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krobart's review against another edition
4.0
In the introduction to Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir talks about the many misconceptions we have about Anne Boleyn’s less famous sister, which were not only derived from such popular fictions as The Tudors (wildly inaccurate, but I still loved it!) and The Other Boleyn Girl (ditto), but also from biographers and historians over the centuries. Weir calls her book both a biography and a historiography, because she tackles many published statements about Mary’s life and attempts to show the extent of their truth or even likelihood.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/mary-boleyn/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/mary-boleyn/
algae429's review against another edition
3.0
Possibly because Weir had to spend so much time delineating between the sisters and explaining which was where and when, I found this book harder to follow. I don't feel like I got a portrait of who Mary was, but rather a portrait of who she wasn't. I found this one harder to follow than other books by Weir.
magnetarmadda's review against another edition
4.0
I love when history books written for more general audiences base everything on contemporary accounts, even better when they try to focus on accounts from people who were actually present for events. This book does that excellently: she makes no definitive claims unless there is record of it. She also does a great job explaining when and why she makes assumptions and how she came to some conclusions based on the minimal evidence available.
However, I tired very quickly of having something repeated or reiterated to me once a paragraph. It made the book much slower than necessary and bogged down the book. It also made me feel like the author assumed I couldn't retain anything or was incapable of looking back if I was confused.
In a book as filled with conjecture as this, I'm extremely pleased that that's my own complaint, though, and enjoyed this book despite that. It definitely changed the way I view even some nonfiction books I've read about the era.
However, I tired very quickly of having something repeated or reiterated to me once a paragraph. It made the book much slower than necessary and bogged down the book. It also made me feel like the author assumed I couldn't retain anything or was incapable of looking back if I was confused.
In a book as filled with conjecture as this, I'm extremely pleased that that's my own complaint, though, and enjoyed this book despite that. It definitely changed the way I view even some nonfiction books I've read about the era.
mizpurplest's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this and found it very interesting, but not enthralling. It was a good book to help recover from The Other Boleyn Girl, but I don't think it could have hooked me on its own.
mada21's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't like it as much as the other two books I have read by this author. Maybe it was the fact that not a lot is know about Mary Boleyn and most is speculation. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book.
bkread2's review against another edition
2.0
Kind of disappointing! Most of the book was really about Anne and Elizabeth I. In getting the book I wanted to know about Mary and there was very little. Most of the text was about what could have been her date of birth and that was 50% of the book, another 45% about her relatives; nothing about her.
toesinthesand's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting read, especially after watching The Tudors and reading The Other Boleyn Girl but she includes a lot of boring details about property and royal titles and is long winded at times. Made it hard to focus.
readcover2cover's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it! Unfortunately, not much is known about Mary Boleyn, so much of the book was speculative. Alison Weir did an excellent job though with both research and presentation. It was very interesting, although I knew most of the information already. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested in the Tudor era, especially the story surrounding Anne Boleyn and her family (Mary is really the only one to make a happy ending for herself).
nobodysdoormat's review against another edition
1.0
It was kind of a chore to read. A whole lot of blah, blah, blah.