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sarahkhan27 's review for:
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory
Mary Boleyn is only a young girl when King Henry VIII takes an interest in her. She's flattered, eager, and completely in love. But as time passes by, she has to step aside for her much more capable sister. Anne is everything Mary is not. She's sharp-tongued, ambitious, and knows exactly how to play the game to get what she wants and get her family up the ranks. But soon Mary realizes that her family's greed will stop at nothing, and that she must somehow stop being their pawn if she wants to survive.
I'm surprised at myself for the rating I'm giving this book. I expected to like it much, much more than I did. But let's look at the good first:
1) Great writing. Philippa Gregory is an amazing writer. I loved how it was written in such an elegant, old-fashioned hand. It was a fresh change from the usual young adult books I read, filled with teen-language and countless pop culture references. This book was set in a much, much older time frame, and the writing complimented that perfectly.
2) Historical accuracy. It is impossible to deny the amount of research and work Gregory put into this book. I would NEVER be able to do such a thing. This is why I'm best left making up my own fantasy worlds when it comes to writing a story. She did something incredibly difficult: took real characters from the past and brought them back to life based on research and her own imagination. I admire historical fiction for this reason, after all, how are you to know (really KNOW) what that person was thinking all those years ago? You don't. But it's your job as the writer to pretend like you do and then convince the rest of the literate world that you do. Impressive to say the least.
However, there were things that bothered me about the book:
1) I know that this is the 15th century we're talking about, but the age difference between King Henry and Mary drove me kind of crazy. :/ I know this was the norm back then, but even THEN it bothered me. A lot. Thankfully, the book moved fast enough that she grew up (sort of) quickly. But it made me cringe through a lot of the beginning.
2) And now, to contradict my previous statement, the book moved at a snail's pace. The entire book is about 650 pages and it took me an eternity to finish. Books generally take me a long time anyway, what with college and all, but this took me even longer because there were a LOT of times when I just didn't care anymore. I wanted something to HAPPEN. And then I realized that things WERE happening, it just wasn't a normal story with an adventure and climax and etc. It was an adventure, but in an entirely realistic sense, and the climax was something I was already well aware of- Anne's beheading.
3) Court life is exhausting. It really is. After awhile it all got to be the same thing over and over again. There's some sort of scandal, someone's marrying someone else, they then proceed to have multiple affairs, everyone gets pregnant at one time or another and waits for a son, and then they get convicted of treason (surprise surprise) and then it's off with their heads! Maybe I'm just not appreciating the rich history in all this? I don't know. I did love parts of it but the whooooole thing was just... so LONG and so dragged out and by the time I was done with it I thought, "Phew!"
And all of that kind of did it in for me, and so my rating is two stars overall. BUT a movie based on the book WAS made and I saw the trailer and it looked great! :D I thought Scarlett Johansson nailed the part of Mary, but I couldn't quite picture Natalie Portman as Anne. I hear it was a good movie though.
Also, to be fair, I think I might have cared more for this book if the history was closer to home. I would've absolutely devoured it if it had dealt with George Washington or Abraham Lincoln (my two favorite people from history) or really any American figure, but knowing very little about the Boleyns to start with, it was hard to truly feel for the characters of the story. It also got a little annoying hearing about how useless and powerless women were during that era.
I mean sheesh. <_<
But go check it out if you're into this particular period of history, the writing will definitely not disappoint anyone. :)
I'm surprised at myself for the rating I'm giving this book. I expected to like it much, much more than I did. But let's look at the good first:
1) Great writing. Philippa Gregory is an amazing writer. I loved how it was written in such an elegant, old-fashioned hand. It was a fresh change from the usual young adult books I read, filled with teen-language and countless pop culture references. This book was set in a much, much older time frame, and the writing complimented that perfectly.
2) Historical accuracy. It is impossible to deny the amount of research and work Gregory put into this book. I would NEVER be able to do such a thing. This is why I'm best left making up my own fantasy worlds when it comes to writing a story. She did something incredibly difficult: took real characters from the past and brought them back to life based on research and her own imagination. I admire historical fiction for this reason, after all, how are you to know (really KNOW) what that person was thinking all those years ago? You don't. But it's your job as the writer to pretend like you do and then convince the rest of the literate world that you do. Impressive to say the least.
However, there were things that bothered me about the book:
1) I know that this is the 15th century we're talking about, but the age difference between King Henry and Mary drove me kind of crazy. :/ I know this was the norm back then, but even THEN it bothered me. A lot. Thankfully, the book moved fast enough that she grew up (sort of) quickly. But it made me cringe through a lot of the beginning.
2) And now, to contradict my previous statement, the book moved at a snail's pace. The entire book is about 650 pages and it took me an eternity to finish. Books generally take me a long time anyway, what with college and all, but this took me even longer because there were a LOT of times when I just didn't care anymore. I wanted something to HAPPEN. And then I realized that things WERE happening, it just wasn't a normal story with an adventure and climax and etc. It was an adventure, but in an entirely realistic sense, and the climax was something I was already well aware of- Anne's beheading.
3) Court life is exhausting. It really is. After awhile it all got to be the same thing over and over again. There's some sort of scandal, someone's marrying someone else, they then proceed to have multiple affairs, everyone gets pregnant at one time or another and waits for a son, and then they get convicted of treason (surprise surprise) and then it's off with their heads! Maybe I'm just not appreciating the rich history in all this? I don't know. I did love parts of it but the whooooole thing was just... so LONG and so dragged out and by the time I was done with it I thought, "Phew!"
And all of that kind of did it in for me, and so my rating is two stars overall. BUT a movie based on the book WAS made and I saw the trailer and it looked great! :D I thought Scarlett Johansson nailed the part of Mary, but I couldn't quite picture Natalie Portman as Anne. I hear it was a good movie though.
Also, to be fair, I think I might have cared more for this book if the history was closer to home. I would've absolutely devoured it if it had dealt with George Washington or Abraham Lincoln (my two favorite people from history) or really any American figure, but knowing very little about the Boleyns to start with, it was hard to truly feel for the characters of the story. It also got a little annoying hearing about how useless and powerless women were during that era.
I mean sheesh. <_<
But go check it out if you're into this particular period of history, the writing will definitely not disappoint anyone. :)