Mar 11 2009
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory - a review
I saw this book and picked it up on a whim. I read The Other Boleyn Girl, about Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn, and loved it so I thought I would give Philippa Gregory’s newest novel a shot.
This novel is about the early imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots by her rival, Bess, the Dutchess of Hartwick. It alternates between three perspectives - the Queen of Scots herself, Bess and Bess’ fourth husband, George, The Earl of Shrewsbury. George and Bess are charged with the care of the Queen of Scots. Bess is a social climber - she has actually moved from poverty to an insane amount of wealth through each successive marriage (her husbands have left their wealth to her upon their deaths) and hopes that jailing the Queen of Scots will contribute to further wealth. However, it nearly bankrupts her and her husband! George, on the other hand, becomes infatuated with the Queen of Scots and does everything besides become physically intimate with her. If anyone needed an example of emotional adultery, the relationship that George had with the Queen of Scots would be it. As such, irreparable friction and damage is caused in his marriage.
The chapters are short and jerky, the characters flat and rather shallow. The book is a long book and not much happens. The exciting part of Mary’s life has already happened and, quite frankly, it’s boring and confusing to constantly have to guess or be filled in by other, secondary characters as to what happened in the past, even if it was the tiniest bit salacious. The characters were so boring - Bess only always complained about money, George was always obsessed with loyalty to the “queen” and Mary with being free and getting her throne back. Yes, those were important goals, but, as in the Other Boleyn Girl, a character’s motivations can still lead to many, many layers being created. Ms. Gregory fails to do so in this case and the short chapters don’t lend themselves well to plot or character development. In fact, they fail miserably.
I do have to say that Ms. Gregory’s research is well done and impeccable. One cannot fault her on those grounds -she has done her homework, as usual. One can only hope that if a movie is made, it will be better than this book (and the movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl, which was awful).
All in all, this is one that you can pass one.
Book 9/100
