that is just shy of magic. She writes vividly about pain and suffering whether it comes from pneumonia, arthritis or torture.That same skill of offering the reader a virtual experience is equally present when she writes about love and compassion.
This Marlowe is one of the few books in my library I will be re-reading, as much for the pleasure of doing so as for the challenge of deciphering how Michelle Butler Hallett created this masterpiece.
Bonnie Lendrum is the author of Autumn's Grace, the story of one family's journey through palliative care.
I met Michelle in the early 2000’s at the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. We were both in Alistair MacLeod’s seminar group and we have each written about that honour. Michelle was a student whose commitment to form and language was articulate and impassioned, yet quietly and respectfully stated. I, who was secretly stumbling about on my keyboard, was in awe that anyone could find the words to speak about writing. Since that time, Michelle has produced five novels and several short stories. Writing is as natural for her as breathing.
Michelle’s most recent novel, This Marlowe, a work of historical fiction is set in the twilight of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It’s a tense spell-binding story of the last year of Christopher Marlowe’s life. Marlowe, the son of a cobbler, was also a graduate of Cambridge. The two facts, an unlikely combination for a poor boy, add fuel to the speculation that Marlowe may have been a spy for the Queen’s Secretary of State, Sir Robert Cecil. Marlowe’s violent death at the age of twenty-nine adds to the mystery and the rumors of espionage.
This Marlowe immerses the reader in the political machinations of an unstable time against the backdrop of Elizabethan England with all its beauty and grit. There were times when I felt like I could see, hear, smell, and touch the surroundings and experiences of Marlowe and his lover Thomas Kyd. The writing is taut, yet eloquent. Michelle has captured her characters, their language, phrasing and cadences in a way that is just shy of magic. She writes vividly about pain and suffering whether it comes from pneumonia, arthritis or torture.That same skill of offering the reader a virtual experience is equally present when she writes about love and compassion.
This Marlowe is one of the few books in my library I will be re-reading, as much for the pleasure of doing so as for the challenge of deciphering how Michelle Butler Hallett created this masterpiece.
Bonnie Lendrum is the author of Autumn's Grace, the story of one family's journey through palliative care.
miramichireader's review against another edition
5.0
This is a masterful work of historical fiction, right from the cover (look close to see the eyes and ears embroidered on Queen Elizabeth's robe) to the printed pages. The text (in particular the conversations) may deter some readers at first; it is very much like the style of English used in the King James Bible, but once you get used to this type of approach, you'll be able to follow the story, which assuredly has all the intrigue of a modern spy thriller.
catherine_t's review against another edition
3.0
This Marlowe imagines the last few months of poet, playwright, and supposed spy Christopher "Kit" Marlowe. It begins with Marlowe's deportation from Flushing, an English garrison town in what is now the Netherlands, on charges of counterfeiting. On his return to England, Marlowe finds himself the pawn in a power game being played by the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, against his master, Sir Robert Cecil. Essex, through his agents Robin Poley, Ric Baines, and others, tries to win Marlowe away from Cecil, but Marlowe refuses the tangerine silk which is the symbol of allegiance to Essex. Cecil sends Marlowe to Scadbury, Sir Thomas Walsingham's estate, ordering him to stay there until sent for.
But Marlowe cannot, for he loves Tom Kyd, fellow playwright and sometime collaborator. And Kyd has been arrested on suspicion of being the author of the Dutch Church libel, a dangerously seditious document signed "Per Tamburlane"...
As an undergraduate English major, I was of course subjected to Marlowe, in the form of his play Tamberlaine. And like many young female undergrads, before and since, I fell a little in love with Marlowe, at least the legend. It's all very dashing, after all: possibly a spy, certainly a "bad boy" with an artistic temperament. (The only extant portrait doesn't hurt, either.) So naturally I was drawn to this novel when I stumbled across it at the library.
It has some stylistic quirks (dialogue, for instance, isn't indicated by quotation marks but by em dashes, which makes for difficulties when the actual dialogue includes an em dash) which bothered me a bit, but overall, I enjoyed the book. Hallett has done well with her version of Kit Marlowe, giving readers a glimpse into Elizabethan London at the same time.
But Marlowe cannot, for he loves Tom Kyd, fellow playwright and sometime collaborator. And Kyd has been arrested on suspicion of being the author of the Dutch Church libel, a dangerously seditious document signed "Per Tamburlane"...
As an undergraduate English major, I was of course subjected to Marlowe, in the form of his play Tamberlaine. And like many young female undergrads, before and since, I fell a little in love with Marlowe, at least the legend. It's all very dashing, after all: possibly a spy, certainly a "bad boy" with an artistic temperament. (The only extant portrait doesn't hurt, either.) So naturally I was drawn to this novel when I stumbled across it at the library.
It has some stylistic quirks (dialogue, for instance, isn't indicated by quotation marks but by em dashes, which makes for difficulties when the actual dialogue includes an em dash) which bothered me a bit, but overall, I enjoyed the book. Hallett has done well with her version of Kit Marlowe, giving readers a glimpse into Elizabethan London at the same time.
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