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Jun 17, 2011

Misfit rated it:

Interesting take on the legend, but has some flaws. I think I'm going to be another one in the minority here. I found the idea of a woman disguised as a man seated on the papal throne to be an interesting legend and the author did a decent job with it. I appreciated the research the author took on the period and customs of the times, which is not an easy task as so much is unknown about the dark ages.

The problem I had is the incredible coincidences throughout the book where Joan is More...

30 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sammy rated it:

Before I started reading this book I gave a brief summary to some of my friends who saw that I had just bought it and were wondering about it. That got us into a heated discussion about how completely outrageous it is for a woman to dress up as a man. How it's pretty much impossible to get away with it seeing as you'll always end up in some sort of situation where you have to reveal yourself for what you really are.

That discussion ended up shading me slightly when I began to read, th More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2008

Powersamurai rated it:

About the only female pope back in the 9th century. The Catholic Church today treats Pope Joan as legend created by the Protestants, but with over 500 documents to prove she did exist, it is but another bureaucratic cover-up.
A woman from Frankish lands with Saxon and English heritage in the 9th century going out there and doing it for herself. It is a thinking person's book. Lots of Latin in there, of course, because the language used in the church then was Latin. But don't let that stop y More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Ana T. rated it:

Pope Joan is a figure I was aware of but knew next to nothing about, her existence is surrounded by mystery and so she seems the ideal figure to write a historical fiction novel about. Author Donna Woolfolk Cross writes an interesting tale about what could have been a young girl's life in that time.

Daughter of a canon who values women little and definitely finds them unworthy of an education her Joan has to struggle from early on to pursue her studies. Luckily she finds a monk willin More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Becky rated it:

recommended by Linda Denberry, used for Book Club March 2011-
Joan is not content to take what society says she should be, born the year of 814 - A smart child of a canon (priest) and Saxon woman (Gudrun who confessed to believe in Christ to save her life after her village had all perished)- Joan learns her older brother, Matthew's lessons. Until he dies. Then There is a visiting scholar (Aesculapius) sees promise in her and teaches her and her younger brother, John. Later, her father le More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

Leslie rated it:

Whenever you see a legend, you can be sure, if you go to the very bottom of things, that you will find history. Vallet de Viriville

Joan Anglicus is a frustrated young girl. The brightest and most scholarly of all her siblings, she is often denied the chance to learn because of her sex. The Dark Ages were a time when womens brains were thought to be smaller than a man's and only needed for child bearing. Why teach a girl to read and write? Joan cannot accept this. She runs a More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Tara rated it:

"Let her copy the behavior of a dog who always has his heart and his eye upon his master: even if his master whip him and throw stones at him." That is an excerpt from the book. It was in a wedding ceremony, spoken to the bride of course. What a lovely time that must have been to be a woman! I liked this book very much due mostly to the fact it is about an amazingly strong, courageous, and gutsy woman. She struggled like no other heroine I have yet read about. The first half of the boo More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

Chrissie rated it:

NO SPOILERS!!!

In conclusion, having completed this novel, having struggled through to the end, I can say I did not like it. I didn't like it from the start to the end. When I voice this opinion, I am obviously in the minority. I do appreciate that the author concluded with an informative author's note, which supports her belief that Pope Joan did exist, between the acknowledged Pope Leo IV and Pope Benedict III. I found her arguments undeniably convincing. I do not know whether Pope More...

92 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Cynthia rated it:

The entire time I was reading this book I was trying to decide if I liked it or not. I especially enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book, with its description of how Joan moved from childhood to adulthood and made her way as a man in the society of the early Middle Ages. Of course I was appalled by the treatment of women, of considering them to be evil if they dared to open their mouths or use their brains, and I was grateful to have been born now rather than then. However I found the last portion More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2008

Keani rated it:

I read the Indonesian version. Once I saw it in the bookstore , I grabbed and put the book into my shopping bag. And, reading it was such a thrilling experience. It is unbelievable to learn that a Pope was once in the hand of a woman, a partly-Saxon woman.

Partly considered as a religious hoax, Pope Joan is such a controversial character in Catholicsm. Not many believe in her existence as a true story. But some of historical track might show that she was there and then under a shadow More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 19, 2008

Gerilyn rated it:

I was so torn while reading this book. It was decent writing, the characters were strong--but there were a few problems for me. Everyone was a caricature with the exception of Joan. What I really hated, though, was how the author took a great possibility of a story and turned it into flaming feminist rhetoric. Every favorite feminist theme was there, from rape and abuse to abortion. Why can't smart girls sew and cook as well as dumb ones? And why isn't it OK to be dumb, for that matter, i More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

Lisa rated it:

Pope Joan is a story of intrigue, mystery and swashbuckling excitement. It is also historical fiction at its finest! The ninth century was a brutal time of constant warring between countries, neighbors and even within families. Women were merely chattel, to be used for breeding, cooking and cleaning. Education was not even a consideration. The only hope for a woman to learn to read and write was to find a benefactor who was willing to risk persecution to teach her. At the time, some women More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2008

Kathy rated it:

This was a choice for my book club and on first looking it over I expected it to be a little slow and boring. It took me awhile to actually pick it up and start reading it, but it didn't take long at all once I started reading it to really get into it. I found the story fascinating. It takes place in the 9th century A.D. and centers around a young woman with great intelligence and ambition. Reading about the religion and general culture of the time and the attitudes toward women was really i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2007

Stephanie "Jedigal" rated it:

This was another member's pick in my (all female) book club. It was not universally liked, but most felt as I did. This book was a super fast, and very enjoyable read. It does well one of the things I like best in historical fiction: spins an entertaining story that keeps me engaged while I absorb a (hopefully accurate) portrayal of the historical setting (time, place, culture, etc.).

At its heart, this story is a great romance. Be warned, the protagonist is much younger than her lif More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2007

Joseph rated it:

Pope Joan has recently become one of my most favorite books. To think, I bought it months ago, and it’s sat on my shelf all that time. I guess now is the time when I needed to read the book.

Cross has done a superb job bringing the tale of Pope Joan to life in this riveting, epic page-turner. From the very first page, you become irresistibly engrossed in the captivating saga of this girl who was born into a world that limited her behavior, but could not dominate her ambitious spiri More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2007

Mary rated it:

I'll pick this book from my shelf at odd times during the year, and no matter what page I land on I get sucked in all over again. It's an engrossing read, well-researched and well-written, that brings each character to life with stunning clarity. The author crafts the heroine in such a way that her perceptions on the current state of the church are far from the heresy one might worry would pervade this novel. In fact, for me, it reinforced the intelligence and plain-clothes wisdom of Christ that More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Mirella rated it:

Pope Joan is one of those remarkable novels that evokes images of a spectacular time and period. Pope Joan's achievements, in the face of social oppression against women punishable by death, are remarkable, even in today's world. How a impoverished child, abused, ignored, and trod upon, achieved the greatest throne in Christendom is truly a marvel. But that is not the only reason why this story is so endearing. It is the impeccable research and details into the Dark Ages that makes this nove More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Mary rated it:

I debated. But, ultimately I had to give this historical fiction book 5 stars, because it drew me in immediately and became a “can’t put down book.” Oh my!! This look at 800 A.D. portrays the ignorance of the period, corruption of religion, unrighteous power, poverty, violence, and wealth of the appropriately named Dark Ages, while showing that some in the human family struggle to learn, seek love, and attempt to progress. It doesn't matter whether or not Pope Joan actually lived, the story is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Allison rated it:

This is a great historical fiction book. I was a little spoiled as I knew how it ended, thanks real history!; I can't tell much more incase you read the book. It was well-written, fascinating, and provides much insight into the role and life of women in the middle ages. Pope Joan is a connectable (Is that even a word?) character. I am still a little baffled that no one knew she was a woman. Recommended for an older/more mature teenager or adult. I can't see too many teenagers enjoying the b More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2011

Sue rated it:

Really Great Book !!! Myth or Truth I will believe the Truth of Pope Joan !

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2008

daysgoby rated it:

This was brilliant. Not too many historic novels can grip you - this one I sat reading until two a.m.!

A really well-written story without the two major pitfalls of many historical novels (too many characters, and pages upon pages of explaining things that were done then that aren't done now. A simple 'Then X spread the rushes' is much better than two and a half pages of diatribe on how she gathered the rushes and what exactly was on the floor beneath, how this might lead to sickness, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Glendamyers rated it:

This was a very interesting story. It takes place in the 7th century - during the dark ages. It would be very difficult to live in that time. Only nobility and clergy were educated - men that is. Women we never educated.
Joan suffered in her youth at the had of a cruel father. He was a village priest of little standing. It was during the time when priests could still marry - but it was not totally common. Her father had captured her mother during a crusade against the "heathens". More...

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Jan 10, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

This book and this one were side by side on my shelf for the past two years. Somehow, bugger and tougher books came and pushed them aside and they got lost behind newer acquisitions. I have finally read them both, back to back.

The Durrell book is a bit quirkier and more irreverent, whereas this one is more like some of the historical fiction I read as a teen that told the story with some embellishment and some romance, more in modern day parlance. I think Cross did an impressive a More...

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Dec 14, 2008

Reinhold rated it:

Gute historische Fiktion

Seit Jahrhunderten diskutiert man die These, dass im 10. Jahrhundert eine Frau auf dem Stuhl Petri gesessen haben soll. Es gibt "Beweise" und "Gegenbeweise" und dieses Themas nimmt sich die Autorin hier an. Aber es ist keine Auseinandersetzung der Tatsachen, sondern vielmehr reine Fiktion die hier geschrieben wird. In vielen Punkten weicht die Autorin bei der Beschreibung der Johanna davon ab, was dieser historisch zugeschrieben wird. Dies More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Chrystie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 05, 2012

Patricia rated it:

I began reading this book after checking out the validity of a "Pope Joan." Well, my assumption was that her story was simply a legend, one that seemed to persist.

Legend or not (and Woolfock Cross gives an excellent case at the end of the book for the "legend's" authencity!) I was thrilled with this story - it kept me up at night more than once. As a Catholic and an ex nun, I had a background in the liturgy and some of the rituals mentioned in the book, yet I More...

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Aug 22, 2011

Margaret rated it:

Historic fiction about a very well could have been / was female pope? I was so geeked about this one - promising story line; experienced and well known reader (Barbara Rosenblatt) - what wasn't to like? Well, this was a 2-star event for me (feels like a betrayal to my gender, I know). Ms. Rosenblatt is a bit too dramatically breathy for this one, and as smart as Joan (later John) Anglicus is supposed to be - smart book-learning-wise - she's a bit dim in reading situations (e.g., the entrapmen More...

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Aug 08, 2011

Jenna rated it:

I thought it started out with a great idea. Miss Cross did her research which was something that I loved about the writing, but then it contasted with the soap opera story that she gave Joan. It seemed like two different styles that wouldn't mesh. The beginning was actually pretty interesting as we see how Christianity of the time affected the world. In it's "conversion" of the heathens and stance on women. I loved seeing Joan torn between the heathen gods of her mother and her fathers More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 30, 2011

Annso rated it:

I was recommended to read this book by my sister's book guru boss who had saved my reading dry spell with Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief". After all the raving and ranting she had done about "Pope Joan", I was least to say curious how it would turn out. After all, she -is- a book guru.

...Well, let's just say I'm glad I didn't buy this book with my own money.

PROS:
* Hats off to Cross for doing such extensive research on such a historically murky period. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 28, 2011

Christina rated it:

Being a very devout Catholic, I wasn't entirely sure how I would feel about this book. I was thoroughly intrigued though, at the very thought of a female pope. At first, I thought it was a nonfiction book, but I'm glad that it's a novel, as I feel like a nonfiction book would leave too many gaps in history.

From the title of the book I was under the impression that the entire book (or at least the majority of it) would be focused on Joan's time as pope. In fact, it was quite the oppo More...

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