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A review by katewhite77
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
adventurous
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Gripping But Dark
The title of The Marriage Portrait is again used in it’s figurative and literally within the novel. This is because O'Farrell was inspired by what little is known of the very short life Lucrezia de Meditci who was married off to the Duke of Ferrara when she was 13 and he in his thirties. Betrothed at 13 and actually married at 15.
As a woman I found this novel very hard to read at times. The beautiful prose really brings home what it feels like to be bought and sold as property rather than considered a person. You have one destiny in life and when you fail to fulfil that destiny there have to be consequences.
This is a brutal read but I kept turning the pages despite this which is the hallmark of a master wordsmith. It is also important to read books like this occasionally so that we appreciate that which we might otherwise take for granted.
Reading this also inspired me to start learning Italian.
The title of The Marriage Portrait is again used in it’s figurative and literally within the novel. This is because O'Farrell was inspired by what little is known of the very short life Lucrezia de Meditci who was married off to the Duke of Ferrara when she was 13 and he in his thirties. Betrothed at 13 and actually married at 15.
As a woman I found this novel very hard to read at times. The beautiful prose really brings home what it feels like to be bought and sold as property rather than considered a person. You have one destiny in life and when you fail to fulfil that destiny there have to be consequences.
This is a brutal read but I kept turning the pages despite this which is the hallmark of a master wordsmith. It is also important to read books like this occasionally so that we appreciate that which we might otherwise take for granted.
Reading this also inspired me to start learning Italian.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, and Murder