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kayedacus 's review for:
The Life of Elizabeth I
by Alison Weir
Narrator: 4 stars
Book: 2.5 stars - DNF
I've always been fascinated by Queen Elizabeth I, and after reading Alison Weir's novelization (to use the term loosely) of Elizabeth's pre-reign life (The Lady Elizabeth), I wanted to experience her take on Elizabeth as a historian, since she seems to not only be a great researcher, but also not someone with an obvious bias for or against this queen.
Unfortunately, there was something I'd forgotten from the other works of Weir's that I've read: her tendency to get stuck on a "theme" and repeat it repetitively continuously throughout her books, bringing the same thing up over and over repetitiously. Did I mention she tends to repeat herself time and time again?
This is a 24-hour long audiobook (and Davina Porter does an excellent job bringing life to what could have been dull non-fiction in another's less-capable hands), and the first 18 or so hours of it focus on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and played around with the idea a couple of times but never actually got married. Did I mention that everyone wanted Elizabeth to get married, but she didn't really want to? Oh, and she spent all her time with Robert Dudley, not to mention the fact that she was an emotional basketcase and screamed and yelled at people when she didn't get her way or when they reminded her she wasn't married or told her she should get married or presented an idea of whom she could marry to her. Oh, and did I mention SHE WASN'T MARRIED? Because obviously, this was the absolute most vital, important part of her reign that Weir spent about 75% of the book focused on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
By the time I finally gave up trying to force myself to finish this book and moved on to something else, I'd learned one very important thing:
ALISON WEIR WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE ALL KNEW THAT ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
Oh, and apparently she couldn't do anything without Robert Dudley, either. They fought and she sent him away, but then she had to have him back because she couldn't "do" without him for very long. But she wouldn't marry him.
And if there was anything international to do, it was only because ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and she might be looking abroad for someone to marry.
So, all that to say that this probably wasn't the best bio of Queen Elizabeth I for me to read. Because, actually, I already knew that Elizabeth WASN'T MARRIED and NEVER MARRIED. (Except, possibly, David Tennant's version of Doctor Who---but that's another story.)
Book: 2.5 stars - DNF
I've always been fascinated by Queen Elizabeth I, and after reading Alison Weir's novelization (to use the term loosely) of Elizabeth's pre-reign life (The Lady Elizabeth), I wanted to experience her take on Elizabeth as a historian, since she seems to not only be a great researcher, but also not someone with an obvious bias for or against this queen.
Unfortunately, there was something I'd forgotten from the other works of Weir's that I've read: her tendency to get stuck on a "theme" and repeat it repetitively continuously throughout her books, bringing the same thing up over and over repetitiously. Did I mention she tends to repeat herself time and time again?
This is a 24-hour long audiobook (and Davina Porter does an excellent job bringing life to what could have been dull non-fiction in another's less-capable hands), and the first 18 or so hours of it focus on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and played around with the idea a couple of times but never actually got married. Did I mention that everyone wanted Elizabeth to get married, but she didn't really want to? Oh, and she spent all her time with Robert Dudley, not to mention the fact that she was an emotional basketcase and screamed and yelled at people when she didn't get her way or when they reminded her she wasn't married or told her she should get married or presented an idea of whom she could marry to her. Oh, and did I mention SHE WASN'T MARRIED? Because obviously, this was the absolute most vital, important part of her reign that Weir spent about 75% of the book focused on the fact that ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
By the time I finally gave up trying to force myself to finish this book and moved on to something else, I'd learned one very important thing:
ALISON WEIR WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE ALL KNEW THAT ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED.
Oh, and apparently she couldn't do anything without Robert Dudley, either. They fought and she sent him away, but then she had to have him back because she couldn't "do" without him for very long. But she wouldn't marry him.
And if there was anything international to do, it was only because ELIZABETH WASN'T MARRIED and she might be looking abroad for someone to marry.
So, all that to say that this probably wasn't the best bio of Queen Elizabeth I for me to read. Because, actually, I already knew that Elizabeth WASN'T MARRIED and NEVER MARRIED. (Except, possibly, David Tennant's version of Doctor Who---but that's another story.)