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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I watched the first season of BBC's "Victoria" before reading the novel, and while the storyline was exactly the same, I found the additional insight into the minds of the characters fascinating! Goodwin writes wonderfully, weaving interesting historical tidbits with connections to the desires and emotions of every human heart. I appreciated that Queen Victoria's positive qualities and weaknesses were shown in equal portions. After all, she was still an ordinary person like the rest of us, thrown into extraordinary circumstances.
Not a challenging read, but engaging enough to stay interesting. I stayed up reading until 2 AM, so it's good.
Not a challenging read, but engaging enough to stay interesting. I stayed up reading until 2 AM, so it's good.
Amusingly enough, when I purchased this one, I didn't realize that it was linked to the PBS piece they made on Queen Victoria. I genuinely never judge a book by its cover, and this is one of those books I picked up because it piqued my interest and I try to buy a book on a hunch from time to time rather than always stick to authors I know (...that's how you get to know new ones!) But I did remember watching a trailer and, as I read through this book, it read as exactly that.
There's a lot more dialogue than there is description, but the description of the scenery has so much detail that when it comes, it paints the picture, and then the dialogue gives movement to the scene. In the end, I devoured the book (read it a lot quicker than I thought I would), and I think it was mostly due to enjoying how the voices translated to emotions and chance given to empathize with each character's journey, even if you didn't very much like them.
Some important notes that bear mentioning: first, reviews are highly subjective, including mine. My opinion is meant to give an overview of what I saw/felt when I read it (and how it may or may not have made my brain explode). What I see might not be what you see, and what I like (or don't) might not be what you enjoy, which is just fine. My advice to anyone looking into a book? Read the premise, and if it interests you enough, give it a chance and form your own opinion.
There's a lot more dialogue than there is description, but the description of the scenery has so much detail that when it comes, it paints the picture, and then the dialogue gives movement to the scene. In the end, I devoured the book (read it a lot quicker than I thought I would), and I think it was mostly due to enjoying how the voices translated to emotions and chance given to empathize with each character's journey, even if you didn't very much like them.
Some important notes that bear mentioning: first, reviews are highly subjective, including mine. My opinion is meant to give an overview of what I saw/felt when I read it (and how it may or may not have made my brain explode). What I see might not be what you see, and what I like (or don't) might not be what you enjoy, which is just fine. My advice to anyone looking into a book? Read the premise, and if it interests you enough, give it a chance and form your own opinion.
I love all things royal- I binged the Netflix Crown series in a month. So this book's subject matter was interesting to me. A 3.5 star book for a story of the young Queen Victoria and how she comes to power. The ending "book" was my favorite plot wise with Albert and Lord M and I felt it was a little rushed. I could have had that extended rather than some of the repetitive scenes in the middle of the novel. I got sucked into the world and now off to find the Victoria Series on PBS.
I’m not sure about this one…one of the fun things about historical fiction is that it fills in lots of little gaps (I don’t think I knew Victoria was her middle name, for example, and I didn’t know about any of the early “scandals”, or that stamps were basically invented for her, or that she had to be the one to propose)…but then again, I also don’t know how much of that is fact and how much of it is creative liberty…and while obviously all of this could be resolved with a quick visit to Wikipedia, it still dampens the pleasure of being about to tell someone an historical factoid when there’s a distinct possibility that you could embarrass yourself and reveal your gullibility…
The other problem with historical fiction is at the opposite end of the spectrum—basically the one thing I was SURE I knew about Victoria was that she married Albert, so it pretty much spoils the romance with Melbourne when you know from the outset that it is a dead end…also, I have zero idea if there’s any basis in reality for that story, but either way, it just never really worked for me—she felt too young and naive, and he should know better! Which is, of course, the point—but the ick factor remains.
I also felt conflicted about Victoria herself. Again, I think part of the point is that she’s super young and sheltered when she takes the throne, and is in way over her head…and I would get it if that were the arc of the novel, but it seems as if we’re supposed to be impressed with her aptitude and wit from the start, so when she DOES act like a naive girl in over her head, it feels jarring…and the arc isn’t as present as I’d like it to be.
I’m not sure I’ve explained that well…basically, I’m not sure how much I liked her, or how much I was supposed to…
The other problem with historical fiction is at the opposite end of the spectrum—basically the one thing I was SURE I knew about Victoria was that she married Albert, so it pretty much spoils the romance with Melbourne when you know from the outset that it is a dead end…also, I have zero idea if there’s any basis in reality for that story, but either way, it just never really worked for me—she felt too young and naive, and he should know better! Which is, of course, the point—but the ick factor remains.
I also felt conflicted about Victoria herself. Again, I think part of the point is that she’s super young and sheltered when she takes the throne, and is in way over her head…and I would get it if that were the arc of the novel, but it seems as if we’re supposed to be impressed with her aptitude and wit from the start, so when she DOES act like a naive girl in over her head, it feels jarring…and the arc isn’t as present as I’d like it to be.
I’m not sure I’ve explained that well…basically, I’m not sure how much I liked her, or how much I was supposed to…
https://jenninsf.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/victoria-by-daisy-goodwin/
Victoria has fascinated me since I read a biography of her in third grade. This was well-written, I only wish there were some notes at the end to detail what parts of the book were based on historical documents, and what parts were purely imagination.
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Absolutely loved it! Really reminded me od the itv series - this speaks both to their acting abilities ans the writing (although it seems like only season 1). I love how Daisy really captures the tone of each character, like Victoria's emotions, Leopald's vanity, Conroy's self interest. I didn't really like the way that she shows Alfred's longing for his mother - it seemed a little creepy, but maybe that was intended?
2.5
MAN am I glad this is over.
The first few chapters of this I was pretty into it, enjoying the characters and the plot but as it went on I developed a distaste for both. I love historical fiction but I just couldn’t get invested. The ending seemed really fast and clean after feeling like the middle section crept at an infuriating pace.
MAN am I glad this is over.
The first few chapters of this I was pretty into it, enjoying the characters and the plot but as it went on I developed a distaste for both. I love historical fiction but I just couldn’t get invested. The ending seemed really fast and clean after feeling like the middle section crept at an infuriating pace.
Spoiler
Also, anyone else cringe every time (and there were so many) she squeezed Dash? 🙄
This was a little repetitive, and longer than it probably needed to be, but it kept me reading! I couldn't put it down, and finished it much faster than I expected. Guess now it's another TV show that I need to watch!
There were some interesting parallels between Queen Victoria's story, and that of the young (and current!) Queen Elizabeth.
There were some interesting parallels between Queen Victoria's story, and that of the young (and current!) Queen Elizabeth.