Part Four: Chapter 16 - 21

[Marie]

Years 1376-1377.

[Marie]

PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS WHEN DISCUSSING A PLOT EVENT

[Lucy]

I'm on chapter 21...and for all my enthusiasm for this book- I have to be honest and say that from about pg 240 and on I've been quite bored...hmm

[Lucy]

Correction: I just started chapter 20- not 21. So lets see if there's hope for me yet.

[MaryKatherine]

Lucy, I was bored too. This is actually the exact spot I put the novel down before and never returned. (view spoiler)[ Now that John seems to be coming around from his childish anger and hurt, I'm into the story again. I couldn't understand his insecurities and why he was letting them dictate his behavior! (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

Interesting. I had enjoyed it from the beginning, but chap. 19 marked the point where I couldn't put it down.

Everybody's different, I guess, but (view spoiler)[the riot in the cathedral was anything but dull (hide spoiler)].

[Marie]

I have just started part 5 & I had slowed down much during the last few days- perhaps I was bored too. It's a bit longer than other reads so you know you have to be invested enough to spend a longer time with it, & sometimes my brain wants more drama.

[MaryKatherine]

I'm not sure what exactly bored me, but I suspect it was all the waiting around Katherine was doing!

[Marie]

Katherine's character is starting to aggravate me now. She is blessed with this amazing love, blessed with how she really is not treated like a whore that she technically is, blessed to have had the mercy of the nuns after being orphaned, and I think perhaps I am most aggravated at how she doesn't care about religion after the time that she spent in a convent. I guess it boils down to me feeling like she is a bit too shallow for her own good.

[MaryKatherine]

Marie, I can see that. I also think she is remarkably unchanged, except in her religious beliefs, since the beginning of the novel. She continuously doubts John's love for her (that is aggravating enough) and still her every thought and action is for him, even after all these years. Isn't there more to life? Like her children? Despite all this, I cant help but still want her to have a happy ending. I just love Seton's writing!

[Kathleen]

I don't know that I was all that bored, except maybe by (view spoiler)[ the whole changeling bruhaha. It was well written, but it renders John, who is already portrayed having the arrogance and subtlety of a modern day professional athlete, into a belligerent and somewhat foolish child. (hide spoiler)]

I think Katherine's laxity regarding religious devotion reflects more of Anya Seton's attitude toward Catholicism and organized religion than Katherine Swynford's. She did the same thing with the character of Celia in Green Darkness. Per Alison Weir's biography, the real Katherine Swynford was devout; she applied for and received permission to have an altar installed in her home.

Even so, I still love the way she tells a story.

[Marie]

Very interesting Kathleen about the real Katherine.

After getting into the last parts of the story I see a change in Karherine which was welcomed.

[MaryKatherine]

Kathleen wrote: "I don't know that I was all that bored, except maybe by [spoilers removed]

I think Katherine's laxity regarding religious devotion reflects more of Anya Seton's attitude toward Catholicism and org..."

I haven't read any of Seton's other novels (though I certainly will now!), so it is interesting that she put her religious views in other works. Also interesting to know something about the real Katherine!

[Marie]

I have a few of her other novels-- not sure where to start, though.

[Kathleen]

Marie wrote: "I have a few of her other novels-- not sure where to start, though."

Which ones do you have?

[Marie]

Dragonwyck
The Mistletoe And Sword: A Story Of Roman Britain
Green Darkness
Avalon

Those are all those I own.

[Kathleen]

I think Dragonwyck was one of the first books she published. It became a best seller and a movie starring Vincent Price. It's kind of scaring me that I know this much about it. :)

If I had to pick, I'd read Green Darkness. It's a story of star-crossed lovers with a bit of new age mysticsm and past life regression. It's a bit over the top, but I remember enjoying it almost as much as Katherine.

[Marie]

Awesome, thx for the info!

[Diane Lynn]

Just finished part four. I never felt any of the boredom that some have spoken of. Even though I may not agree, I love reading everyone else's comments. This part gave me a very nice look into some of the low points that Katherine must have felt. (view spoiler)[When she was thinking about throwing her betrothal ring into the river, I about died. (hide spoiler)] I liked seeing the ups and downs of their relationship up to this point.