TITLE: The Constant PrincessAUTHOR: Philippa Gregory
STARTED: March 18, 2009
FINISHED: March 26, 2009
PAGES: 393
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: There was a scream, and then the loud roar of fire enveloping silken hangings, then a mounting crescendo of shouts of panic that spread and spread from one tent to another as the flames ran too, leaping from one silk standard to another, running up guy ropes and bursting through muslin doors.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover. Gregory's latest (after Earthly Joys) compellingly dramatizes how Catalina uses her faith, her cunning and her utter belief in destiny to reclaim her rightful title. By alternating tight third-person narration with Catalina's unguarded thoughts and gripping dialogue, the author presents a thorough, sympathetic portrait of her heroine and her transformation into Queen Katherine. Gregory's skill for creating suspense pulls the reader along despite the historical novel's foregone conclusion.
THOUGHTS: I picked up this book because I've been running through The Tudors on my Netflix like a kid devouring chocolate chip pancakes. When I had to send the last episodes of Season 1, I was not ready to leave the royal environment of King Henry VIII. Thus, Phillipa Gregory's take of Katherine of Aragon seemed to be the perfect pick.
Wrong.
So. So. Wrong.
My giddy enjoyment of The Tudors has completely warped how I want Katherine of Aragon to be portrayed. In the show, she is calm, collected, thoughtful, and meek (but with a backbone). If she ruffles feathers, she does so subtly. In the book, I found Gregory's portrayal of Katherine to be annoying. She's whiny, conniving, sly, sneaky, and I just found myself disliking her as a person. I have no idea which portrayal is more like the true, historical Katherine, but I much preferred the portrayal in The Tudors. Not once, did I find the Katherine in the book to be a redeeming character. I felt sorry for her sometimes but then she would do something that made me want to slap her.
I blame Gregory for that debacle. Her writing, while lyrical, is trying to hard to make you like her lead character. There were no shades of gray in this book. Arthur was good. Henry was bad. Katherine was the CONSTANT princess. Really. I had no idea. No matter how many times the author had to cram it into my head. I had no idea whatsoever that Katherine was the constant princess.
What could be a good book (if only I read another version) was just mildly annoying.
RATING: 5/10 [Meh.]
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