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A review by notafraidofvirginiawoolf
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
4.0
Well, then.
My life is a lie--as is everything I thought I knew about Mary Boleyn. Turns out Jean Plaidy's thoughtful portrait of her as this sweet, vague bed-hopper is just not on--unfortunately, nor is Plaidy's portrayal of Anne as a clever, intuitive person seeking to avoid sexual promiscuity because of what happened to her sister. Shame, because that was my favorite portrayal so far.
But helas...Anne's a bitch.
On the plus side, however, Mary's not a whore. Much. And she actually had a really adorable marriage with William Stafford.
A meticulously researched book which forced me to reevaluate my opinions of everyone in the period--except Henry VIII. Still kinda hate him.
However...
I understand that many of Weir's sources are very inconclusive, and I love and respect that she's not pulling conclusions out of her ass just to make a better story...
But the fact remains that VERY little is known about Mary, so much of the book begins with sentences like 'we can only speculate...' which is a bit annoying. However, as stated before, not her fault.
All in all, 4 stars, chirr'ns. 4 stars.
My life is a lie--as is everything I thought I knew about Mary Boleyn. Turns out Jean Plaidy's thoughtful portrait of her as this sweet, vague bed-hopper is just not on--unfortunately, nor is Plaidy's portrayal of Anne as a clever, intuitive person seeking to avoid sexual promiscuity because of what happened to her sister. Shame, because that was my favorite portrayal so far.
But helas...Anne's a bitch.
On the plus side, however, Mary's not a whore. Much. And she actually had a really adorable marriage with William Stafford.
A meticulously researched book which forced me to reevaluate my opinions of everyone in the period--except Henry VIII. Still kinda hate him.
However...
I understand that many of Weir's sources are very inconclusive, and I love and respect that she's not pulling conclusions out of her ass just to make a better story...
But the fact remains that VERY little is known about Mary, so much of the book begins with sentences like 'we can only speculate...' which is a bit annoying. However, as stated before, not her fault.
All in all, 4 stars, chirr'ns. 4 stars.