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A review by jacki_f
Blood & Beauty by Sarah Dunant
3.0
This is the story of the Borgia family from the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI in 1492 through to the announcement of Lucrezia Borgia's third marriage in 1502. This was a tumultuous time in Italian history and the Borgias were strong and fascinating characters, with ruthless ambitions and enormous sexual appetites. The main three characters in the novel are Rodrigo, his extremely ambitious son Cesare and his daughter Lucrezia.
I have been fascinated by the Borgias since reading Jean Plaidy's novels as a teenager and I was really looking forward to reading this. Maybe that's part of the problem. I liked it but I didn't love it and I expected to love it. It took me a full two weeks to read which is a long time for me. Somehow I never felt the urge to get back to it, which baffled me because I've always liked Dunant's writing. Partly I feel that the problem was that her scope was so wide. So much was going on that the book was far more about plot than about character and sometimes when historical records are inconclusive, she shies away from making it clear what she thinks would have happened. I often felt like I was reading narrative non-fiction rather than fiction.
There were so many characters that few could be developed in any depth. For example there was time spent introducing Guilia Farnese as a character in the early parts of the book, but then she was relegated to brief mentions thereafter. Central characters like Jofre Borgia, his wife Sancia and Juan Borgia are simply one dimensional caricatures. Even Cesare is never really explained. I was also disappointed by the way that the romance between Lucrezia and her Spanish lover was developed (or not). For example there is no mention of her maid being murdered which I always thought was a central clue as to how things unfolded. When the pace slowed down the book became more compelling, but then we'd be back to battle scenes and I just...switched off.
It was a very uneven read for me. There were segments here or there when I'd be riveted for 100 pages at a time, but too many times I found it heavy going.
I have been fascinated by the Borgias since reading Jean Plaidy's novels as a teenager and I was really looking forward to reading this. Maybe that's part of the problem. I liked it but I didn't love it and I expected to love it. It took me a full two weeks to read which is a long time for me. Somehow I never felt the urge to get back to it, which baffled me because I've always liked Dunant's writing. Partly I feel that the problem was that her scope was so wide. So much was going on that the book was far more about plot than about character and sometimes when historical records are inconclusive, she shies away from making it clear what she thinks would have happened. I often felt like I was reading narrative non-fiction rather than fiction.
There were so many characters that few could be developed in any depth. For example there was time spent introducing Guilia Farnese as a character in the early parts of the book, but then she was relegated to brief mentions thereafter. Central characters like Jofre Borgia, his wife Sancia and Juan Borgia are simply one dimensional caricatures. Even Cesare is never really explained. I was also disappointed by the way that the romance between Lucrezia and her Spanish lover was developed (or not). For example there is no mention of her maid being murdered which I always thought was a central clue as to how things unfolded. When the pace slowed down the book became more compelling, but then we'd be back to battle scenes and I just...switched off.
It was a very uneven read for me. There were segments here or there when I'd be riveted for 100 pages at a time, but too many times I found it heavy going.