Category: Book Review
Kaiulani: The People’s Princess by Ellen Emerson White
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
May 6, 1889
At Iolani Palace, Father and I met with Papa Moi and Mama Moi in the throne room. Papa Moi was solemn, as he reminded me that it will be my responsibility to do as well as possible, and in that way, further the hopes of our nation. I was glad that I have never admitted to him how fearful I am about leaving. I think he would find that petty, as I go off not for myself, but for all of the Hawaiians I will someday lead.
“I will not fail, Papa, will I?” I asked Father, once we were on the way back to Ainahau.
“It is not even as possiblility,” he said, his voice full of confidence.
I wish that I could feel that same confidence.
After reading The People’s Princess, Kaiulani has definitely joined the ranks of my favourite women in The Royal Diaries. She’s strong, smart and actually has situational awareness, something many other princesses in the series seem to lack. Not only that, but there are actually reasons for Ellen Emerson White’s decision to make the narrative cover 4 years. Covering 4 years in a little over 200 pages is difficult, but the novel never jumps around and you know what is going on.
Kaiulani is an incredible character who fights in whatever ways she knows how in order to keep her country from being annexed by the United States. Of course with the hindsight of history we know that she fails, but her trip to the U.S. to convince the Americans otherwise is fascinating. The way she writes in her diary is very different than the way she presents herself to the public, which is another surprising bonus in tween fiction. Kaiulani is mature and completely aware of her position, making this an interesting read, to say the least.
I wouldn’t call the plot fast-paced, but it’s certainly not boring either. Once again, I can’t exactly vouch for the historical accuracy of The People’s Princess (especially since I didn’t even know her name before I started the book), but it certainly feels like Ellen Emerson White did more than her fair share of research. According to the Historical Note, she didn’t change much, so I’m assuming everything’s accurate as it can be.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia by Anna Kirwan
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
29 May
…I had to kiss His Majesty’s hand. Really, one kisses the air over his hand, and that’s a good thing, for he’s so glistening with lotions and powders to cover the liver spots on his skin, which he hates…
Aunt Soap says he was a beautiful lad when he was young. “Prinny was the handsomest Prince ever. His curls were the colour of honey on toast, like that red-gold Russian sable the Princess de Lieven wears.” Now, unfortunately, his beauty has quite fled. Perhaps he does wear a corset, as I once heard Lady C. remark—though I can’t see that it does much good. (I’m sure she would be shocked to know I overheard. But I do wonder why so many people seem to think a young person’s ears do not work unless they are instructed to by some adult.)
Even for a princess in The Royal Diaries, Victoria is quite young when she’s ‘writing’ this book, at only 10 years old. Maybe it’s because I’m a cynical old reader, but even for ten years old she was, quite simply put, an annoying brat. Part of it was her immaturity and the other part was the annoying quirks Anna Kirwan used to make her ‘unique’.
In this portrayal of the future Queen Victoria, Anna Kirwan has made her quite ignorant of her station, immature and an incredibly annoying writer. You see, sometimes Victoria speaks in the language you would expect of the times and in the same entry you might see language you would use in an email to a friend. I don’t know why Kirwan decided to do this, but she makes Victoria use the arcane form of ‘choose’ (‘chuse’) without using any other arcane language. This, of course, doesn’t make it authentic so much as it makes it annoying. The most annoying personality quirk used was Victoria’s habit of using ‘v.’ as an abbreviation of ‘very’. So we end up with a character who uses words that are ten letters long, but abbreviates a four letter word. Writers take note: this is not quirky; it’s annoying.
When you have a book written in diary form, a good narrator is an absolute must because you can’t escape from their point of view. Therefore, Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia was bad overall. I’m sure with a better narrator I would have been more focused on the historical events than on translating v., but that was not the case. As far as I can tell, this book is mostly accurate, but Anna Kirwan admits to changing a few things around in her Historical Note.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.
*Only available as a used book.
I Never Walked Alone by Shirley Verrett
(Cover picture courtesy of AfriClassical.)
An inspiring self-portrait of a world-renowned African American vocal artist.
This is a fascinating account of a gifted woman’s coming of age and rise to success at a time when black classical musicians faced barriers at every turn. Shirley Verrett possessed a talent and ambition so dazzling she could not be denied and she became one of the most celebrated artists of her time. I Never Walked Alone draws the reader into the world of this graceful, fiery artist, dramatically telling the story of her childhood and her brilliant international career.The book is filled with behind-the-scenes tales of this diva’s great performances, roles, and collaborations, offering insight into her stormy personal relationships as well as her private struggles and critical decisions. Featuring forewords and afterwords by such figures as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Zubhin Mehta, and Claudio Abbado, this richly detailed book paints a vivid picture of a magnificent survivor and an indelible artist known around the world as the black Maria Callas.
Shirley Verrett (Ann Arbor, MI, and New York, NY) is currently Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music.
Christopher Brooks is a biographer and award-winning musicologist.
Okay, in all fairness this was written by both Shirley Verrett and Christopher Brooks. But I like to keep my titles relatively simple, so there.
The autobiographies of celebrities and other public figures tend to be vapid and self-aggrandizing, but Shirley Verrett’s autobiography is none of that. She freely speaks of the incidents she had with other singers where she was at fault, reflects on her rocky relationships with others at times and speaks frankly about her vocal problems in the 70s. Maybe it was just excellent editors, but Ms. Verrett strikes me as a very humble woman in her writing. She doesn’t brag and admits her ego problems when she was young; truly she sounds like she was a down-to-Earth person.
I Never Walked Alone is not just a collection of amusing incidents, but a full chronicle of her childhood and career. Ms. Verrett speaks for at least a paragraph on almost all of the productions she was in and it really gives you a great picture of such a talented woman. With an introduction by both Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, this autobiography really is a treasure.
I don’t often read celebrity autobiographies, but I’m so glad I got my hands on one of my hero’s. Even if you don’t know much about opera, I Never Walked Alone is a fascinating read and paints a picture of the turbulent times of the civil rights movement in America.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth…
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.
Scarlet is pretty much everything you’d expect from Marissa Meyer: fast-paced, lots of plot twists, great characters and a seamless blending of fairytale and science fiction. With that said, it’s still not as good as Cinder.
I’ll start with the new characters: Scarlet and Wolf. Scarlet is a pretty good character and goes through an interesting character arc throughout her travels with Wolf. I wouldn’t say she stands among the legions of amazingly memorable characters like Claudius, Katniss, Marco or Ish, but she certainly isn’t a Mary Sue. Personally, I liked Wolf much better than Scarlet because he had a lot more depth. At first he’s your tortured, brooding streetfighter, but as the book goes on, we get introduced to his background and see Wolf change both through his actions and words. Cinder, of course, is still as resourceful and intelligent as ever; I have no complaints about her.
The plot is pretty fast-paced, but Marissa Meyer makes sure that she inserts a little bit of backstory to remind readers of the events of Cinder. This was especially helpful for me since I haven’t read Cinder in nearly a year. So, memory jogged, readers will move along quickly and discover lots of incredible plot twists along the way. Red herrings, betrayal, escape…just about everything a good plot requires. Scarlet also ends on an interesting enough cliffhanger that I want Cress right now. Unfortunately it isn’t out until 2014, but apparently it features Rapunzel.
Much like Cinder, Scarlet carefully blends the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf into a science fiction narrative. It doesn’t really feel contrived either, so the growing connection between Scarlet and Wolf was satisfying for me. However, the reason I don’t like Scarlet as much as the first book is that it seemed to lack heart. Marissa Meyer had great characters, a great plot, her usual great world-building, but there wasn’t that oomph that was present in Cinder. Overall, it was a good story, but I wouldn’t call it great.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country by Kathryn Lasky
(Cover picture courtesy of Open Library.)
July 12, 1554
I think hawking is one of the things that Francis and I do so well together. Our instincts combined with those of the birds seem to fit perfectly when we are in the field. We speak very little to one another but silently give the calls to the birds and perform our hand signals. This afternoon the two of us went out with only Robin McClean as our guard. And I thought as I took a rest on the ridge of a hill that there was something of perfect harmony amongst the three of us and the birds we had brought to fly. If only all of life could be kept in the company of such good souls…
Mary Queen of Scots was a fascinating historical figure and I think that in some ways, Queen Without a Country does her justice. On the other hand, objectively speaking, it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read. I’ll talk about the latter first.
Throughout the whole book, Kathryn Lasky seemed to be trying to get at something, hinting at some greater meaning. Yet at the end of everything, all we see is a stereotypical, predictable ‘ending’ that shows Mary’s ingenuity but doesn’t leave the reader with that message. It feels incomplete, partly because Kathryn Lasky was hinting at Mary reconciling with Queen Catherine, but she never really did. Of course, being a diary of a woman who continued to live for many years afterward, you can’t expect it to be a perfectly wrapped up ending. But there was still something…lacking.
Mary herself was an interesting character, but not exactly memorable. Still, Kathryn Lasky did do Mary the historical figure justice with her portrayal of a headstrong, resourceful, intelligent young woman. One thing I found odd, however, was the lack of mention about Mary’s religion. Mary was relatively pious, spending the last few hours before her execution praying, but religion seems not to be a big feature in Queen Without a Country. I’m not complaining, but it does seem a bit strange considering religion played such a big role in everyone’s daily lives in the 16th century.
Overall, Kathryn Lasky’s portrayal of Mary Queen of Scots was decent and her writing was okay, but nothing more. There was really nothing to distinguish her book from the many others in The Royal Diaries.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
*Only available as a used book.