Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I can't work out why this doesn't work, 7 Aug 2008
This novel has had mixed reviews but sadly I'm in the `no' camp, but am finding it really hard to work out why it's such a failure. The author wrote her PhD thesis on C18th literature and knows her stuff but somehow there is no life, no heart, no drama, no excitement in this book at all - it's just words on paper, and has nothing to draw this reader into it at all. I expected to love it, being quite a fan of Pope, particularly the Rape of the Lock, as well as loving historical fiction but found this just dull, dusty and static.
Set during the reign of Queen Anne (1711), the background is one of the Jacobite plot to assassinate the Queen and put a Catholic Stuart on the throne; and the foreground is filled with the decadent aristocracy playing out their marriage games amongst the balls, gambling dens and opera of C18th London. At the heart is the relationship between Arabella Fermor (Pope's Belinda) and Lord Petre. Sub-plots involve Pope looking for inspiration for his next poem, and famous literary characters wander on and off-stage (Rochester, Addison, Steel, John Gay, Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu etc).
All of this sounded great and I snapped up the book eagerly, only to emerge disappointed and puzzled as to where it all goes so wrong: there is a plot, there are characters, the writing itself isn't bad, yet the whole thing fails to come together in any sense at all. Other reviewers here have clearly enjoyed it, but I have to sympathise with the 1* star reviewer who abandoned the book (even though I did manage to finish it by skimming - and no, it doesn't improve): having a knowledge of Pope's writing doesn't improve the reading experience at all. Very, very disappointing.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
How Not to Turn a Thesis into a Novel, 7 Sep 2008
I bought this book on the strength of good reviews in the press, and like Roman Clodia was left disappointed. I too nearly put it down unfinished, which I have only very rarely done. To answer Clodia's point about why the book doesn't work, when Sophie Gee has a PhD in 18C literature and a clear passion for her subject - I think that's why. To me this book is an example of how not to turn an academic thesis and course of lectures into a novel.
Unfortunately, Ms Gee is intent on proving that this 'is not Austen' and to that end inserts vignettes of 18C life from her thesis or her wider reading that add nothing to character or plot development ie the hogman driving his herd of pigs through the theatre going crowd, the overheard snatches of servants' conversation. They jar and jolt the reader away from the story - perhaps this was her intent? The 18C is contemporary yet not?
I was convinced neither by the love story nor the Jacobite plotting - there was no sense of frisson in the former nor real threat in the latter - only four years after the novel is set the Old Pretender did mount an invasion. I feel this is because the author was aware that she was dealing with historical personalities and felt unable to write speech and behaviours for them which the trained historian in her could not justify through surviving texts. The plot only really got going in the last 50 or so pages, out of a 300 page novel - the pacing could have been better, and in the hands of a more experienced author it could have merited a longer treatment.
Sadly, the author could not resist the temptation to sprinkle the text with 'in jokes' about the personalities and literature of the time: Pope's meeting with Mary Wortley Montague [Pierrepont in the novel] is one of many. I have a little knowledge of the times and found this tedious.
I wish that Sophie Gee would now publish her thesis - I think it would be the better, more entertaining book, but I do hope she develops as a novelist and has the courage to cast aside her historical training and find her own voice, sadly lacking in this book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read, 29 Aug 2008
A fabulous read that although takes a few pages to get going is worthwhile in the end. I enjoyed watching the relationship between Arabella Fermor and Robert Petre develop through the eyes of the poet Alexander Pope. However it is London 1711 and their relationship is not conventional, providing the scandal of the season from the title.
Alexander is in need of inspiration and it isn't until the end of the novel that he sees the motivation for this most famous poem. You can tell the author has an interest in literature as well as history as both are excellently entwined within the novel. The writing style is great, Gee has made this time in history extremely readable and you forget at times you are reading about real events.
For me, the blurb lives up to its hype. As a bonus in the edition of the book that I have was an explanation of the sexual mores of the times. Don't expect the 18th Century written by Jane Austen in this novel, as Gee explains this is set a lot earlier than she was writing and people had much more freedom.
Underlying the sizzling sexiness of the novel is treasonous plot against Queen Anne. Therefore there is a range of material to appeal to different audiences. For me it was reading about Alexander Pope, for others it might be the seductiveness of the period or the political plots and fears. I prefer the UK cover to the US cover in that the UK cover looks more of the times whilst the US cover appears modern in its interpretation. A super read, one I'm pleased I was recommended to read.
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