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megan_deppe234 's review for:
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory
(Side-note, don't try the abridged versions of books you love. It will only upset you.)
As this is the first Gregory novel I read, it was nice to go back to basics with a new perspective. Especially since, as one of her first, it's interesting to see what she chose to do with the history of the time. By making Mary the lead voice, it leads to a certain detachment from the "truth" of the events, when Gregory usually likes to try and give an explanation to the things that history has said will probably never be solved (whether or not Katherine and Arthur consummated their marriage, the identity of those who killed the Princes in the Tower, etc). Anne's guilt of all her accusations, told from the perspective of Mary, comes from someone who believes the worst in her without actually knowing the truth, and so Gregory allows for Anne to remain the villain of the story. Of course, history has gone back and forth in whether or not she deserves to be one - certainly as time's gone on, more of the blame has fallen on Henry's shoulders (as Gregory has often insinuated it should) and Anne has become more of a feminist icon as a women attempting to seize power and prove her worth in a world where, in the Duke of Norfolk's words, "Men still rule - that much has not changed." Ultimately, from the perspective of a warring sister, we see more of the villainous side of Anne (especially since Mary's allegiance is often in Katherine's camp), and not the side that grants her more sympathy, which many modern adaptations tend to lean towards.
There are other interesting pieces to consider, such as the relative innocence of Mary (apart from her affair with Henry) and the question of George's homosexuality or bisexuality, since both things have been debated widely amongst historians. Of course as the years go by, new interpretations of old texts arise and new conclusions are drawn (maybe new things are even discovered), but it's interesting to consider what information Gregory had available to her and what decisions she chose to make for storytelling purposes (since, after all, this is a work of fiction, and ultimately her imagination is the cornerstone behind it all).
As this is the first Gregory novel I read, it was nice to go back to basics with a new perspective. Especially since, as one of her first, it's interesting to see what she chose to do with the history of the time. By making Mary the lead voice, it leads to a certain detachment from the "truth" of the events, when Gregory usually likes to try and give an explanation to the things that history has said will probably never be solved (whether or not Katherine and Arthur consummated their marriage, the identity of those who killed the Princes in the Tower, etc). Anne's guilt of all her accusations, told from the perspective of Mary, comes from someone who believes the worst in her without actually knowing the truth, and so Gregory allows for Anne to remain the villain of the story. Of course, history has gone back and forth in whether or not she deserves to be one - certainly as time's gone on, more of the blame has fallen on Henry's shoulders (as Gregory has often insinuated it should) and Anne has become more of a feminist icon as a women attempting to seize power and prove her worth in a world where, in the Duke of Norfolk's words, "Men still rule - that much has not changed." Ultimately, from the perspective of a warring sister, we see more of the villainous side of Anne (especially since Mary's allegiance is often in Katherine's camp), and not the side that grants her more sympathy, which many modern adaptations tend to lean towards.
There are other interesting pieces to consider, such as the relative innocence of Mary (apart from her affair with Henry) and the question of George's homosexuality or bisexuality, since both things have been debated widely amongst historians. Of course as the years go by, new interpretations of old texts arise and new conclusions are drawn (maybe new things are even discovered), but it's interesting to consider what information Gregory had available to her and what decisions she chose to make for storytelling purposes (since, after all, this is a work of fiction, and ultimately her imagination is the cornerstone behind it all).