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The issue here is that Queen Mary of Scots was not a woman in synch with her surroundings her subjects and sadly even with her only son.The long langorous drama which she played out with Elizabeth was quite tame really.and so I say so what. The Other Queen like most of this authors works is based on extensive research from history. History comes alive if you will in all of her works.
Either she actually cannot come up with anything else to say and is taking up space (I've done this myself in college) or she assumes the reader is too dense to get the point the first (or fifteenth) time she makes it.Gregory is an undisputed talented historical writer, however in this instance she seems to be riding on the international success of The Other Boleyn Girl rather than making the effort to meet its standards of depth, quality, narrative, and characterization. Why does Philppa Gregory feel the need to repeat herself over and over. I loved The Other Boleyn Girl and was very disappointed with this monotonous rendering of a potentially thrilling subject. Both Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick are fascinating, complex women but unfortunately in this book the reader is left with a dumbed down and unsatisfying fiction that does not do justice to the subject matter.
Their is no action in the plot, wich would be fine if the characters were interesting and deep but they all seem to have one thing on their mind throughout the story and all they ever do is talk about that: Bess always talks about her fortune, Mary about her status as a queen and how she deserves better treatment, and George about his honour.Elizabeth is portrayed as a gullible, naive, wishy-washy, spineless queen and not credible at all.The only reason I gave the book 2 stars is because I liked the portrayal of the relationship between Bosworth and Mary, though it was sadly left undeveloped. Nothing ever happens,every chapter is a monologue from a different character repeating things that were already said before. The author should have written the book about that - Mary's time in France, her return to Scotland, her escape to England - and not about such a tedious and hard to develop subject such as an imprisonment, because really, how much of the plot can actually be developed when the main character is a prisoner shut away from the world and all the book centers on her monologue and those around her. This book is badly edited, repetitive, and boring. The characters are forever repeating themselves, they dont develop or evolve at all throughout the whole book.The relationships between them are as shallow as a soap opera plot, minus the twists and turns wich are sadly missing from this novel.
Still, re-reading this after finishing Wolf Hall, I found myself with a new appreciation of what she is trying to do. On first reading, this makes for such a jarring contrast with her previous work that, like a lot of reviewers, I was left with a reaction of, roughly speaking, "blech".I don't imagine that many of Gregory's legion of fans who were also disappointed will change their views. By instinct, he's inclined to Mary's perspective; he believes that everyone must recognize the rights of the ancient nobility and constantly fails to misunderstand those around him (from his wife to the Queen) because of that. Bess sees her husband drawn to the Queen of Scots and recognizes that her own pragmatism is driving him further away; he has viewed her interest in business as something to be discarded now that she is noble by marriage rather than a core part of her identity. In contast, in The Other Queen, while the events may be dramatic, Gregory's narrators are focusing as much or more on their thoughts than their actions. But if you can forget whose name is on the cover and read it as if were written by someone whose books you've never encountered before, you might find something extra here to enjoy. In Mantel's book, the result is a triumph, an absolutely superb novel (which I'll rate five stars when it's been published and is available for review). And I'd urge you to rush out and get Mantel's book when it's released; a complex and richly-detailed novel, it may take you a week or more to read, but you'll relish every minute of it.
At the other end of the spectrum is Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scotland who has been deposed by her own lords and forced to flee to England for her own safety. The problem is that in that earlier book, both the events and the way her three narrators recounted them were dramatic, almost breath-takingly so: the struggle by Anne of Cleves to save her own life and that of Katherine Howard to make her own, followed by the latter's fall from grace and execution. At its heart, this is a novel about ideas of social status, and particularly the tug of war between those who believe that noble birth is all-important and those who contend that it's sheer ability that is the most critical determinant of someone's worth. Her two principal female characters are polar opposites: Bess Talbot has risen from relative obscurity through a series of well-planned marriages, to become a countess, but what she values is good management and pragmatism. She is a believer in the ages-old rule that kings and queens are quasi-divine; an ordinary human being cannot touch her (even when he's trying to help her escape down the wall of a castle).
The Other Queen uses the same approach that Gregory took in crafting a quasi-sequel to that book, The Boleyn Inheritance, having three different characters tell the story. (In Henry's day, those new men included Cranmer and Cromwell; in Elizabeth's, William Cecil). She imagines her second husband's reaction to owning a castle -- what good is it. And yet it took reading a wonderful new book about Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII by Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall: A Novel, to give me a full understanding and new appreciation of the themes Philippa Gregory is pursuing in this book.Like Mantel, Gregory sets out to create a world whose inhabitants are torn between tradition and new ways of thinking and behaving, and revolves around the characters at the hub of the crises that this clash always creates.
I pride myself in being a man who does not think of these things."Over the course of this book, all three narrators must confront the consequences of their core convictions. He doesn't even want to think about religion -- if his monarch were a Muslim, Shrewsbury reflects, so he would likely be. This isn't Philippa Gregory's best novel, and it isn't the best possible book on this theme. Trapped in the middle is the book's third narrator, the hapless Earl of Shrewsbury, Bess's wife and Mary's guardian. "I don't think of these things.
How can you make it pay. Shrewsbury fatally misjudges the temper of the times and the degree to which Elizabeth, his monarch, is really far more in tune with the Cecils of the world than with the ancient nobility, whom Shrewsbury believes (in the face of all evidence to the contrary) to be graced with the wisdom to rule as part of their birthright. Mary, meanwhile, realizes that for all her 'dignitas', she cannot count on the ties between monarchs to save her; her fellow monarchs are as pragmatic in their own way as Elizabeth is in hers. Gregory is a less accomplished writer, and one who has made her name writing more conventional historical fiction, such as The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In).
At the same time, that instinct toward conservatism clashes with another profound core belief -- his absolute loyalty to his monarch. Her rise to prominence has been made possible only by the England that Henry VIII began and Elizabeth continued, one where 'new men' are valued for what they can do and not merely for their pedigrees. That makes each segment feel like an interior monologue, rather than just a first person narrative. he'd ask her.
As all of her faithful followers know, Philippa Gregory is perhaps the BEST writer of historical fiction in our times. The state of womanhood in England during this period of history is shown through several different characters in dramatic ways you won't forget. My heart went out to her in her plight, but her coniving and wiles and connections are full of fascinating and amazing intrigue.
I did not particularly like the form she uses, each chapter with a different narrator speaking as he or she experiences the events, because much of the information was redundant. I came to realize, by reading this novel, how convoluted and cruel royal history is. The Other Queen: A Novel by Philippa Gregory This outstanding author has done it again: created an historical fiction novel which helps the time in history live in your imagination.
The many contenders who have been killed through the years, in protection of the monarchy, have probably been only seeking what could have rightfully been theirs, as is Mary in this novel. Worth a read. However, I gained great insight and sympathy for Mary Queen of Scots as she was held prisoner by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.
All the history I had read before showed Elizabeth in great favor.
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