The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
First off let me say, I loved the movie The Other Boleyn Girl. I never read the book, but after viewing the movie and then learning we were going to get the opportunity to read this book, The White Queen, and review it, I was super excited.
However, my rating of this book is 2 out of 5 kisses. Within the first five pages, that excitement turned to disillusionment after sitting down with the book in hand. The blurb on the cover jacket sounded interesting and I loved the title of the book. Unfortunately, that’s all I enjoyed about the book. I found the material dry, so boring that I would read a page and then realize I couldn’t recall one thing I had read. Fearing I was allowing my family to distract me (which has never been a problem before), I secluded myself from their chatter and instead found myself asleep.
I don’t believe it was Ms. Gregory’s writing that had me bored with The White Queen. In fact, I couldn’t fault Ms. Gregory as far as her writing style went. The book was written in first person format and while I’m not partial to this format, I have read many books in first person and enjoyed them. Rather, I think it is the book’s contents that I found myself bored with and unable to process with any entertaining value. I am not a history buff and absolutely abhorred history in high school and college. So, the only thing I can surmise is that it was the in-depth historical facts that bogged down any entertainment value the book might have had for me.
So, my advice…don’t read this book or not read this book based upon my review. I’m a romance and horror lover. The White Queen was the first historical book I’ve ever attempted to read (other than academic history books which are just as dry in my opinion). That fact alone lends credence to the fact that I’m not a good judge of character where The White Queen is concerned.
I look forward to Margay’s and Carrie’s reviews. Hopefully, they can give a better recommendation for this book than I can offer you.
However, my rating of this book is 2 out of 5 kisses. Within the first five pages, that excitement turned to disillusionment after sitting down with the book in hand. The blurb on the cover jacket sounded interesting and I loved the title of the book. Unfortunately, that’s all I enjoyed about the book. I found the material dry, so boring that I would read a page and then realize I couldn’t recall one thing I had read. Fearing I was allowing my family to distract me (which has never been a problem before), I secluded myself from their chatter and instead found myself asleep.
I don’t believe it was Ms. Gregory’s writing that had me bored with The White Queen. In fact, I couldn’t fault Ms. Gregory as far as her writing style went. The book was written in first person format and while I’m not partial to this format, I have read many books in first person and enjoyed them. Rather, I think it is the book’s contents that I found myself bored with and unable to process with any entertaining value. I am not a history buff and absolutely abhorred history in high school and college. So, the only thing I can surmise is that it was the in-depth historical facts that bogged down any entertainment value the book might have had for me.
So, my advice…don’t read this book or not read this book based upon my review. I’m a romance and horror lover. The White Queen was the first historical book I’ve ever attempted to read (other than academic history books which are just as dry in my opinion). That fact alone lends credence to the fact that I’m not a good judge of character where The White Queen is concerned.
I look forward to Margay’s and Carrie’s reviews. Hopefully, they can give a better recommendation for this book than I can offer you.
That is the thing with reviews.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone reads or enjoys books the same way. Nor does everyone prefer the same type of novels.
But multiple views on a book can be a good thing. I wonder how this will play out? Will Margay feel the same way as Gracen? It's anyone's guess until next week!
Maybe, I'll be the odd one out, maybe I won't be. We'll see!
Looking forward to next week. I guess I do like historicals - the kids say I like everything, and it's probably true. So I'll wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI love historicals. I still have this on my TBR list! I just watched The Other Boleyn Girl Saturday night. I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Judy and Sheila on your chances of winning this book!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete