The Other Boleyn Girl (book review)
I finished the book (661 pages) in 5 days. I couldn't put it down.
The book was completely different from the movie. I liked both, but I feel like if I read the book first, I wouldn't have liked the movie.
The book just went into so much more detail and was better at developing characters. George (Mary and Anne's brother) was more of a player in the book. He was more of a flirt and had more ambition. Queen Katherine (Henry's first wife) was used more in the book than the movie. I felt terrible for her because she put up with her husband's shit for 20+ years and then was treated horribly and died in disgrace. The only exception to the character development was Anne & Mary's mother who was used more in the movie, but she was hardly in the book. However, in the movie she was the voice of reason while in the novel she is an ambitious bitch who abandons her daughters.
Unlike the movie, I never felt sorry for Anne.
she adopted Mary's son, the son she had with King Henry, and Mary couldn't protest. She stepped on everyone and was way too smug. She totally deserved what she got.
Another difference is, in the movie when George and Anne are about to commit incest, he stops it. In the book, it is implied that they did go through with it.
Also, the movie makes it seem like Mary raises the future queen, Elizabeth, but she doesn't in the book. Instead she raises her three children. The movie only shows her having one.
And the movie didn't even say where Mary's first husband went, but now I know he died of the sweat. Mary was also the first girl to be pushed by her family towards the king, not Anne like the movie says.
One of my fav parts of the book is when Mary insults Henry's heavy frame. This is how it goes (page 562 - 563):
"Your married life seems to suit you, Mary," he said intimately as we went down the stairs, half of the gentleman of the chamber following us. "You are as pretty as when you were a girl, when you were my sweetheart."
I was always wary when Henry grew intimate. "That's a long time ago," I said cautiously. "But Your Grace is twice the prince you were then."
...there's more after that but it's way too much to type. All I can say is that he doesn't show any anger towards her for the insult.
anyway, it's a great book. I do wonder if the author's other books are just as good.