SHEESH, Blogger! Way to be down for half the day! I finished this book last night, and went on to execute a review...only to find that I couldn't even get onto Blogger itself. Well, no harm, no foul. I waited impatiently to write this review, and here it is.
The Other Boleyn Girl is the story of Mary Boleyn, sister of Henry VIII's notorious wife Anne. Mary is a shy, sweet teenager when King Henry first notices her and makes her his mistress. Pushed by the ambitions of her family and her affection for Henry VIII, she willingly accepts her role, only to be ousted later by her beautiful, ambitious sister. But as court politics and intrigue begin to lead the Boleyn family down a dangerous path where the only way to win is to risk everything, Mary must take her destiny into her own hands if she plans to survive.
I have a love-hate relationship with Philippa Gregory. I'd say it's about 20% love and 80% hate. I love that she chooses real characters. I love that she writes historical fiction. I love that she paints a vivid picture of life in Henry VIII's court. I love that this book is something I can read over and over again and tire of it -- and I have read The Other Boleyn Girl approximately 10 times or so since I first bought it in 2007.
But I hate quite a lot more.
I hate that she distorts history. For all those Anne Boleyn haters out there (and there are many, like my husband): this is THE book for you. If you want to read historical fiction where Anne Boleyn is not only a villain, she is THE villain -- look no further! Gregory's Anne is not the selfish, conniving, calculating Anne of, well, every single piece of media created about her life (with the exception of the film Anne of the Thousand Days. Oh no. She is all that and much, much more. In TOBG, Gregory takes every single rumor about Anne Boleyn that was ever created by a court that hated her and a king who wanted to set her aside, and passes them off as truth. Whether it involves poison, adultery, incest, or witchcraft, you name it, Anne does it. She's not just evil, she's borderline demonic.
And in Gregory's world, if the evil are demonic, the good are saintly. Mary Boleyn should have been renamed Mary Sue Boleyn. She is placid and malleable, constantly parroting that she has no choices in life and must do as she is told. She does basically the same thing that Anne does -- seduces the king and becomes his mistress -- but Mary does it for the "right" reasons (love) while Anne does it for the "wrong" reasons (ambition). Many have theorized that Anne Boleyn seduced Henry VIII motivated by equal amounts of ambition and affection, but you won't see that in TOBG. Mary, on the other hand, is simpering and obedient. Gregory goes out of her way multiple times to show you how wonderful Mary is, especially when compared with Anne's twisted malevolence. In Gregory-World, the good are good, and the bad are...Satanic.
I also despise Gregory's lack of vocabulary. I realize that the title of the book is The Other Boleyn Girl, so I didn't need those four words repeated at least ten times throughout the novel. Gregory stresses the love-hate rivalry between Mary and Anne, bouncing one sister and then the other in and out of power, leaving you wondering who is the titular "other Boleyn girl" and more importantly, why does it matter? Many, many times I wanted to slap Mary and tell her to just give up and go be happy in her own right, instead of constantly envying a sister whose lot really isn't all that enviable in the end. In addition, the phrase "we have everything to play for" was so overused by the end of the novel that I felt like beating my head against a wall. It had completely lost its meaning.
Also, Gregory throws in historical factoids that I (as a history major) understood, but that people who are reading it more for the "fiction" than the history wouldn't necessarily get (such as mentioning Purkoy, Anne's dog, in one sentence towards the end of the book, in an awkward, fleeting fashion that wasn't necessary at ALL). I applaud Gregory for her research, but not all of it has to be put in (I'm looking at you too, Susan Higginbotham).
It's a great work of fiction (very elaborate fiction), and in many parts (especially the characterization), it doesn't represent the history it is depicting well at all. But in the end, I have to (begrudgingly) give this book three stars. It served its purpose, you see; it sucked me in, and made me read it more than once.
But I hate quite a lot more.
I hate that she distorts history. For all those Anne Boleyn haters out there (and there are many, like my husband): this is THE book for you. If you want to read historical fiction where Anne Boleyn is not only a villain, she is THE villain -- look no further! Gregory's Anne is not the selfish, conniving, calculating Anne of, well, every single piece of media created about her life (with the exception of the film Anne of the Thousand Days. Oh no. She is all that and much, much more. In TOBG, Gregory takes every single rumor about Anne Boleyn that was ever created by a court that hated her and a king who wanted to set her aside, and passes them off as truth. Whether it involves poison, adultery, incest, or witchcraft, you name it, Anne does it. She's not just evil, she's borderline demonic.
And in Gregory's world, if the evil are demonic, the good are saintly. Mary Boleyn should have been renamed Mary Sue Boleyn. She is placid and malleable, constantly parroting that she has no choices in life and must do as she is told. She does basically the same thing that Anne does -- seduces the king and becomes his mistress -- but Mary does it for the "right" reasons (love) while Anne does it for the "wrong" reasons (ambition). Many have theorized that Anne Boleyn seduced Henry VIII motivated by equal amounts of ambition and affection, but you won't see that in TOBG. Mary, on the other hand, is simpering and obedient. Gregory goes out of her way multiple times to show you how wonderful Mary is, especially when compared with Anne's twisted malevolence. In Gregory-World, the good are good, and the bad are...Satanic.
I also despise Gregory's lack of vocabulary. I realize that the title of the book is The Other Boleyn Girl, so I didn't need those four words repeated at least ten times throughout the novel. Gregory stresses the love-hate rivalry between Mary and Anne, bouncing one sister and then the other in and out of power, leaving you wondering who is the titular "other Boleyn girl" and more importantly, why does it matter? Many, many times I wanted to slap Mary and tell her to just give up and go be happy in her own right, instead of constantly envying a sister whose lot really isn't all that enviable in the end. In addition, the phrase "we have everything to play for" was so overused by the end of the novel that I felt like beating my head against a wall. It had completely lost its meaning.
Also, Gregory throws in historical factoids that I (as a history major) understood, but that people who are reading it more for the "fiction" than the history wouldn't necessarily get (such as mentioning Purkoy, Anne's dog, in one sentence towards the end of the book, in an awkward, fleeting fashion that wasn't necessary at ALL). I applaud Gregory for her research, but not all of it has to be put in (I'm looking at you too, Susan Higginbotham).
It's a great work of fiction (very elaborate fiction), and in many parts (especially the characterization), it doesn't represent the history it is depicting well at all. But in the end, I have to (begrudgingly) give this book three stars. It served its purpose, you see; it sucked me in, and made me read it more than once.
Rating: ***
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