The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philippa GregoryEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2004-11-02
ISBN: 0743269837
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Touchstone
Book Reviews of The Other Boleyn Girl
Book Review: Another Anne Boleyn novel
Summary: 3 Stars
I was intrigued by the idea of reading a book about Mary Boleyn. Unfortunately, this is a book mostly about Anne Boleyn, as narrated by Mary - the book ends with Anne and George Boleyn's beheading, although Mary survived them by a number of years. I was really disappointed by this; I would actually have been more interested in reading about her later life, which is rarely covered in history books. Ah well, I see that Karen Harper's Passion's Reign, recently reissued as The Last Boleyn: A Novel has gotten good reviews; I'll give that a shot.
It's not very good history - I give it three stars only because it was it was readable and held my interest at the beach. When I got home, I rushed to my books on the Tudors; no, I was not remembering wrong, this is filled with errors, as other reviewers have pointed out. I will point out another: I know of no evidence that Anne wanted to adopt her nephew, nor do I think it would have made her more valuable to Henry. Outside of the fact that it is not clear that the boy was Henry's son, he already had an acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond. Henry seems to have doubted that he could successfully leave the throne to Richmond, so I cannot see how the belated acknowledgment of another illegitimate son would help. Her nephew was Anne's ward, but widows were not usually the guardians of their minor children at this point, indeed they were often given into the "care" of avaricious strangers, so it seems as likely that Anne was being protective as predatory. I leave it to the reader to decide whether historical inaccuracies bother them or not, but I think they should be aware of them.
Gregory occasionally picks up on some interesting angles: Mary is somewhat ambivalent about Katharine of Aragon. On the one hand, her family is trying to bring about the Queen's downfall, on the other, she admires Katharine and feels guilty about her participation. I also liked the scenes of Mary with her grandmother when she is in exile from the court.
I am something of an Anne Boleyn fan, but I understand why people don't like her. What I can't understand is that none of the anti-Anne writers seem to be able to imagine her as a three dimensional person - I thought that writers always had trouble making the virtuous as interesting as the villainous. Anne should at least be a clever and alluring (but not beautiful) seductress a la Milady DeWinter in the Three Musqueteers. In this book, as in Suzanne Dann's The Queen of Subtleties: A Novel of Anne Boleyn and numerous others, Anne is once again a caricature of a shrill, coarse harpy - how could Henry have stood a single hour with such a person? The story is a bit crude and torrid for my tastes - the sex scenes were too many and too detailed and sometimes downright implausible. The relationship between the sisters never makes much sense - it's not so much complex as inconsistent.
Overlooking the historical errors, it's not a particularly good novel, but certainly not the worst that I've read. It certainly didn't inspire me to read more of Philippa Gregory. I finally picked up her novel about Katharine of Aragon, but I didn't think that it was even as good as this.
For Philippa Gregory fans and people (and we are legion) who read just about anything set during this era.
Summary of The Other Boleyn Girl
When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.
A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.
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