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A review by stefhyena
Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory
3.0
.Well written, complex historical fiction; this book did a lot to call into question things like heteronormativity and the gender order and showed some problems associated with the gender order and with class. That was all to the good.
What I didn't enjoy was spending quite so much time with the unlikeable John Tradescant who could be servile with his "masters" and quite dismissive and emotionally stingy with his wife. Wives seemed in the book to be less human beings than resources to be exploited...John got Elizabeth's dowry, her labour and her womb and what did she get in return? Mind you her mother treated her badly so being shut up in his house like one of his curiosities was meant to be OK compared to that (arguable).
To discuss all the pros and cons adequately I would need to give examples, that would be "spoilers, if you like historical fiction you should probably read this yourself and see what you think. It was longish but had enough movement (just) to get away with it. I got annoyed toward the end when John who was now all domesticated was portrayed as the ideal family man and a hero, one of the characters going so far as to glowingly paint him "the greatest man of our age". Oh please!
I liked aspects of John's "big love" but the narcissism of the person was as infuriating as John's neglect of everything and everyone apart from them (in a sort of misplaced narcissism of his own). I felt deeply sorry for all the characters in the book, even a little for the bimbo queen who was just a less successful (because female and not pretty) version of Buckingham.
I did like that men were referred to consistently as "beautiful". I suspect that ws faithful to the time but also a refreshing way to remember how discourse changes.
This one is worth a look if you like historical fiction- it's not all gowns and coquettry there is some real content here.
What I didn't enjoy was spending quite so much time with the unlikeable John Tradescant who could be servile with his "masters" and quite dismissive and emotionally stingy with his wife. Wives seemed in the book to be less human beings than resources to be exploited...John got Elizabeth's dowry, her labour and her womb and what did she get in return? Mind you her mother treated her badly so being shut up in his house like one of his curiosities was meant to be OK compared to that (arguable).
To discuss all the pros and cons adequately I would need to give examples, that would be "spoilers, if you like historical fiction you should probably read this yourself and see what you think. It was longish but had enough movement (just) to get away with it. I got annoyed toward the end when John who was now all domesticated was portrayed as the ideal family man and a hero, one of the characters going so far as to glowingly paint him "the greatest man of our age". Oh please!
I liked aspects of John's "big love" but the narcissism of the person was as infuriating as John's neglect of everything and everyone apart from them (in a sort of misplaced narcissism of his own). I felt deeply sorry for all the characters in the book, even a little for the bimbo queen who was just a less successful (because female and not pretty) version of Buckingham.
I did like that men were referred to consistently as "beautiful". I suspect that ws faithful to the time but also a refreshing way to remember how discourse changes.
This one is worth a look if you like historical fiction- it's not all gowns and coquettry there is some real content here.