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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
The Other Boleyn Girl
4.5/5
I picked this book up at a particularly rough patch in my life (though in this year, who isn’t having a rough go at it) because I’ve already read it before and I already know I love it. Is that cheating when it comes to writing reviews? I wasn’t writing reviews back then, but I am now, so now that the book is fresh I think it deserves a review too.
Anyway, I love Philippa Gregory, and in fact, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance were my introduction to the historical fiction genre and my real spark for reading as a young adult. So this book has a special place for me, but I will try to review it as objectively as possible.
Philippa Gregory gave a huge bump to the historical fiction genre with the success of this book. She wasn’t the only author at the time, but she was the one who made waves, and the accessibility of this book, I think, is what did it.
It’s very easy to read and get pulled into. There are times where the main character, Mary Boleyn, says things that are clearly unrealistic for the times or setting. But she’s a likable character and easy to root for throughout the book.
It’s ironic that one of my favorite portrayals of Anne Boleyn is also one of my least favorite portrayals of George Boleyn. Though, it’s very obvious that Gregory does this to lend credibility to some of the historical events that occur near the conclusion of the novel.
Is it unrealistic? Yes. If I had picked this book up for the first time today, I will be honest with you: I probably would not love it as much as did having picked it up years ago, fresh and impressionable (and pretty much ignorant of English history, boy that was some time ago).
But there are plenty of books that I still love despite historical inaccuracies, and there are plenty of other readers who also don’t mind them. It is an innate part of the genre, but it’s also a huge part of this book, larger than I would consider “normal” for the genre.
If you err on the side of true to history, then you probably already know to stay away from Gregory’s works anyway. If you can’t wait to dig into the drama of times past with two sisters and a king between them, then boy do I have the book for you.
4.5/5
I picked this book up at a particularly rough patch in my life (though in this year, who isn’t having a rough go at it) because I’ve already read it before and I already know I love it. Is that cheating when it comes to writing reviews? I wasn’t writing reviews back then, but I am now, so now that the book is fresh I think it deserves a review too.
Anyway, I love Philippa Gregory, and in fact, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance were my introduction to the historical fiction genre and my real spark for reading as a young adult. So this book has a special place for me, but I will try to review it as objectively as possible.
Philippa Gregory gave a huge bump to the historical fiction genre with the success of this book. She wasn’t the only author at the time, but she was the one who made waves, and the accessibility of this book, I think, is what did it.
It’s very easy to read and get pulled into. There are times where the main character, Mary Boleyn, says things that are clearly unrealistic for the times or setting. But she’s a likable character and easy to root for throughout the book.
It’s ironic that one of my favorite portrayals of Anne Boleyn is also one of my least favorite portrayals of George Boleyn. Though, it’s very obvious that Gregory does this to lend credibility to some of the historical events that occur near the conclusion of the novel.
Is it unrealistic? Yes. If I had picked this book up for the first time today, I will be honest with you: I probably would not love it as much as did having picked it up years ago, fresh and impressionable (and pretty much ignorant of English history, boy that was some time ago).
But there are plenty of books that I still love despite historical inaccuracies, and there are plenty of other readers who also don’t mind them. It is an innate part of the genre, but it’s also a huge part of this book, larger than I would consider “normal” for the genre.
If you err on the side of true to history, then you probably already know to stay away from Gregory’s works anyway. If you can’t wait to dig into the drama of times past with two sisters and a king between them, then boy do I have the book for you.
I loved reading about the day to day life in this era, and I think this is a fabulous take on what "could have happened" that's not in an average history book. Well written and enjoyable story, inspiring me to read other books written about this time period and the sequel and other related books by Philippa Gregory. Enjoyed this one the most.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't have time to write a proper review right now, but I hope I will later, because there's so much to say. It's like . . . aggressively mediocre.
The story of The Other Boleyn Girl is about the two Boleyn sisters – Mary, from whose point-of-view we see the story, and Anne, whose rise and fall is at the centre of the story.
Despite the many historical inaccuracies I still found Gregory's book to be an enjoyable read. Though admittedly a lot of that has to do with bias. This book has a strong Catholic bias that is against Anne, Henry VIII and Protestantism. It doesn't even try to be objective and showcase the pros and cons of both religions but blatantly goes against Henry VIII as a selfish and spoiled child and the Church of England as a whim of a tyrant with no mention of some of the points of Protestantism against the Catholic Church of the 16th century. So I could see why someone could really dislike this book and why I found it so delicious, a guilty pleasure of sorts. It takes painful history and "makes it sensible" by telling a story where it's okay that some people were horribly treated because they were bad and in the end everyone got what they deserved.
So about Gregory's Mary. I can't say that I liked her very much. She was the meek and good Boleyn girl that was the mirror image of Anne who was ill tempered, arrogant, selfish and in general the bad girl and it was all of those things that made her interesting. You wanted to read about her, you wanted see what would happen to her whereas Mary on the other seemed kind of dull. It was only during the later part when her romance with her second husband William Stafford unfolds that I actually developed sympathy for her. Another problem is that she is too white-washed. There is no mention of her life at the French court (that she had to leave in shame) before her marriage but that I guess would depart from the pure, innocent character that the author seemed to have for her. It makes an interesting contrast between her and Anne but it's just horribly historically inaccurate. And her last problem is that she is just too modern at times. This is something that you see a lot in modern historical fiction when the writer wants an easy way to endear the character to the reader - have them be the modern one. So of course Mary is the one to say that there's no reason a girl could not be a Queen. Of course Mary is the one to lament about the way women are treated in the 16th century and so on. It’s just painfully obvious and makes her stand out and simply not fit into her setting of Tudor England.
Another thing that I didn't like about The Other Boleyn Girl was its anticlimactic ending. After the book spends all its time focusing on Anne and her story for her last moments the focus is completely on Mary. We don't see Anne at her darkest moment and that's a real shame because after seeing her make her fortune on so many peoples misery I was really looking forward to her fall, to see her treated like she treated so many others. But we never see that, it's just a swift end and that's it.
So that was the bad but beside all that there was actually a lot that I liked. The setting was one thing. It portrayed the court of Henry VIII as both this wonderful, but also dangerous place where one is always on a stage and playing one part or another. The Howard/Boleyn family dynamic was interesting, especially between the three Boleyn siblings Mary, Anne and George and their dilemma of on one hand obeying their "superiors" and on the other following their own dreams and desires. And the court intrigues I found to be really delicious.
So that's The Other Boleyn Girl, a book that very clearly takes a side and sticks to it so it might work for you and it might not.
Despite the many historical inaccuracies I still found Gregory's book to be an enjoyable read. Though admittedly a lot of that has to do with bias. This book has a strong Catholic bias that is against Anne, Henry VIII and Protestantism. It doesn't even try to be objective and showcase the pros and cons of both religions but blatantly goes against Henry VIII as a selfish and spoiled child and the Church of England as a whim of a tyrant with no mention of some of the points of Protestantism against the Catholic Church of the 16th century. So I could see why someone could really dislike this book and why I found it so delicious, a guilty pleasure of sorts. It takes painful history and "makes it sensible" by telling a story where it's okay that some people were horribly treated because they were bad and in the end everyone got what they deserved.
So about Gregory's Mary. I can't say that I liked her very much. She was the meek and good Boleyn girl that was the mirror image of Anne who was ill tempered, arrogant, selfish and in general the bad girl and it was all of those things that made her interesting. You wanted to read about her, you wanted see what would happen to her whereas Mary on the other seemed kind of dull. It was only during the later part when her romance with her second husband William Stafford unfolds that I actually developed sympathy for her. Another problem is that she is too white-washed. There is no mention of her life at the French court (that she had to leave in shame) before her marriage but that I guess would depart from the pure, innocent character that the author seemed to have for her. It makes an interesting contrast between her and Anne but it's just horribly historically inaccurate. And her last problem is that she is just too modern at times. This is something that you see a lot in modern historical fiction when the writer wants an easy way to endear the character to the reader - have them be the modern one. So of course Mary is the one to say that there's no reason a girl could not be a Queen. Of course Mary is the one to lament about the way women are treated in the 16th century and so on. It’s just painfully obvious and makes her stand out and simply not fit into her setting of Tudor England.
Another thing that I didn't like about The Other Boleyn Girl was its anticlimactic ending. After the book spends all its time focusing on Anne and her story for her last moments the focus is completely on Mary. We don't see Anne at her darkest moment and that's a real shame because after seeing her make her fortune on so many peoples misery I was really looking forward to her fall, to see her treated like she treated so many others. But we never see that, it's just a swift end and that's it.
So that was the bad but beside all that there was actually a lot that I liked. The setting was one thing. It portrayed the court of Henry VIII as both this wonderful, but also dangerous place where one is always on a stage and playing one part or another. The Howard/Boleyn family dynamic was interesting, especially between the three Boleyn siblings Mary, Anne and George and their dilemma of on one hand obeying their "superiors" and on the other following their own dreams and desires. And the court intrigues I found to be really delicious.
So that's The Other Boleyn Girl, a book that very clearly takes a side and sticks to it so it might work for you and it might not.
Adventurous. I love Gregory and her writing because she allows me to develop well formed visuals of what is happening and what the people look like. She doesn't hold back when she writes. Great story.
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really loved this- the first book in a long time that has been irresistible; I took it with me everywhere, couldn't put it down, stayed up too late every night reading, finished the whole volume in a week. I'm a huge fan of researched historical fiction and Gregory has done a phenomenal job maintaining reality within her story. 10/10 will be reading again soon
Since I had already seen the movie, I was pleased to see how much more the book had (of course) to offer. It was a good page turner like a trashy novel, but it has the historical fiction element too so it feels like literature. Now I have to do my wikipedia search to see how much is true...
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes