Book Review: The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, has been in my library since I read The Queen's Fool, which turned out to be a sequel to this book. I'm pretty sure I finished that one back while I was supposed to be studying for my pharmacy boards, and looking for any reason not too. I enjoyed The Queen's Fool thoroughly, mainly because it was about Queen Elizabeth I, which is a topic I love, but also because it was well written.

The Other Boleyn Girl was just as well written, but with much smaller font. I found that I couldn't speed read through this like I do with most books, because there are so many important characters and if you miss one conversation, or even one line, you can very quickly become lost. The high possibility for confusion would normally be a detriment to a book, at least for me, but I can't really fault the author for this. Everyone in the book was a real person, and all are necessary for the story line, so it would have been impossible to leave them out, even for the sake of the reader.

The story itself is engrossing, mainly because you feel as though you are moving in the inner circles of Henry VIII's court, seeing everything thing through Mary Boleyn's eyes, from her rise and fall as the King's mistress, to the rise and fall of her sister Anne, who became Queen of England. Every detail is there, from how they lived with lice and fleas, to what the ladies-in-waiting wore, and what the court had for dinner. I loved this aspect of the book, and didn't want to put it down.

My only complaint with The Other Boleyn Girl is that Anne Boleyn was painted as quite scheming and evil, whereas Mary Boleyn is the "good" sister, who only does bad things because her family orders her to. I won't go into detail because I'm recommending this book as an awesome read. But I have always been a bit partial to Anne, and have always thought that she was unjustly accused of many crimes, and suffered very harsh punishments. I suppose that she is painted so blackly because when her history was first written, no one wanted to cross the King by saying she had been unjustly treated. Much like many people in history. Regardless of my own personal thoughts on Anne, this book is definitely worth checking out. It kept me reading for two nights, which really says something, as most books I can finish in a matter of hours. I'll be rereading it most certainly, which is the highest praise I can bestow on a book!