[0:04]Hey everybody. The other Balin girl by Philippa Gregory is a historical romance set in the early 16th century and pretty much follows the true historical event that occurred at the time, at the court of King Henry VIII. Now, this story specifically follows two main characters, the Bolin sisters Anne and Mary, although it focuses more on Mary and it's being told from her point of view as a first-person narrative. Which I personally think that really contributes to the authenticity of the book. Story-wise, it begins one day when King Henry starts noticing Mary. Mary up until then was just another lady in waiting, uh, accompanying the queen, and he's obviously attracted to her and from the moment that Mary's family noticed that, they decide that that would be a great opportunity for them. Them being the entire family, because when someone is in the King's favor, his or her entire family can benefit from it and get titles like Duke or an earl, they get money, they get status, they get everything. So they decide that Mary should now become King Henry's mistress, sleep with him obviously, get pregnant, and have uh a healthy baby boy. And once she is uh the mother of the new heir to the throne, then the whole family will be, their place will be secured and then they will achieve their goal. And their goal is pretty much to to be close to the king, to be in the king's favor, to be rich and they sound like Disney villains and I will talk a little bit about that as well. But basically, it's a very interesting story. uh if you know your history, you pretty much know what happens. I knew what happened, but obviously since it it doesn't, it doesn't matter if you know how it ends, it doesn't matter if you know what happens to these people, whether they live or die. So their plan is not really working as they hoped it would be, but obviously I won't tell you anything more than that, you just have to read this book. Now, as I mentioned, it's a very interesting book and the fact that it's written from first-person narrative, I think it really contributes to to that, really made me feel as if I was there with Mary and all of the the courtiers. Uh now, the fact that the book is in fact interesting is a big point considering that there are some repetitive elements in the story, doesn't make it boring at all. Also I was kind of afraid that this book will turn out to be some sort of overly described erotic kind of novel, because there is a lot of sex in this book obviously. It's about seducing a man, it's about sleeping with him enough time so you'll get pregnant and and finish the pregnancy because there was there were so many abortions at that time. And and you don't need a girl, if you get a girl, you could pretty much throw throw her away to the fire. Uh you need a boy and and you need to keep seducing the men, so obviously, it's about sex and I was really afraid that this book will turn out to be something, you know, very cheesy and very overly erotic. And I have absolutely no problem with sex in in books, in movies, just it just have to make sense. And for me it it can happen if it's done decently and, you know, with a good taste and and that what really happened in this book. Uh not to mention that, of course, you're reading about a true historical event, so I always love learning about history through fiction. I'm not very good with non-fiction, so for me it was better than reading a historical book, but having said that, I will mention that a lot of historians criticized this book for not being very accurate. It didn't ruin anything for me because generally, these people really did exist and these things did happen, just in the little details apparently she took a little too much artistic freedom. I don't know, I just thought I will tell you so you will be warned, but, you know, overall it was still a very, very good book. However, I do have one issue with this book and the direction that she takes it. And I will try to explain myself and I really hope that if you read this book, I would like to know your opinion about this point, whether you agree with me, whether you don't, whether you know where I'm coming from. Or it's just me being crazy. So here goes. Uh, a point that's being emphasized a lot throughout this book is the whole idea of Mary's family as the controlling party of her life. She does not have any free will or decisions, um, they decide for her what to do, who to speak with, who to sleep with, who to get married with, and they seem not to care just one bit about her, about her health, about her will, about what things would be good for her. And this point is being stressed out and and emphasized to the point that it seemed to be too much on purpose, if that makes sense. At a certain point, I I stopped thinking, wow, these people are really cold and heartless, I just thought, wow, Philippa Gregory really wants us to believe these people are cold and heartless, if that makes sense. It I mentioned before something about Disney villains, it seems as if she really wanted to for the story to have a moral, kids, and this moral is that blind ambition and having lots of money and status and power is not everything and every now and then it will be better not to have so much property and to be poorer, but to be with the person that you love and get married from from, sorry, for love and and things like that. It's like like Aladdin. Sorry, that really reminded me of a Disney film in a way and that's a little weird considering that, you know, it's not, it's an historical novel. It seems as if she really, really, really wanted to make sure that we got that point and some of the characters who are portrayed as so heartless and so blindly ambitious, um, that made me want to ask, okay, and then what, you'll get, you get the crown. What, what are you gonna do then? won't be happy and it's it's seemed to, it seemed too stressed out, it seemed too emphasized to the point that it didn't seem realistic. I don't know, maybe they were like this in in real life in history. But as a person who's only knowledge about these events were kind of random Wikipedia searches and this book and the movie, which was not good, didn't had nothing to do with the book. Um, but as a person who's only knowledge about these events are from this, it seems to me as if she did it on purpose, she exaggerated these characters and the thing that they do in order to make us feel how much they are, I don't know, greedy or something. And therefore also Mary's character became very feminist and modern in thinking regarding this time and, sorry if you heard a knocking sound.
[8:14]Um, I mean, as a person who was born to the life of the court and grew up believing that all she has to do is to obey her family and other people, all of a sudden, she wants independence. All of a sudden she doesn't want to send her kids away to the court, she wants to spend time with them, she want to marry from for, sorry for love. And I don't know, Mary, the, maybe the real Mary Bolin was really like that, but it just, again, seemed to me as if she was portrayed at such in order for us, the modern reader, to have someone to, um, to identify with. And once again, maybe it's just me, maybe, you know, they were really like that in real life, uh, I'm interested to know, if you have any information about that, please share and if you agree with me, if you really felt that way as well as you were as you were reading the book, please share it. I would like to know if I'm alone with this theory or not. But, regardless, this is a wonderful book, I really enjoyed it. It's been a while since I read something that is more realistic and, you know, teaches about the past. Lately it was more into either fantasy or really bloody, gory murder mysteries. So that was a a very refreshing book. Um, so please comment and share your opinions without too much spoilers, please, and tell me what you thought. This is the first review that I ever given, this is the first YouTube video I've ever done, so please be gentle, but I do want to hear your feedback and I'll see you in the next review. Bye.
