A Question of Guilt by Julianne Lee seemed like a reasonable and reasonably interesting book to read, as it is historical fiction (even says so right on the cover) and has as main characters people already well known from this year's history classes - Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots; and Elizabeth I, so it is very a' propos. However, at the time of purchase I did not seem to realize that the novel is actually supposed to be mystery, which has now considerably lowered my enthusiasm. Unfortunately, mysteries are rarely ambitious literature. Of course, maybe I have read too few to judge, but there has to be a reason why they have their own section (indeed, separate from "literature") in bookstores. Simply put, they serve a different purpose, and are written for a very specific audience - those who enjoy solving, well, mysteries. Therefore, they do not usually have a theme or deeper meaning - that would change their classification. Of course, A Question of Guilt is classified as historical fiction and was found in the regular literature section, so it must be more substantive, and I really shouldn't complain - yet.
The reason I'm worried about the mystery aspect is that a historical fiction book will likely not be too true to actual events and people if it has to serve such a purpose. Conspiracy theories. There's likely to be many. I chose a book specifically about what we learned in social studies to gain a better understanding of that time period and those specific historical figures. I hoped it would be more of a biography, colorized to make it more readable, more interesting, and a better complete picture (as, of course, not everything is known about nobles of 16th century England). In fact, I hoped it would be something more like Empress by Shan Sa, which I read last year and greatly enjoyed. Empress is everything a good (historical fiction) book should be - beautifully written and shows the author's interpretation of a historical figure: in this case Chinese Empress Wu Zei Tian. This is definitely what I value most highly in historical fiction works of all sorts - the artist's/author's/creator's interpretation and opinion of well-known figures. For that reason exactly I actually liked Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette - it's all interpretation, and was not meant to be an accurate historical account; no, its purpose was completely different. Here, it looks as though the purpose was to use famous names to create a puzzle for readers to solve.
Anyway, I have not yet properly introduced the book or defined the setting. The plot centers around the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, executed for plotting against her cousin, Elizabeth I. "But, " proclaims the cover, "not everyone is convinced that the scandalized Queen of Scots was guilty"! "Was Mary Stuart guilty of murder?" asks dramatically above. The murder in question is that of Mary's husband, Henry Darnley. The main character is Lady Janet de Ros, who is in fact not convinced that the queen was guilty, and she sets out to prove it, traveling from Fotheringhay Castle to Edinburgh ("determined to uncover the truth"). BUT WILL SHE?
I think she will.
On the cover, front side this time, I could not help but notice a modest quote: "Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice." (-The Best Reviews). I shall leave my personal opinion about books self-advertising themselves (even literature! Advertising in a capitalist society has reached even literature! So many writers must be turning over in their graves!) out for now, as it will be a far too long digression. In any case, skeptical as always, I decided to read the particular review, far too aware, from experience, that the entire quote could just as well be something along the lines of, "Usually, Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice; this book, however..." or, "It is hard to say that Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice..." I found the website with no problems, but imagine my surprise when I came across the summary along with a notification: "A Question of Guilt has not yet been reviewed. (Notify me via e-mail when this book is reviewed.)" Just as well. Only when writing this post did I get the idea of checking reviews for other books by Julianne Lee, and sure enough: "Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice and if KNIGHT TENEBRAE is any indication, she has a great future ahead of her." Yes. It's not even that book. And as for the beautiful voice, we shall certainly see.
Schedule for posts:
Chapters 1-5 - 03.06.09
Chapters 6-10 - 03.13.09
Chapters 11-15 - 03.20.09
Chapters 16-21 - 03.27.09 (which also happens to be my birthday)
The reason I'm worried about the mystery aspect is that a historical fiction book will likely not be too true to actual events and people if it has to serve such a purpose. Conspiracy theories. There's likely to be many. I chose a book specifically about what we learned in social studies to gain a better understanding of that time period and those specific historical figures. I hoped it would be more of a biography, colorized to make it more readable, more interesting, and a better complete picture (as, of course, not everything is known about nobles of 16th century England). In fact, I hoped it would be something more like Empress by Shan Sa, which I read last year and greatly enjoyed. Empress is everything a good (historical fiction) book should be - beautifully written and shows the author's interpretation of a historical figure: in this case Chinese Empress Wu Zei Tian. This is definitely what I value most highly in historical fiction works of all sorts - the artist's/author's/creator's interpretation and opinion of well-known figures. For that reason exactly I actually liked Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette - it's all interpretation, and was not meant to be an accurate historical account; no, its purpose was completely different. Here, it looks as though the purpose was to use famous names to create a puzzle for readers to solve.
Anyway, I have not yet properly introduced the book or defined the setting. The plot centers around the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, executed for plotting against her cousin, Elizabeth I. "But, " proclaims the cover, "not everyone is convinced that the scandalized Queen of Scots was guilty"! "Was Mary Stuart guilty of murder?" asks dramatically above. The murder in question is that of Mary's husband, Henry Darnley. The main character is Lady Janet de Ros, who is in fact not convinced that the queen was guilty, and she sets out to prove it, traveling from Fotheringhay Castle to Edinburgh ("determined to uncover the truth"). BUT WILL SHE?
I think she will.
On the cover, front side this time, I could not help but notice a modest quote: "Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice." (-The Best Reviews). I shall leave my personal opinion about books self-advertising themselves (even literature! Advertising in a capitalist society has reached even literature! So many writers must be turning over in their graves!) out for now, as it will be a far too long digression. In any case, skeptical as always, I decided to read the particular review, far too aware, from experience, that the entire quote could just as well be something along the lines of, "Usually, Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice; this book, however..." or, "It is hard to say that Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice..." I found the website with no problems, but imagine my surprise when I came across the summary along with a notification: "A Question of Guilt has not yet been reviewed. (Notify me via e-mail when this book is reviewed.)" Just as well. Only when writing this post did I get the idea of checking reviews for other books by Julianne Lee, and sure enough: "Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice and if KNIGHT TENEBRAE is any indication, she has a great future ahead of her." Yes. It's not even that book. And as for the beautiful voice, we shall certainly see.
Schedule for posts:
Chapters 1-5 - 03.06.09
Chapters 6-10 - 03.13.09
Chapters 11-15 - 03.20.09
Chapters 16-21 - 03.27.09 (which also happens to be my birthday)
