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Cindy's Reviews > The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #9)
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I love anything that has to do with English History and really am kinda fascinated by Henry VIII. After reading so many good things on here and elsewhere about this book I was looking forward to it.
At about 100 pages into it I thought I really was enjoying it. Too bad the book didn't end at page 200. Because I hated this book with a passion. I don't even know where to start with it.
First you have the writing style which is written by Mary Boylen's POV. Which is fine. But every character in this book is one sided. Mary hasn't a brain for herself, Henry is a lustfilled king (that may be true), the Queen is soooooo smart but doesn't know what is going on. And Anne Boleyn is this hateful person that makes the reader want to kill her before she even is sent to the axe. There was also the same use of phrases over and over again. "You're just the other Bolyn Girl, we don't like you"...."I am Queen", "You are a whore" it's almost like the author has a limited vocabulary and wanted us to know it.
Second thing I hated was that there wasn't one ounce of family love, or loyalty about anyone. I know there is the family games going on in England, but not one guy thought about his daughter as anything more then a piece of old meat. That really really bothered me.
Third, this book had more details about sex then porn. I really wanted to hope the movie would be good and people have complained the movie is nothing like the book, which is obvious because if it was like the book it would be in the XXX section of the video stores.
Fourth, There were parts that focused on things that didn't matter. 5 pages about a tennis tournament that made you say "Why do I care about this". It's like the author had a goal page amount and she was going to go above and beyond it.
Lastly, the topic of Homosexuality and incest. Yes this is a theory out there about Anne but did the WHOLE book have to focus on it. Anne's brother was this neck kissing, french kissing sister lover the whole entire book. Anne was this girl that was always hot for her brother regardless of anything. Great way to branch out there!
Overall I hated this book.
At about 100 pages into it I thought I really was enjoying it. Too bad the book didn't end at page 200. Because I hated this book with a passion. I don't even know where to start with it.
First you have the writing style which is written by Mary Boylen's POV. Which is fine. But every character in this book is one sided. Mary hasn't a brain for herself, Henry is a lustfilled king (that may be true), the Queen is soooooo smart but doesn't know what is going on. And Anne Boleyn is this hateful person that makes the reader want to kill her before she even is sent to the axe. There was also the same use of phrases over and over again. "You're just the other Bolyn Girl, we don't like you"...."I am Queen", "You are a whore" it's almost like the author has a limited vocabulary and wanted us to know it.
Second thing I hated was that there wasn't one ounce of family love, or loyalty about anyone. I know there is the family games going on in England, but not one guy thought about his daughter as anything more then a piece of old meat. That really really bothered me.
Third, this book had more details about sex then porn. I really wanted to hope the movie would be good and people have complained the movie is nothing like the book, which is obvious because if it was like the book it would be in the XXX section of the video stores.
Fourth, There were parts that focused on things that didn't matter. 5 pages about a tennis tournament that made you say "Why do I care about this". It's like the author had a goal page amount and she was going to go above and beyond it.
Lastly, the topic of Homosexuality and incest. Yes this is a theory out there about Anne but did the WHOLE book have to focus on it. Anne's brother was this neck kissing, french kissing sister lover the whole entire book. Anne was this girl that was always hot for her brother regardless of anything. Great way to branch out there!
Overall I hated this book.
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Reading Progress
April 7, 2008
– Shelved
Started Reading
May 8, 2008
– Shelved as:
fiction
May 8, 2008
–
Finished Reading
July 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
read-in-2008
Comments Showing 1-27 of 27 (27 new)
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Claire
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rated it 3 stars
Apr 20, 2009 08:49PM
I agree, the characters were very one-dimensional. The bad guys had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The good guys were pretty much clueless, and the sex thing got really old, really fast.
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...What? I don't know why you're so hung up about the sexual aspects, there was hardly any detail at all, and it certainly didn't go on and on and on and on in the book like you imply.
Unfortunately, women did not enjoy the liberties during the 16th century that we do today - especially those born to wealthy families who used marriage as a business merger to improve their status or financial situation. Regardless of a woman's intelligence, she was seen as more of an object than a person. Women who tried to apply their intelligence or ingenuity typically were punished for their tyrannical and/or witch behavior (i.e. Anne Boleyn). Although we may not like it, our romanticized notions of the royal court are more fiction than fact. Court was a place for politics, and men used the ladies to advance themselves often at the expense of their female pawns. A daughter was an undesirable consequence of producing male heirs.
I agree entirely, except it's unfair to criticize the book for a portrayal of lack of family love / treatment of women as chattel, as that's pretty much the only thing it got right. Blame history, not the book. If anything, that it made you uncomfortable is points for the book, because that's exactly how it went back then.
I wanted to read this book because of the movie, which I never watched but I wanted. Now and after reading your review I don't want to read it at all, you explain it so well that I will not put more trust in a bunch of paper that probably will not be my taste, I just thought it could be some good book about English History. Actually you could say you disliked it without saying a bunch of no sense things, which is what most of the people do. :)
Oh honestly, you only see the "You're just the Other Boleyn Girl" phrase 3 or 4 times, tops in book that is over 650 pages long. Tbh it was probably a phrase that was, in reality, spoken or at least thought very often between the Boleyns. First Mary was the important sister, later Anne. One was held in high favor, the other just lurked in the shadows. They probably were compared to each other quite a lot.I thought the sex wasn't too bad until the last 200 pages or so when Mary starts describing what she told Anne to do with Henry. That was quite unnecessary, I have to say.
And, not that we know for sure if Katherine knew her husband had his mistresses, but really know, it's not like Henry was very subtle about the matter, I mean he was known to have many bastard children. I'm pretty sure Katherine knew what was going on, but it's not as if she could do anything about it.
Do you dislike this book because you imagined the characters completely different? Not to sound rude or anything, I just don't seem to see eye-to-eye with you on this book.
Nope it was quite possibly one of the worst books I've read in a long time. The only reason it stays with me is because it was that bad. And the other boleyn girl phrase had to be in there more than 3 times, because it was honestly all that seemed to pop out at me. I've read dozens of books on early English History and this just was not a realistic portrayal of that time period at all. The movie wasn't either but this was just fancy smut dressed up with a English History twist. I also felt the author could have done more research into that time frame. For an "established historian" (taken from the book flap) it was purely lacking.
I felt the exact same way about this book as you did. I have always enjoyed Tudor history and I was quite into this book initially and after 200 pages I hated it... To the extent after reading it a bit more, I felt so sick, I had to delete it from my iPad .. Although my problem was not distortion of facts I could have lived with that.. But an absolute lack of emotions and depth in characters.
My thoughts exactly. Though I am a neophyte in English history, the book sounds more like a porn movie than a historical fiction.
U should watch the series Tudors its all about King Henry and Ann really good show u will love it
Did I miss all the porn scenes?! I didn't think it was overly sexual.
There weren't too many sexually explicit scenes... don't know why people are going on about them. Yes there were some, but they formed about 2% of the whole book! Saying that the fathers and brothers treated women like crap is not a valid criticism of the book, because men did treat women badly back in the 16th century. Gregory was just portraying a harsh reality. And the absence of loyalty and family love- that's what the book was critiquing!! That's kind of what makes it so interesting- the way family relationships take second place to political ones, and the theme of how power corrupts those in possession of it.
Your review isn't objective at all. You've simply picked out qualities and themes in the story which don't appeal to you personally, and used them to trash the book.
A review is my opinion of the book. I am not sure why everyone is upset about me reviewing the book and how *I* personally felt about the book. I was not evaluating writing, etc... a review is a person's opinion on something and how they felt and how the book made me feel. That is all. I shared how I felt, nothing more, nothing less. It's been years since I read it, and I still list it as one of the top books that I could not stand. You are entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled to mine. It's just how the world is.
I changed it to VIII just for you :)
I love porn so your review really helped me decide to read out. ;p
You hate that there wasn't any family love? What sort of books have you been reading all your life? And everything you said in your review which you think is the author's fault...is not. That's how the story is. And that's pretty much hat people cared about back then. Gossip, marriage and male children. Maybe you like a world full of unicorns or whatever, but that ain't this one.
Again. I am not sure why people are attacking me for an opinion. It's my opinion and the personal attacks are just senseless. I didn't like the book. I have the right to review it, you have the right to comment on it.
I do not believe I said any of it was the author's fault, if I gave that impression, it was no way intended to be like that. I didn't like it and no matter how many insults everyone throws and rainbows and butterfly jokes people make will not change it.
I do read other books that have those same elements, it is all in the execution of it. I felt it was not executed in a way that *I* personally did not like.
I admire your opinion of course but Philippa Gregory does in no way have a limited vocabulary. You make her sound as if she's just written a historical version of fifty shades of grey. 'The other Boleyn girl' was mentioned because that's the main focus of the book, how Anne was the shining star and Mary was nothing in comparison to her. The sexual extracts of the books makes us realise how even though this book was set 500 years ago we all share similarities with what we desire. I personally admire Gregory and think she's an extremely intelligent woman. Your opinion of the book is valid, but your remarks about Gregory seem uncalled for.
For what it's worth, I am just starting this book and saw your review. I will still read it, simply because the era intrigues me. I just wanted to write a quick note to say to each his own. I associated reading your pov, regardless if it changes mine our not. I've read the comments attacking your opinion and I just wanted to write a quick note to say I appreciated it, whether I agree with it or not (isn't that why we're supposed to post reviews so others can form their own opinions)
i think maybe people forget the crucial part....the part where this is fiction...not fact x
I recently reread this horrendous character assassination of a book for my review of it and can attest that yes the term Other Boleyn girl was overused.
Spot on about loving the first 100 pages and it then going majorly downhill from there!
Wow, fantastic review, just read it again. I agree, PG is a horrendous writer. You know, I vividly remember posting my earlier comment and I had no idea it was you :) maybe because of this review we became friends? Possibly that's true. Of course this review and my comment takes on another meaning because of the Sword of Shannara. Maybe I read this review when I was writing my own and it became one of my favorite reviews. /review/show...
The sexual bits of the book weren't even that explicit. It had a more soft core porn feel to it, or maybe you're just a prude.
Abby wrote: "The sexual bits of the book weren't even that explicit. It had a more soft core porn feel to it, or maybe you're just a prude."She is not a prude and this is a badly written book in every sense of the word.
It was badly written and horrible but you read the book twice? Lmao huh
I am actually surprised at how much sex that WASN’T in this book. I was expecting so much more
