The Other Boleyn Girl is a historical fiction novel written by the British author Philippa Gregory. I would like to recommend you not only the novel but also the movie adapted by the novel and directed by Justin Chadwick. As a person who prefers the novels better than the movies most of the times; I still can list this movie in my favourites.I saw this book at home when I was in Turkey. My mom was reading it like she was addicted to it. I felt really curious about it and she also wanted me to read it after she finished the book. I started reading the book and it didn't take me a week to finish it. What happened to me was, I really found my self searching on English history and culture after I read the book. That's why I watched the movie and found myself in the spectacular 16th century of England again.
The Boleyn family is an important family that has a prestigious place in the court of England. The family members work for the King Henry VIII while they live there. One of the two sisters Mary Boleyn takes her place in the court as well as the other family members. Now, here is the place where the action begins. King Henry VIII first notices Mary Boleyn, he is attracted to her pure beauty and innocence. Mary, already married, can not resist the king and they fall in love. However the sister Anne Boleyn returns from the French court and gets used to her new place in this new court so quickly. Because she is one of the cleverest minds of the family. She notices the king's interest on Mary and does whatever she can to steal Henry's attention on herself. Anne soon becomes irresistable to Henry, and Mary can do nothing but watch her sister's rise. Anne pushes it so hard to achieve her ambition. From now on, Mary will be no more than the Oher Boleyn Girl. She even make the king ends his marriage with Katherine of Aragorn and changes the destiny of England.This book is a perfect example for a person's endless desires and passion of success and non-acceptance for failure. However Anne Boleyn experiences the most tragical failure at the end of the story and is sent to the Tower of England by the king for her own exucution. So basicly, she creates the evilest and the most determined character of the English royalty.
I chose to write about this book and the movie of the Other Boleyn Girl because it's one of the most extraordinary and tragical history I've read ever. So, for the ones who is interested in the story I would suggest to read the book first to have a better oppurtunity to get the knowledge on the history. However watching the movie afterwards might the a perfect thing to do to visualize the images and the characters that takes place in the book.
I can also recommend the series called "The Tudors" if you want to continue to live in those days a little bit more :)
That's it! Now please share your opinions with me. What do think? Do you feel interested in the story or does it sound boring to you :) I can't wait to see your reactions. Thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed my blog.
Damla
I saw this movie before and I really enjoyed it. This story let me think about the relationship between two sisters. In my family, I have only one sibling, my older sister. My mother always tells us to take care of each other. She said to my sister“ protect your little sister.” And she said to me “ listen to your sister.” Before coming to the state, I was reminded that if I have any problems, I should call my sister. I know why my mom keeps telling us to hold this relationship because she had the horrible experience between her 6 sisters. I will not mention the details about my mom experience. Anyway, no matter what kind of things will be happened between us, we are still family.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to have such a book that you really enjoy and that makes you have a inspiration to explore more know-how after reading it. I don't have as much interest as you have in the recent history of human race. What I feel more inspiring are the prehistoric events that happened numerous centeries ago and of which we cannot even figure out the truth. I enjoy the feeling of mystery and secrets. Recently, I am reading a documentary book called HOLY BLOOD,HOLY GRAIL. I just started reading it,and it seems brilliant which is attributed to the facts that it reveals some information,like the French parchment, that challenges the orthodoxy Christiandom and some details of the Bible.
ReplyDeleteHow you feeling? damla? are you fine?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all thanks for your easy writing.
I think, I fully understood your post than any other post!
anyway, jealous and desire of people is very scary.
(especially woman's, are you agree? =)
On the other hands, I surprised that you find about American history
after read this book, in early age.;;
I should have tried to read the books deeply like you.
Melody,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I have an older brother he's 25 years old and I always respected him and I still do. He took care of me all the time and we got along very well until today. However this story is a different example that shows the tension between two sisters. So maybe we should stick to our families and show more love to them after we see these kinds of examples.
Thanks for writing back,
Damla
Justin,
ReplyDeleteI understand that you enjoy the unknown history goes back to the real old times :) That sounds interesting too. I mean sometimes we cannot find a perfect document as a proof of history however sometimes the ones we find doesn't really satisfy us about the truth. So reading about the history and judging it with your own opinions and trying to figure out the mystery might be exciting too.
Thanks for letting me know about your feelings,
Damla
Jinwoo,
ReplyDeleteI feel better but since I came here I'm fighting with all different kinds of illnesses because of the different weather and everything and I'm sick of it :) That's enough! I want to have my healthy days again.
First of all I'm so glad that you could be able to understand the whole text. I tried to summarize the book without using any documents so I guess it worked for you :)
I also agree with you about your opinions about women. Women can be tough when they feel like they can't achieve something or maybe when someone else takes away what they have already. (not all women of course :)I like a little bit of rivalry but not turning it into the evilest thing of course.
Thanks you very much for sharing your ideas,
Damla
Hey,Damla.
ReplyDeleteI never know this book or this moive before you posted this blog. I am very curious with this book now because of your blog.
In my opinion, they get a favour of the King Henry VIII by artifice. They are sister, but they broke the relationship for getting power. I think it is the human being's weakness. I read a book named How to Win Friends and Influence People, I want to recommend to you.
Thanks for your sharing.
Bowen,
ReplyDeleteI think you said such a correct thing by naming this situation as "the weakness of humanbeings". Unfortunately in this story one of the two sisters doesn't let her to stop anything to have the power of the king, as you said. I will search that book on the internet by the way.
Thanks for your recommendation and sharing your feelings,
Damla
Damla,
ReplyDeleteI have seen the trailer of this movie and it was an amazing trailer that makes you curious. After reading your post, I definitely should watch movie. Thank you for sharing such a good movie ..
ASLINUR
I saw this movie and The Tudors. King Henry VIII is a famous king in the whole world. Because of him, world's history is changed. He made protestantism to marry with Anne Boleyn. Besides his daughter, Elizabeth I fought against with the Spanish Armada and then won. She made England as strongest in the world at the middle ages of europe. Well, I can't say that this achievement belong to him, but I'm sure that he is a interesting king in the history. However many people's life would suffer from him. Especially woman who with him like Anne Boleyn. As you know he married six times in his life. In the movie I saw her(Anne Boleyn)'s desire and end of her life. It was irony that both King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn have endless desire but one was excuted and the other one lived with power. Anyway thank you for your post. ^^
ReplyDeleteDear Damla:
ReplyDeleteIt's so glad to know you've also seen this and like it too. I'm shocked when I watched that movie because Annie is so evil that force her brother to have sex with her in order to be trusted by the king. Afterward, I knew that it's just a drama instead of the real history.
And I have also seen "the Tudor" before. I felt that the History of British Dynasty is so goaty after watching this.
Thank you for sharing this film with us.
I think it is a really interesting story which reveals the endless desire of people and the weakness in the instinct of human being. People always want more and more, and gradually they can't really tell what their original desire is. As a living creature, we always need to pursue something. Some people, just like Anne, craving for something too much that in the end they gain nothing. I think In this case, people forget to see their life clearly because they make themselves focus on only one thing and are confined by their own narrow mind.
ReplyDeleteDear Damla:
ReplyDeleteAn elegant and insightful summary of this unusual tale between two aristocratic sisters in Tudor England. I saw this movie and was very pleasantly surprised by it--it was less "Hollywood-ized" than I thought it would be and developed the characters and stories of the two Boleyn sisters very well.
An interesting experience for me was when I visited the "Portrait Gallery" in London (in Trafalgar Square right next to The National Gallery). I stumbled into this museum thinking it might be a bit dull--only portraits, etc... Well, I was completely wrong! They had amazing paintings of all different kinds of famous people, and the portrait of Henry VIII was especially impressive. If you ever make it to London, I recommend spending some time in this museum. It was fascinating.
Thank you for your informative post. I think I will consider reading the book now.
--Alexandra
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello, Damla.
ReplyDeleteThank you to recommend such a interesting book.
Although I heard the story about the King Henry VIII before, I have never known the novel and the movie that you recommend me. I think that, always, the story of Kings is very interesting regardless of their countries. Most of all, your summary about the book makes me really expect to read the book. Actually, I am looking for a book that I will read for extra time for fun and reading skill. Now, I just hope that the book is not too much expensive. : )
For Damla:
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this interesting book and movie. I have read English history before and I kind of know a little about this part of history but I didn't know this novel and movie before. I must be interesting if I read the book.
Furthermore, you mentioned the Tower of England which was a very famous place. A lot of people who are considered guilty or been witch-hunted in English history were sent to the Tower of Englan. As time passed, it is said that the Tower of England was haunted: people disappear for no reason in the tower; someone saw the ghost of Price William in the Tower; the magnetic field are not correct and scientist cannot explain... Anyway, the Tower of England is someplace I will go before kicking the bucket.
At last, thanks for sharing this. The pictures are beautiful.
Dear Damla,
ReplyDeleteI have watched this movie before in Taiwan because my friend strongly recommanded this movie to me. I like this two actresses a lot. Both of them have the good acting-skills. I think to fully understand this movie requires the background knowledge of the history.I was a little bit confused about some plots of this movie, but it's still a worth-seeing movie indeed!