Philippa Gregory: The Other Boleyn Girl

[Balmy Westwind]

Thanks MonkeyCatcher.

I will get The Other Boleyn Girl re-stamped and read it over the holidays.

 

[h_carnahan]

The English kings have had lots written about them, I'm more interested in the women.

I wonder what those women throughout history who were castigated, divorced, etc. because they produced daughters-how different history might have been if they knew that back then!

I think that Gregory would put an interesting spin on King Henry, she has a way of making her characters point out all of his flaws and making the read dislike him very easily. I would wonder what she would think he would have thought about his wives and children. Did he ever question his ability to make a male child after having been with so many women and producing no male heir? ect. I also wonder that...Anne's life probably would have been spared, Elizabeth would she have ever gotten the throne? Would Catherine have had more children? Would Henry still have been the unfaithful pig that he was "in search for" a female to produce male heirs to the throne? Its interesting to wonder...

 

[Prairie_Girl]

Has anyone else finished Constant Princess yet? I'm at about page 300 and have to say it is DRAGGING. Boelyn Girl, Queen's Fool and even Virgin's Lover all flew by, but this one has taken me over a week to get to this point.
What has everyone else thought?

 

[Anamnesis]

A lot of the characters were quite unlikable. Mary's parents and uncle in particular... I just wanted to smack all of them in the face. Anne was unpleasant too, but she did have some great lines in the book.

As for Gregory's writing, she did well enough. I can't say I was impressed with the way this novel was written, but that doesn't mean I hated her style.

Although a miniseries was made in 2003, there's going to be a film version coming out next year. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson star as the sisters. Eric Bana plays King Henry VIII. Some rather... inspired casting choices, no?

 

[Prairie_Girl]

i just found with Princess I spent the first 300 pages waiting for the story to get started and the next 180 waiting for it to finish. And I've loved the other three I've read by her. Hopefully the Boelyn book she's releasing this fall will be better.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

Although a miniseries was made in 2003, there's going to be a film version coming out next year. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson star as the sisters. Eric Bana plays King Henry VIII. Some rather... inspired casting choices, no?

Natalie Portman will make a great Mary, I think (I assume that's the sister she is playing?), but Scarlett Johannson and Eric Bana are very odd choices (at least Dakota Fanning isn't in this one, I guess )

 

[Gem]

]Natalie Portman will make a great Mary, I think (I assume that's the sister she is playing?), but Scarlett Johannson and Eric Bana are very odd choices (at least Dakota Fanning isn't in this one, I guess )

I assumed it'd be the other way around- with Natalie Portman as Anne and Scarlett as Mary.

 

[Anamnesis]

Natalie Portman will make a great Mary, I think (I assume that's the sister she is playing?), but Scarlett Johannson and Eric Bana are very odd choices (at least Dakota Fanning isn't in this one, I guess )

According to imdb.com, Natalie Portman's playing Mary. She was supposed to play Anne as well but Scarlett has that role. If you think Johannson and Bana are strange casting choices, go on imdb.com and see who's playing Jane Parker...

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I assumed it'd be the other way around- with Natalie Portman as Anne and Scarlett as Mary.

I agree that the actresses' appearances suit the characters you have tagged them with above, but I just didn't see Natalie Portman playing Anne - it would ruin her good girl image.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

According to imdb.com, Natalie Portman's playing Mary. She was supposed to play Anne as well but Scarlett has that role. If you think Johannson and Bana are strange casting choices, go on imdb.com and see who's playing Jane Parker...

... It doesn't list who's playing her

 

[Anamnesis]

She's listed as Lady Jane Rochford. Same character/person, right?

 

[Harp Lady]

i just found with Princess I spent the first 300 pages waiting for the story to get started and the next 180 waiting for it to finish. And I've loved the other three I've read by her. Hopefully the Boelyn book she's releasing this fall will be better.

I agree! I actually bought 'The Constant Princess' in hardback as I couldn't wait for the paperback, but I was really disappointed. For me, Katherine was unrecognisable as the Katherine of history. I know that the author intended an original take on her character, but I felt she stretched credulity too far this time. I don't believe that Katherine would have stuck to a lie for years because of her love for a young lad she'd only known for a few months. The Katherine/Arthur passionate love story was a clever idea, but I just didn't buy it.

I have read most all Philippa Gregory's Tudor fiction, but for that sheer unputdownable quality, nothing has yet beaten 'The Other Boleyn Girl' for me - I couldn't stop reading it even when I had flu with blinding headache and high temperature! I hope the film lives up to my expectations - (films never seem to, when I've read the book first).

 

[FrodoLIVES]

Wow! I didn't know they were making a movie out of TOBG. I'm so excited!
I loved TOBG and am currently reading The Constant Princess. I've heard it's not one of her best but so far it's okay. Not as gripping as TOBG though...
I have The Queen's Fool and The Virgin's Lover and am going to read them as soon as I get the chance.

 

[Dogmatix]

Well you've got me intrigued and I'll be picking this one up. I wanted to mention a similar read with a mix of true and fictinal historical women. I read and loved it.

Leodardo's Swans - Karen Essex

From Publishers Weekly
Sexual and political intrigue drive Essex's intricate novel (after previous historicals Kleopatra and Pharaoh) starring 15th-century Italian sisters Isabella and Beatrice d'Este. Isabella, the elder, more accomplished sister, is engaged to handsome Francesco Gonzaga, a minor aristocrat, while Beatrice is intended for the future duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, who's powerful, unscrupulous and already in possession of a pregnant mistress. It seems, at first, that Isabella will enjoy domesticity with Francesco, while unhappy Beatrice is useful to her husband only as a vehicle for breeding sons—a situation further complicated by Ludovico's infatuation with the more beautiful Isabella. While Isabella encourages her brother-in-law's overtures, she's actually desperate to sit for his resident artist, Leonardo da Vinci. The sisters' sexual rivalry provides the main fodder for the novel's first half; the less compelling remainder is taken up with the political complexities of Renaissance Italy, as the rulers of France scheme to invade Italy, Francesco schemes against Ludovico, and Ludovico schemes against everyone. Essex's canvas is too finely detailed to adequately represent the epic dramas of warring Italian princes, and occasional anachronisms in diction are distracting. But the stories of Isabella and Beatrice d'Este along with the occasional investigations of Leonardo's artworks, methods and personality are always engrossing. (Jan.)