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Shakespeare's Mistress (2011)

by Karen Harper(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0091940427 (ISBN13: 9780091940423)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Ebury Press

review 1: This was not a book that grabbed me or held me rapt. I walked away from it several times to do other things, engage my mind in other ways. However, I cannot say that it was an uninteresting or even boring story. Harper's knowledge and insight into the England of Shakespeare's time provides a rich backdrop to the story giving it a non-fiction feel. Perhaps that is the primary reason for my reluctance to like the story better. Though it is a fanciful what-if for the argument that Shakespeare may have indeed had a second wife or at the very least a mistress Harper keeps things plausible and grounded. While there are moments of bliss they are not without the counterbalance of tragedy and grief. I am left feeling melancholy and pensive. Perhaps in time I may come back to this b... moreook and feel more strongly about it as needing a four star rating, but for now I give it a three.
review 2: Mistress Shakespeare had so much potential, yet it ultimately did not live up to my expectations. The idea of a secret and forbidden love affair is romantic and will attract many readers. However, this novel lacks the intensity Romeo and Juliet had. With all due respect to Karen Harper, I found the plotline boring because it quickly becomes repetitive and tiresome. Points of suspense are practically non-existent, and I actually felt relief when I finished the last page. This book’s main problem is that it doesn’t know what to do with itself. Most authors write with a goal in mind, such as making their protagonist go on a quest to find the Holy Grail. Their book then becomes centred on that goal or quest. Apart from a few sub-plots, the climax and story arc are based on the quest. I find books like that can easily become predictable, but Harper should have gone with something more structured than what she did. I enjoy reading books with no set purpose so long as they compensate for the lack of plot with character development or other literary aspects. Harper writes about this historical affair with no sense of anticipation, timing, or climax. To make matters worse, I didn’t feel as though any other aspects of the book made up for that. Anne Whately and Shakespeare are unchanging characters; they fall into an unbreakable pattern of passion, anger, ignorance, and reunion with each other, all for rather mundane reasons. All the emotional scenes failed to make me care enough to physically laugh or cry. Even the writing style was odd – half Old English and half really formal writing. I felt personally detached and as if I couldn’t fully submerge myself in the novel. The one redeeming factor of Mistress Shakespeare is the historical accuracy. While most historians have agreed that Anne Whately never existed, I found this book to be an extremely accurate “what-if” scenario. All other historical events, such as Queen Elizabeth’s death, are correct and in-depth. I couldn’t connect with Harper’s writing style, but the little details depicting the late 1500s and early 1600s set the time period marvellously. She doesn’t rush to point out everything different from the modern era to the readers, as some historical fiction writers do, but instead lets the scene gradually sink in. Some readers who like to know exactly where they are and what is happening might find that annoying, yet I though it worked flawlessly. I would recommend Mistress Shakespeare to anyone who has ever been frustrated for having a relationship with somebody that society doesn’t approve of (I thought “Bleeding Love,” by Leona Lewis was the perfect song for Will and Anne). Personally, I didn’t think this book was worth reading, but those who love Shakespeare’s life and considering the inspiration behind his works might. less

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