Saturday, March 30, 2019
Qing Empresses Exhibition at the Freer/Sackler Museum in Washington DC
The Qing Empresses Exhibition at the Freer/Sackler Museum in Washington DC starts today and will last until June 23, 2019.
Empress Xiaozhuang, the protagonist of my novel The Green Phoenix, is one of the featured Empresses.
Book Review - "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel
Prompted
by the BBC TV series, I had previously read Wolf
Hall (to which I gave 3.5 stars). While that first novel impressed me as leaning
on whitewashing Thomas Cromwell (especially when contrasted with Thomas More),
I found Bring Up the Bodies to be
somewhat more balanced in the portrayal of his character.
The
main storyline in this novel is about Anne Boleyn’s downfall and Cromwell’s
hand in the elaborate scheme that brought about the indictment and execution of
Anne herself, her brother, and four other men in various ranks, all for high
treason. Here, Cromwell is the chief schemer, who would admittedly benefit politically
from the erasure of his ally-turned-rival. But in his role as King Henry’s
trusted adviser, he has little choice but to anticipate his wishes and act at his
behest. When the belligerent and self-important Anne threatens his life, he
understandably needs to move first. Granted, the underlying powder keg of the
whole meltdown is the King’s burgeoning whims for another woman, Jane Seymour,
which means that Anne, whose cardinal sin is her inability to produce a male
heir, is doomed in the first place. The play of chance and design is fully
fleshed out.
In
portraying Cromwell’s internal thoughts when he seeks to justify his ruthless
cunning in culling his enemies, Mantel often invokes his obsession with
avenging his mentor and master, the deceased Wolsey. But the fact that he never
lets himself be brought down with him does suggest that his loyalties may be
less steadfast than perceived. Still, given his humble background and the horde
of predatory noblemen constantly hounding him, self-preservation at the cost of
rivals seems to be a more believable excuse.
As
for his reformation effort that is supposed to be beneficial to British
society, especially where it concerns shutting down papist monasteries and
confiscating their estates and channeling the proceeds to education and feeding
the poor, perhaps his contribution cannot be denied, although in the process,
while stuffing the King’s coffers, he also conveniently empowers and enriches
himself.
This
passage reveals at a glance the essence of both Anne’s and Cromwell’s
characters:
He has always rated Anne highly as a
strategist. He has never believed in her as a passionate, spontaneous woman.
Everything she does is calculated, like everything he does.
This
paragraph gives a clear gist of the novel:
Statements, indictments, bills are
circulated, shuffled between judges, prosecutors, the Attorney General, the
Lord Chancellor’s office; each step in the process clear, logical, and designed
to create corpses by due process of law.
Overall,
the novel is full of immersive intrigue and drama while seemingly adhering to
historical facts. I’m giving this novel 4 stars.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Wow! Had to Share this Review!
Julianne of Yorkshire, U.K. chose The Green Phoenix for her Goodreads Group's ("For Love of a Book" Group) World Libraries Challenge 2019.
I had to share her lovely review:
"The story of Bumbutai, a Mongolian princess who became the revered Grand Dowager Empress Xiaozhuang, unfolds against the backdrop of the fall of the Ming dynasty and the rise of the Manchu Qing.
I can't say enough about how much I loved this book. The story telling vividly brought the characters and political machinations to life.
Reading this sent me on a journey back in time and through a huge emotional range, from curiosity to anger to love to laughter.
I honestly can't think of the last time I loved a book so much.
I read this because of the For The Love Of A Book groups World Libraries Challenge for 2019, one of the challenges was to read a Book with a MPG of Historical Fiction set in China or Japan. After hours of browsing Goodreads I found The Green Phoenix and I was so glad I did."
Link to the Goodreads review.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)