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A review by berenikeasteria
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
2.0
The format of "The Boleyn Inheritance" does away altogether with third person narrative and is conducted entirely in first person through the thoughts of the protagonists. Whilst Gregory still at least makes some effort at showing us personality and development through actions, the first person nature of the text allows her to "tell" most of the things she has to say about the character of the protagonists, without ever backing it up through demonstrable actions. The three protagonists aforementioned are Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn, and the book's chapters rotate between their first person perspectives on the events that occur. However, the writing style is exactly the same for all three of them; you can only tell who is narrating that chapter because it tells you at the beginning of the chapter, and because you would have remembered the situation that each woman found herself in. Other than that, their voices were identical. One exception is that on no less than nine occasions, Katherine's chapters begin with; "Now let me see - what do I have now?" This gem of literary skill is Gregory's ham-handed attempt at trying to convey a materialistic persona for Katherine, followed by a list of her most treasured possessions. Not only is it as subtle as a Challenger II battle tank, it goes back to the redundant repetition problem in "The Constant Princess". This book comes two years after "The Constant Princess", and was written directly after that novel, but the existence of the same problems implies lack of improvement in writing skill and quality.
The chapters from Jane Boleyn are by far the most boring. Her inclusion as one of the three protagonist-narrators is one of the oddest decisions of this book, as the other books in Gregory's Tudor series focus on the experiences of queens, or at least future queens as princesses, with the exception of Mary Boleyn who was sister to a queen and mistress to a king. The impression is that "The Boleyn Inheritance" is meant to be telling the stories of Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, so why Jane Boleyn should be included as a first person narrator at all is a bit of a mystery. Her chapters are the most dull and uninspiring of the three women, and I often found myself reading them impatiently, to get to the next Anne or Katherine chapter. In my opinion, Jane Boleyn was not a good choice for a protagonist. As with so many of her characterisations, Gregory doesn't succeed in untangling the subtleties of the historical figure. The idea that Jane would team up with the Duke of Norfolk in some kind of plot to make sure Katherine has a baby by Thomas Culpeper is entirely implausible, as is the idea that the Duke would have spoken to her as an equal and revealed all his plans to her. Far more likely Jane operated independently and alone in aiding Katherine's meetings. The final word on the idea of it all being a plot between Jane and the Duke of Norfolk is the plain historical fact that the Duke of Norfolk never said a word to Jane after the downfall of Anne Boleyn.
In "The Boleyn Inheritance"'s favour, despite its use of first person throughout its entirety, is that unlike "The Other Boleyn Girl", no character emerges as a Mary Sue type. Katherine Howard's character is obviously spoilt and showered with gifts by Henry, but her greed, lust and flightiness are equally as plainly her major flaws and cause of her ultimate downfall. Gregory dances close to making Anne of Cleves one, portraying her as clever and intelligent and only seemingly stupid because she can't speak English fluently - and she even pegs Henry as a madman and does her best to scupper rumours of them getting back together, when in fact historically Anne was the one who attempted to reconcile whilst Henry rejected the plan - however, Anne is a long way from being overpowered compared to the other characters because she is in fact in a position of incredible vulnerability, and she still makes terrible blunders which put her life in danger. However, one should point out that turning out realistic plausible characters is something that every reader should demand as a matter of course. The narrative proceeds apace, with each chapter, barring Jane Boleyn's dull tirades, tempting the reader to continue turning the page.
The chapters from Jane Boleyn are by far the most boring. Her inclusion as one of the three protagonist-narrators is one of the oddest decisions of this book, as the other books in Gregory's Tudor series focus on the experiences of queens, or at least future queens as princesses, with the exception of Mary Boleyn who was sister to a queen and mistress to a king. The impression is that "The Boleyn Inheritance" is meant to be telling the stories of Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, so why Jane Boleyn should be included as a first person narrator at all is a bit of a mystery. Her chapters are the most dull and uninspiring of the three women, and I often found myself reading them impatiently, to get to the next Anne or Katherine chapter. In my opinion, Jane Boleyn was not a good choice for a protagonist. As with so many of her characterisations, Gregory doesn't succeed in untangling the subtleties of the historical figure. The idea that Jane would team up with the Duke of Norfolk in some kind of plot to make sure Katherine has a baby by Thomas Culpeper is entirely implausible, as is the idea that the Duke would have spoken to her as an equal and revealed all his plans to her. Far more likely Jane operated independently and alone in aiding Katherine's meetings. The final word on the idea of it all being a plot between Jane and the Duke of Norfolk is the plain historical fact that the Duke of Norfolk never said a word to Jane after the downfall of Anne Boleyn.
In "The Boleyn Inheritance"'s favour, despite its use of first person throughout its entirety, is that unlike "The Other Boleyn Girl", no character emerges as a Mary Sue type. Katherine Howard's character is obviously spoilt and showered with gifts by Henry, but her greed, lust and flightiness are equally as plainly her major flaws and cause of her ultimate downfall. Gregory dances close to making Anne of Cleves one, portraying her as clever and intelligent and only seemingly stupid because she can't speak English fluently - and she even pegs Henry as a madman and does her best to scupper rumours of them getting back together, when in fact historically Anne was the one who attempted to reconcile whilst Henry rejected the plan - however, Anne is a long way from being overpowered compared to the other characters because she is in fact in a position of incredible vulnerability, and she still makes terrible blunders which put her life in danger. However, one should point out that turning out realistic plausible characters is something that every reader should demand as a matter of course. The narrative proceeds apace, with each chapter, barring Jane Boleyn's dull tirades, tempting the reader to continue turning the page.