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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
Queen Defiant: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Anne O'Brien
1 review
fifteenthjessica's review
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I don't think I would've finished this if Eleanor of Aquitaine wasn't such a fascinating person, although this book's Eleanor came off as cartoonishly vain.
The prose isn't great. Memorable passages in Queen Defiant are associated more with an intense cringe than awe (including a description of Eleanor's thirteen year old sister that includes the phrase "a child beneath her developing curves"), and chapter 2's description of Eleanor's family history felt more like an info dump (and could probably be worked into a conversation between characters with ease). The supporting cast is a bit frustrating as there are a few characters who seem like they'd be important but don't actually have name, such as the brother Louis doesn't want to give his crown to (which Eleanor uses to help convince him to grant the somewhat anti-climactic annulment) and any of Eleanor's ladies in waiting who aren't Agatha or Eleanor's sister Aelith.
But these are fairly easy to forgive compared to Eleanor's love life. She has four sexual partners (I really don't think love interest is an accurate word for most of these) during the course of this book: her monk-like husband King Louis VII of France, the ambitious and grasping Count Geoffrey Plantagenet, her uncle Raymond (most modern historians believe that claims that they actually slept together were a combination of slander and misinterpretation of how affectionate Aquitainians can be with each other), and Henry Plantagenet who is crowned King Henry II of England in the epilogue. Louis is condemned for being short-tempered, neglecting her needs for intimacy, forcing Eleanor to love in a castle she doesn't like, and refusing to listen to Eleanor because she is a woman. Henry is even more short-tempered, leaves her alone for long periods to go campaigning, forces Eleanor to move to his holdings in Anjou and Normandy after marriage, does not listen to her because she is a woman, and has her raise an illegitimate child he fathered while they were married, but he is somehow portrayed as the love of her life. One could say maybe this decision is to show the effect of a strong patriarchy on women, but in an interview in my copy of the book, Anne O'Brien states that she sees Henry II as the love of Eleanor's life. Why?
The prose isn't great. Memorable passages in Queen Defiant are associated more with an intense cringe than awe (including a description of Eleanor's thirteen year old sister that includes the phrase "a child beneath her developing curves"), and chapter 2's description of Eleanor's family history felt more like an info dump (and could probably be worked into a conversation between characters with ease). The supporting cast is a bit frustrating as there are a few characters who seem like they'd be important but don't actually have name, such as the brother Louis doesn't want to give his crown to (which Eleanor uses to help convince him to grant the somewhat anti-climactic annulment) and any of Eleanor's ladies in waiting who aren't Agatha or Eleanor's sister Aelith.
But these are fairly easy to forgive compared to Eleanor's love life. She has four sexual partners (I really don't think love interest is an accurate word for most of these) during the course of this book: her monk-like husband King Louis VII of France, the ambitious and grasping Count Geoffrey Plantagenet, her uncle Raymond (most modern historians believe that claims that they actually slept together were a combination of slander and misinterpretation of how affectionate Aquitainians can be with each other), and Henry Plantagenet who is crowned King Henry II of England in the epilogue. Louis is condemned for being short-tempered, neglecting her needs for intimacy, forcing Eleanor to love in a castle she doesn't like, and refusing to listen to Eleanor because she is a woman. Henry is even more short-tempered, leaves her alone for long periods to go campaigning, forces Eleanor to move to his holdings in Anjou and Normandy after marriage, does not listen to her because she is a woman, and has her raise an illegitimate child he fathered while they were married, but he is somehow portrayed as the love of her life. One could say maybe this decision is to show the effect of a strong patriarchy on women, but in an interview in my copy of the book, Anne O'Brien states that she sees Henry II as the love of Eleanor's life. Why?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Sexism, War, Confinement, Rape, and Violence
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