Tudors in Tinseltown.
In Wolper’s ambitious mash-up, Anne Boleyn time-travels to Hollywood 2012, where she loses everything but her head to Henry Tudor, entertainment magnate and Internet kingpin. The usual suspects among the original King Henry’s entourage are here: chief henchwoman Theresa (Thomas) Cromwell; crooked financial advisor Carl (Cardinal) Wolsey, discarded older wife Catherine Aragon and her daughter Maren (Princess Mary). When Henry becomes entangled with Anne, a wannabe writer, the liaison is just what her ambitious father Thomas Boleyn is angling for, especially after Anne’s older sister Mary (re-imagined as a pot-smoking hippie) had failed to snare Henry. Captivating the “King” of Hollywood, Anne hopes, will also mean better roles for her actor brother George. Anne and George are close—perhaps a little too close? Theresa’s Webmaster and lackey Cliff acts as both catalyst and cynical observer as the drama unfolds. Catherine’s death (of an overdose caused by sheer absent-mindedness) enables Henry’s second marriage, no Reformation required. The euphoria surrounding Anne’s conquest of Henry and the birth of daughter Elizabeth quickly dissipates when Theresa sees the quirky new “queen” as a liability to Henry’s bid for the governorship of California. True to her alter ego, Theresa spins a web of lies about Anne’s youthful amatory escapades and current relationships with George and with a young singer-songwriter, (Sir Thomas) Wyatt. After Anne miscarries a son, Theresa invites her to lunch, plies her with pinot and engineers her arrest for DUI. Thanks to Cliff and his new hire, gossip-tweeting sociopath Lionel, Anne’s cyber-persona is quickly trashed. When Theresa introduces her friend, San Francisco debutante and dilettante jewelry designer Jane Seymour, whose political connections can revitalize Henry’s campaign, it’s all over for Anne. Although the conceit is fun, the excitement palls as quickly as the royal romance. Henry’s Hollywood hegemony is never believable: Tudor travails simply do not translate well to a time and place where power, however heady, is less than absolute. Still, a worthy and at times witty effort.
Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4516-5721-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.
Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values, represents a welcome departure from the familiar "Me, white brother" genre.
Written by a Nigerian African trained in missionary schools, this novel tells quietly the story of a brave man, Okonkwo, whose life has absolute validity in terms of his culture, and who exercises his prerogative as a warrior, father, and husband with unflinching single mindedness. But into the complex Nigerian village filters the teachings of strangers, teachings so alien to the tribe, that resistance is impossible. One must distinguish a force to be able to oppose it, and to most, the talk of Christian salvation is no more than the babbling of incoherent children. Still, with his guns and persistence, the white man, amoeba-like, gradually absorbs the native culture and in despair, Okonkwo, unable to withstand the corrosion of what he, alone, understands to be the life force of his people, hangs himself. In the formlessness of the dying culture, it is the missionary who takes note of the event, reminding himself to give Okonkwo's gesture a line or two in his work, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1958
ISBN: 0385474547
Page Count: 207
Publisher: McDowell, Obolensky
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
