Book Review: Reign of Madness by Lynn Cullen

Reign of Madness

By: Lynn Cullen

Pub. Date: August 2011

Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Format: Hardcover , 400pp

ISBN-13: 9780399157097

ISBN: 0399157093

Source: Library

Synopsis:

Juana of Castile, third child of the Spanish monarchs Isabel and Fernando, grows up with no hope of inheriting her parents' crowns, but as a princess knows her duty: to further her family's ambitions through marriage. Yet stories of courtly love, and of her parents' own legendary romance, surround her. When she weds the Duke of Burgundy, a young man so beautiful that he is known as Philippe the Handsome, she dares to hope that she might have both love and crowns. He is caring, charming, and attracted to her-seemingly a perfect husband.

But what begins like a fairy tale ends quite differently.

When Queen Isabel dies, the crowns of Spain unexpectedly pass down to Juana, leaving her husband and her father hungering for the throne. Rumors fly that the young Queen has gone mad, driven insane by possessiveness. Who is to be believed? The King, beloved by his subjects? Or the Queen, unseen and unknown by her people?

One of the greatest cautionary tales in Spanish history comes to life as Lynn Cullen explores the controversial reign of Juana of Castile-also known as Juana the Mad. Sweeping, page-turning, and wholly entertaining, Reign of Madness is historical fiction at its richly satisfying best.


My Review:

Reign of Madness is an historical fiction book chronicling Juana of Castile's life. Juana was the third child of Ferdinand and Isabel, rulers of Spain. Juana had no hope of ever becoming Queen but she let her parents sends her off to the Netherlands to be married to Philippe the Handsome.

At first, Juana is taken away by her new husband. He is caring and loving... and handsome. Over time, though, he begins to change. Neither Philippe or Juana originally wanted power but Philippe seems to be persuaded by his grandmother to begin to seek the throne back in Spain.

Juana grows more distant to her husband as he becomes more power hungry. Eventually, after some family misfortunes and misunderstandings, Juana is in a place to take her mother's throne. However, Philippe does not want to be a consort King, so he arranges for Juana to appear crazy to the public. Juana becomes a pawn to her husband, father, and son, as they all want her power. Meanwhile, Juana is locked up waiting for her adolescent love to save her, Diego, son of Christopher Columbus.

Juana's story is, without a doubt, interesting and has the right amounts of green and corruption. However, many times I was just bored or confused.

Juana's relationship to her mother is like that of a modern adolescent, not a girl raised to become at all powerful in her own right, like her mother did. I kept waiting for Juana to grow up and drop the petty drama.

As for being bored, Christopher Columbus enters the story several times with his exploits to the Americas. I'm not sure why he was included though. My guess is that his presence adds some historical context that everyone knows about, but he isn't relevant to Juana's story and just served to distract the reader. Even her relationship to his son, Diego, was a little boring. There were just small moments when they stood and talked to each other and then nothing came of it. Boring and unnecessary.

Also, as Juana's relationship to her husband changed, her feelings and knowledge of what was going on seemed to be only superficially explained. I kept wanting more. I wanted to know how Juana did not guess what her husband was doing to her sooner, especially since the reader could guess right away. There was a lot of foreshadowing throughout the novel, so I knew all of what was going to happen long before it did.

I normally love historical fiction for the richness of detail and learning about important figures. I think Reign of Madness lacked a lot in the details that makes historical fiction so enchanting and escapist. I never really felt myself pulled into Juana's world. I did learn more about Juana the Mad/of Castile, but I'm sure I still have a long way to go before I feel like I knew her.

Overall, it was an okay/good read but not great. I guess it's a good introductory story to one theory on the life of Juana the Mad.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Synopsis:

In this irresistible follow-up to her New York Times bestselling debut, Garden Spells, author Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets—and secret passions—are about to change her life forever.

Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother…

Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life—because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding.

Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and—most amazing of all—has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush.

As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time—even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place—and what Chloe has to do with it all—is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’s fast-changing life.

Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day. (Image and synopsis from goodreads.com)

My Review:

The Sugar Queen is a simple, short, and sweet story. I won't recap the story since the above synopsis does a pretty good job. I found the characters to all be rather nice and pleasant. The only person I really did not like was Josey's mother. My favorite character was Chloe... mostly because books follow her around, and I would love if that happened to me!

The plot was also simple and predictable. It involves some heartbreak, becoming independent from one's family, and forgiving those around you.

While I enjoyed reading The Sugar Queen, I wanted more. Either more drama and mystery or just depth to the characters. I felt like this book compared to a sitcom episode of some fluffy TV show. It's enjoyable but forget-able after you put it down.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Synopsis:

Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding. (Image and synopsis from goodreads.com)

My Review:

While I liked the overall plot of Mockingjay, I thought the execution of it lacked some character development and details. For a significant part of the book, Katniss was unconscious and the reader was not privy to what was going on if Katniss was not there and taking part of the developments. Therefore, there are chunks of time that are skipped over for the reader. I didn't think Katniss needed to be taken out of the plot for it to move forward.

I also didn't find much of it surprising. For example (SPOILER ALERT!!) I definitely definitely saw that Katniss would kill Coin before the end of the book. I thought it was super obvious from the way we viewed Coin from the very beginning. Apart from the lack of surprise, I also thought that Katniss stopped developing as an individual. She wallows around too much and is indecisive. I admired her courage and determination in the first two books, but she loses a lot of it in the third. I understand it's probably more realistic that she feels lost through the third book because of Peeta's situation, but I wasn't reading this series because it was realistic. It was suppose to be an adventurous story with a strong female character. The end is especially telling for Katniss, and I thought was poorly done and unrealistic.

In the end, everyone deserted Katniss- Gale, her mother, even Peeta wasn't there right away. I could have dealt with this if only Katniss hadn't also deserted herself. If she had pulled herself together, then at least we would have seen her grow. Rather, she wallows in self-pity/loathing/etc. and it takes Peeta to pull her out of it into some semblance of life. But Katniss didn't choose Peeta. Peeta is just now left with making sure Katniss survives rather than having a life with a woman who chose him, who wants to be with him, who also makes sure that he is okay. I think Katniss probably did not give up her selfishness later in life. I understand that she went through horrible things and she will always be tortured by it, but I really believe that Peeta is more of her caretaker than a husband. Just that fact that it took 15 years for Katniss to agree to have children only for his sake shows that she is not living for herself- just going through the motions and finally giving in to Peeta for something he actually wants. Katniss starts the series as such a strong girl. I rejoiced over this fact since the last YA books I read (really since about Middle School) were Twilight, which had such a pitiful main character that I thought maybe this series would change my mind about how characters are portrayed and given real depth in this genre. But Katniss' lack of growth and awareness of the world and people around her in this final installment leaves me disappointed since I expected much more.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake



Synopsis:

Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.
On the eve of the United State's entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn't deliver a letter. In London, American radio gal Frankie Bard is working with Edward R. Murrow, reporting on the Blitz. One night in a bomb shelter, she meets a doctor from Cape Cod with a letter in his pocket, a letter Frankie vows to deliver when she returns from Germany and France, where she is to record the stories of war refugees desperately trying to escape.
The residents of Franklin think the war can't touch them- but as Frankie's radio broadcasts air, some know that the war is indeed coming. And when Frankie arrives at their doorstep, the two stories collide in a way no one could have foreseen. The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during wartime, when those we cherish leave. And how every story-of love or war-is about looking left when we should have been looking right. (Image and synopsis from goodreads.com)

My Review:

This book was beautifully written and started out with an intriguing premise. What if the postmistress of a town didn't deliver the mail during a war. What chaos may ensue?  How would people communicate with those overseas?

But after that promising entrance, the book kind of meandered. At first I thought the book would focus on the postmistress of the town in Cape Cod, but we followed a journalist (who was narrating the story) through Europe for most of the plot. When we were in the town with the postmistress, the reader followed two women, the postmistress, Iris, and the young wife of the doctor, Emma. The two women both seemed kind of depressed. I understand why Emma was since her husband was in England treating hurt victims of the war, but Iris just never seemed happy about anything in her life, even when she started seeing a man.

The part that I liked the most was when Frankie Bard, the reporter, traveled to and from Germany collecting voices of refugees on her new recording device. It was during this time that we saw the tragic impact of WWII. Frankie witnessed brutal murders and exiles of Jews from Germany.

I understand that this book was suppose to weave the story of 3 characters, Frankie, Iris, and Emma during WWII and the tragedy that they each face. However, I felt that each story from the characters lacked enough breadth to make their story convincing. I was also disappointed that the story started out with the postmistress supposedly not delivering mail... but she only kept one letter and I don't think that had any impact on the characters. So, why was that how the story was introduced?? This book should have been called the journalist, not the postmistress.

The Postmistress was written beautifully, but the story didn't match up to the writing. What did you think about this book if you read it?

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories by Leo Tolstoy

My Review:

After finally finished Atlas Shrugged, I wanted something quick to read so I turned to a few short stories from Tolstoy (best known for War and Peace  and Anna Karenina - two very long novels). This book contains three stories: "How Much Land Does a Man Need?," "The Death of Ivan Illych," and "The Kreutzer Sonata."

"How Much Land Does a Man Need" was a quick 14 page read but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I normally try reading long novels rather short stories because I love becoming involved with the characters and seeing them grow and mature.  However, I liked this story for the point that it made, which I'll leave at: "Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed" (The Kreutzer Sonata and other Short Stories Tolstoy 14).

"The Death of Ivan Illych" was a bit longer, ~50 pages and told the story of the end of a man's life. I found that this story seemed to drag just because I didn't really care about Ivan Illych.  However, I can see Tolstoy's reason for writing this story as he was going through his own spiritual crisis and awakening at the time.  Significant lines: "'It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was.  I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death'" (Tolstoy 56-7) and "'What if my whole life has really been wrong?'" (Tolstoy 60).

"The Kreutzer Sonata" was the longest story in this collection.  It relates the story of a man on a train who tells a fellow passenger why he killed his wife. I know that this story was written to somehow mimic Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, but beyond that, I don't think it was anywhere near a remarkable story.  I was often bored with the man's story except for the action at the end, but even that was only action without much insight to the man's choice.  We are told why commits murder and how he felt, but there just wasn't the same depth that you can find in Tolstoy's longer novels such as Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

Overall, I once again confirmed that short stories are not my cup of tea. Within this collection by Tolstoy, I surprisingly enjoyed the shortest story the most, "How Much Land Does One Man Need?"  I loved the point of that story and especially the last line.  The other two stories were rather boring because I felt they lacked the depth that I can find in novels.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars