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A review by katiereadsbooks
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
4.0
(3.5/5)
Maggie O'Farrell's "The Marriage Portrait" follows a relatively similar formula to its predecessor, "Hamnet" in that it expounds upon the experiences of a woman in history, connected to a famous man, whom we know relatively little about. In this case we follow Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara, and are told from the start that she will die under mysterious circumstances at the age of 16.
O'Farrell has a tendency to overwrite. Her purple prose was noticeable in "Hamnet" but even more prominent here. Descriptions of nature and art often stretched into run-on sentences, causing the plot to move at an excruciating pace outside of the first and last sections. Secondary characters felt underdeveloped and occasionally their interactions read more like a soap opera than literary fiction.
Our main character Lucrezia is written as simultaneously brilliant and foolish, with mixed results. She is an artistic prodigy and secretly teaches herself a second dialect; she is "not like the other girls" who care about fashion and femininity. Yet despite spending most of the novel eavesdropping through walls like some sort of Renaissance superhero, Lucrezia remains politically and socially inept. I found this decision perplexing and disappointing.
Despite these qualms, I ultimately enjoyed this novel. O'Farrell's ability to depict setting and atmosphere is truly unmatched. If you watched "The Borgias" or "The Tudors" back in the day and can appreciate a slow burn, you'll definitely want to pick this one up.
Maggie O'Farrell's "The Marriage Portrait" follows a relatively similar formula to its predecessor, "Hamnet" in that it expounds upon the experiences of a woman in history, connected to a famous man, whom we know relatively little about. In this case we follow Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara, and are told from the start that she will die under mysterious circumstances at the age of 16.
O'Farrell has a tendency to overwrite. Her purple prose was noticeable in "Hamnet" but even more prominent here. Descriptions of nature and art often stretched into run-on sentences, causing the plot to move at an excruciating pace outside of the first and last sections. Secondary characters felt underdeveloped and occasionally their interactions read more like a soap opera than literary fiction.
Our main character Lucrezia is written as simultaneously brilliant and foolish, with mixed results. She is an artistic prodigy and secretly teaches herself a second dialect; she is "not like the other girls" who care about fashion and femininity. Yet despite spending most of the novel eavesdropping through walls like some sort of Renaissance superhero, Lucrezia remains politically and socially inept. I found this decision perplexing and disappointing.
Despite these qualms, I ultimately enjoyed this novel. O'Farrell's ability to depict setting and atmosphere is truly unmatched. If you watched "The Borgias" or "The Tudors" back in the day and can appreciate a slow burn, you'll definitely want to pick this one up.