The Other Boleyn Girl

Over the holidays a friend of mine, whose taste is very similar to mine, loaned me this novel to read. My first thought was, Do I really want to read a 700 page book about The Tudors? I love history, but for some reason, I pictured this novel being dry and dull.

I couldn't have been more wrong! This novel was fantastic, through and through. Once I started, I could NOT put it down. Historically speaking, the author takes several liberties, and fictionalizes based on some of the more sensational rumors about these characters: Henry VIII is portrayed as a constant sexual conquerer of women, Anne Boleyn is portrayed as hateful, murderous, and ambitious beyond reason, and Mary Boleyn (the narrator and title character), is our hapless heroine, very naive and very likable.

Going in, I remembered that in real life, Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and that Henry VIII was seen as a tyrant, but otherwise, I knew nothing about Mary Boleyn or the possible goings-on at court. Court was vividly described, and I got a good idea of how these people lived their lives. Some of the more controversial plot points (i.e. reasons Anne was put to death, the sexuality of her brother George) were disturbing to imagine as true, and in reality, may not have been, but Damn! It made for great reading.

Another friend of mine, who is a historian, will not read books by this author, due to the historical innacurracies. And, being a Lit Nerd, myself, I can understand; I'm not keen on people reinventing authors, much like my friend is not keen on people reinventing historical figures.

But if you read it for the pure FUN of it, you'll love this book. Just plead ignorance like I did, and read up on the history later. ;)

A+, a MUST READ in my opinion. Maybe more for female readers, as there's a lot of romance and romantic ideas in there.

And the movie version...was completely different than the book, and nowhere near as good. They removed Anne's evil side for the movie (which, they kind of had to, with Natalie Portman in the role), made her mother sympathetic (in the book, one of the horrifying elements is the complete lack of sympathy the Boleyn girls get from their own mother), and about 1/3 of the story is glossed over. The movie was entertaining, and with actors I really like. So I'd still recommend it. But if you want the extended, in-depth, much more intense version, read the book.