Book Review: The Other Boleyn Girl

[sarahmichelef]

*love*  I plowed through this faster than I've read anything since Wicked.  Review is not very coherent, for which I apologize.

I'm not Tudor/Eliz person, so I went into it sort of a blank slate, other than reading then entire book chanting "divorced, beheaded died; divorced, beheaded, survived" in my little head.  I loved Mary's perspective, her disenchantment with the court, the description of the change in Henry, her struggle with following her own desires versus her loyalty to her family.  In general, the central characters were very well-developed, especially (obviously) Anne and Mary.  I wanted to know more about William, but probably that wasn't so important to the story.  I would have liked to know more about George, for sure.  I really liked the way she set up the alleged incestuous relationship between and how Mary thinks that her siblings are being a little weird but shrugs it off and at least outwardly refuses to believe it even to the end (whereas a modern reader, even one who doesn't know that Anne was accused of adultery with her brother, will probably go "ewwww" right away).

So, yeah.  Fans of historical fiction of any period should read it.

Comments

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

I always try to remember the word "fiction" in historical fiction. So if it takes liberties, as long as they didnt fly in the face of reality, I wouldn't mind.

The criticism I heard was more about Philippa Gregory's writing. But if you loved it, I think I'll give it a look.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

See, you are reasonable. It's fiction. (There's actually an interesting bit in the author Q&A about her research method and why she likes historical fiction.) The broad brushstrokes of the history are there, and the fiction's in the details.

The writing? Well, as I said, the character development was fantastic, and I couldn't put it down.

[ferriludant.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, it makes Elizabeth into a conniving slut, which is a considerable liberty... close to flying in the face of reality, if you ask me, but I'm a big lizophile.

But that aside, it was a lot of fun to read.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

You're probably thinking of The Virgin's Lover - Liz was no more than 5 or 6 when her mother was executed, and figures not a whit in The Other Boleyn Girl, other than as a disappointment due to her lack of boy-parts.