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The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #9)

Philippa Gregory

Start date: January 1, 2010

Finish date: January 31, 2010

Discussion: Chapter 1: Historical Fiction

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Chapter 1: Historical Fiction

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What Members Thought

Feb 25, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, novels, historical-fiction, ultimate-reading-list, popular-fiction

I really have to shake my head when I think of the popularity of this book. I love good historical fiction. This is bad history and even worse fiction. The Tudor period and the reign of Henry VIII is a popular one in historical fiction for good reason. I certainly have found it a compelling period in history and have read several books about it, fiction and non-fiction.

I can't see a redeeming feature in this one and certainly won't ever read another novel by Gregory. I thought the prose style pu I really have to shake my head when I think of the popularity of this book. I love good historical fiction. This is bad history and even worse fiction. The Tudor period and the reign of Henry VIII is a popular one in historical fiction for good reason. I certainly have found it a compelling period in history and have read several books about it, fiction and non-fiction.

I can't see a redeeming feature in this one and certainly won't ever read another novel by Gregory. I thought the prose style puerile--which admittedly fits the heroine and narrator, the Too-Stupid-To-Live Mary Boleyn. The novel opens with her witnessing an execution, and her certainty it's all a masque and Henry will be swooping in any moment to save the condemned from the block. And it closes that way too, and this time Mary doesn't have the excuse of youth for being so stupid.

And Gregory's Henry who she falls in love with? Gregory puts these lines in his mouth when he first meets her: "You're a very pretty girl," he said approvingly. "Carey tells me that he so likes a young bride that he'll never bed any but twelve-year-old virgins ever again."

Charming.

Anne Boleyn comes across just about as sympathetic and witless despite us being told she's so clever. And you know, I've read and bought lots of different Annes. I can see her as sympathetic as in the novels of Nora Lofts or Jean Plaidy or a more sinister figure like that in Margaret George's biofic of Henry--but I can't see her as an idiot. But that's how Gregory draws her in a book that actually takes seriously the accusations of witchcraft and incest used in her judicial murder. At the end in an author's note Gregory lists a long list of sources for her tale. But there's not one insightful or convincing portrait in this book or anything that to me conjures up the age.

There are countless better books featuring these historical figures from Jean Plaidy's The Lady in the Tower to Margaret George's The Autobiography of Henry VIII to the recent Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Avoid this one. ...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Yu82 rated it really liked it

A gripping story of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, told in the first person, by her sister Mary Boleyn, the ex-favourite of the king. It is a masterfully written historical novel, full of descriptions of the court life at the period, political intrigues and amusements. However, what makes this novel really fascinating is the main characters, the two strikingly different sisters, the obedient, humble Marianne and the ambitious, wilful Annemaria. The former one ha ...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Shawn rated it it was amazing

I love good historical fiction and this book was not a disappointment!

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Nov 21, 2009 Candace Petersen Martineau rated it really liked it

An enthralling story of ambition and its ends- full of irony as fate twists and turns. There were moments where the plot dragged its feet, and additional character development would have been nice, but all in all a quick and entrancing read.

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