TITLE: The Autobiography of
Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
AUTHOR: Margaret
George
GENRE: Historical Fiction
WHERE I GOT IT: Own it
READ FROM: July
17th to
August 3rd,
2013
BOOK BLURB: Much has been
written about the mighty, egotistical Henry VIII: the man who
dismantled the Church because it would not grant him the divorce he
wanted; who married six women and beheaded two of them; who executed
his friend Thomas More; who sacked the monasteries; who longed for a
son and neglected his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; who finally grew
fat, disease-ridden, dissolute. Now, in her magnificent work of
storytelling and imagination, Margaret George brings us Henry VIII's
story as he himself might have told it, in memoirs interspersed with
irreverent comments from his jester and confidant, Will Somers.
Brilliantly combining history, wit, dramatic narrative, and
extraordinary grasp of the pleasures and perils of power, this
monumental novel shows us Henry the man more vividly then he has ever
been seen before.
MY THOUGHTS:
I had enjoyed reading The Memoirs of
Cleopatra by Margaret George so I thought I would give this one a try
as well. The story sucked me in right from the beginning and I was
rather amazed that I seem to be flying through the book at a good
pace even though it is just over 900 pages, at least at first.
I think I was about 400 pages in when I
started getting bored. There were bits and pieces that helped regain
my interest only for it to start to drag again. I really didn't find
that many people that likeable and actually I was a bit confused by
some of the court because they all had similar names or gained a name
that belonged to someone else before. I don't really know that much
of Tudor England other then the fact that Henry VIII married seven
times and beheaded two of his wives.
Henry at first was very unlikable, he
seemed to throw tantrums when he didn't get his way. I guess that
could be because of his station in life, after all being king made
people do your bidding and do everything and anything for you. He did
sort of grow on me as I got deeper into the book. I felt bad for
Catherine of Aragon. It really can't be that easy to have that many
pregnancies only to lose almost all of the babes. Then watch your
husband who you love slip away from you. Ann Boleyn in this book was
very unlikeable, very manipulative and thought she was invincible. I
can't imagine what went through her and Catherine Howard's mind while
they were being led up to the executioner's block! I swear some of
the executions back in the day were pretty harsh. I think at one
point he had people hung, then taken down before they died, then had
their innards pulled out of their bodies, then set on fire. That is a
pretty complicated and crazy death!
I was pretty sad that Jane died. She
seemed to actually be happy with Henry and even gave him the son he
wanted.
I'm actually surprised that by the end
that I actually felt sorry for Henry. Although I still think what he
did to Katherine was pretty horrible and no matter what he did she
was still his proper Wife. It was sad that she seemed to really love
him only to have him treat her the way he did.
I look forward to reading more of
Margaret George's books especially Mary, Called Magdalene and
Elizabeth I.
RATING: 3 out of 5 stars
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