Books Tasted - Everything bookly (and a few other things)

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory is a historical fiction novel narrated in the first person by Mary Boleyn, lover of King Henry VIII and sister to Anne Boleyn. It chronicles her life in the court starting shortly before her affair with Henry began and ending after the beheading of her sister. The author researched the historical aspects of the book very thoroughly, and while obviously much of the book springs from her imagination, the basic facts are true.

I liked this book, but it's definitely more of a fun read than a deep piece of literature. The part I found the most jarring is that the characters speak as we do, and not in anything close to the dialect of the time. Granted, we would probably have a hard time understanding them if they did, but because it is not as stilted or poetic as you'd expect from the period, it feels very anachronistic.

It's also hard to care too deeply about Mary because she is a pawn for most of the book, unwilling or unable to take charge of her own destiny. While this is undoubtedly true of most women in that time, it feels more irksome because she is the one telling the story. If the story was written about her in the third person, it might be easier to feel sympathy for her. But with she herself telling us of the decisions she makes, it's harder to empathize. It reminds me of reading The Handmaid's Tale where the character allows things to be decided for her because she doesn't decide for herself.

The book does make you think of the choices that were made in the time period and how some things have changed and some things have remained the same for today's societies. But overall, it feels more like a thriller or beach read than a deep thinking piece of literature.

Even though the book is 600+ pages, I read it in a week. It is a pretty good book for your summer vacation, if you're looking for something absorbing but not too deep. I recommend it.