Book Review - The Inquisitor's Wife
BOOK REVIEW
THE INQUISITIOR'S WIFE - JEANNE KALOGRIDIS
BOOK RATING : 5/5
1. What did you know about the Spanish Inquisition - either from your own studis or as portrayed in popular film/television adaptations - before reading The Inquisitor's Wife? How, if at all, did this book teach you about, or change your impression of, this important chapter in History?
- Before I read this book, I did not know persay who had been persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition. I love History but for some odd reason, I never really studied in detail about it. I had thought that it was another witch hunt becuase of the burning at the stakes. So this book helped to clear up all those misunderstandings.
2. How were Marisol and her family different from other Spaniards in fifteenth-century Seville? Do you think Marisol's attitudes were "ahead of her time"? What do you see as Marisol's most and least admirable qualities?
-Marisol and her mother were conversos who had Jesish heritage despite their conversion to Christianity. Their genetic traits marked them; dark hair, olive skin, and dark eyes. I believe Marisol shared a strong personality with many other powerful women throughout history. She was a little quick to anger before assessing situations properly but she was loyal at the end to her mother's beliefs and that is what is imporantant!
3. What paralells do you see between today's political events and those of fifteenth-century Spain? Is the "Inquisition" alive and well in the twenty-first century?
- I believe most of the world has come very far and the only countries that still put Inquisition-like activities into practice are "third-world" places like North Korea. They remind me of the Inquistion with their "no escape" policy.
4. To what extent do you think Jeanne Kalogridis took artistic liberties with this work? What does it take for a novelst to bring a "real" historical period to life?
- I can't say much as far as artistic liberties go considering I really was ignorant about the Inquisition in the first place but to make a historical piece become a novel... it needs to have excitement and danger and obviously this book had that and more!
5. Why do modern readers enjoy novels about the past? How and when can a powerful piece of fiction be a history lesson in itself?
Well the fact that I learned a lot from this book proves the fact that hisotrical fiction has a powerful effect. I believe that books about the past give modern readers like me a better understanding on how far we've come in the world. Like time travel, almost.
6. We are taught, as young readers, taht every story ahs a "moral." Is there a moral to The Inquisitor's Wife? What can we learn about our world - and ourselves - from Marisol's Story?
I believe the moral of the story is to stay tru to yourself in despite of persecution. In the end, Marisol did exactly that. We can learn that where there is evil, good will inevitably conquer!
-----------------------------------
Book Info --->https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044974-the-inquisitor-s-wife
About the Author--->https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49103.Jeanne_Kalogridis