Book Dump

[sanalith]

So I realized a few days ago that I hadn’t been keeping up with reviews of the books I’ve been reading, which is something I was really intending to do. I’ve found so many good authors lately that I really wanted to share the love in the hopes that some of you might decide to try them. Anyways, for the sake of getting it done, I’m going to do three of them here, because I read them all in a row, and they actually kind of fit well together. They’re all either biographies or autobiographies of strong female figures, and even though I do gravitate toward historical fiction, it’s been a while since I’ve read so many in a row.

The first one I read was Memoirs of Cleopatra, by Margaret George. She’s written several other historical memoirs, including Mary Queen of Scots and Henry VIII, but I’ve always been interested in ancient Egypt, so that’s why I choose this one to read. This was actually my second time trying to plow through it, as I was idiotic and tried reading it during college. As much as I love history, I already had enough of it to read as homework, and as this book is close to 1000 pages long, I should have known better than to tackle it at that point. Obviously, it went much smoother this time.

 
I’m a real stickler for books written in first person, because I know they have the ability to either be amazingly good or horribly bad. Luckily for me, this was one of the good ones. George captures Cleopatra’s voice wonderfully, and she has the much-sought after ability to really draw her readers in and make them believe Cleopatra is really speaking to them. Based on what I know of history, her characterizations were also extremely accurate, especially those of Julius Caesar and Octavius/Augustus.

 
I always had a high respect for Cleopatra, not only because she was one of the few female rulers of the ancient world to really make a splash in the history books, but because she did so much in such a small amount of time. She may or may not have been a temptress, but I really did mesh with George’s interpretation, which was simply that Cleopatra used whatever assets she could to protect her country. I also find it interesting that, despite her many affairs, George emphasized that her greatest love was always for Egypt. It was her dying wish that her country continue to maintain its autonomy, preferably with her children on the throne to continue her legacy. Egypt was truly her greatest lover.

 
Surprisingly enough, one of the characters that I really came to love was Cleopatra’s oldest son and heir, Ptolemy Caesar. George portrayed him as an amazingly astute child who grew rapidly beyond his years. I think I was actually sadder at his death than at Cleopatra’s, because I can only imagine what kind of ruler he would have been for Egypt. He had his mother’s love of his country and his father’s sense of justice and tactics. He would have made a huge explosion, methinks.

 
In any event, I obviously can’t say for certainty how accurate this novel is, but George did appear to have done her homework, and in her author’s notes, she was very up-front about the things she had to infer and the things she was very sure of. Such straightforwardness suggests that she did, indeed, put a lot of effort into her research, and I highly doubt she could have given Cleopatra such a personal voice without this. If you’re interested in Egypt at all, I highly recommend this. I doubt you’ll be sorry.

 
If you want a shorter version of the book, just to see if you like it, the 1999 TV miniseries Cleopatra, starting Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane and Leonor Varela, was based on this book. It skips a lot, but it’s a well-filmed show, and I would recommend that, as well.

The second book I read was Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, which tells the story of the years the English governess Anna Leonowens spent in Siam in the 1860’s, tutoring the children and concubines of King Mongkut. This book is a compilation of two of Anna’s own works, The Romance of the Harem and The English Governess at the Siamese Court. Landon began the book by describing the effort she went to in order to find these two novels, and was apparently told by a friend that she should combine them into one book and eliminate a lot of “boring” details about politics, geography and court customs described by Anna. With some outside research, Landon managed to accomplish this, and I believe she did quite a fine job of it.

 
Those of you familiar with some of the theatrical versions of this story - Anna and the King of Siam (Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne), The King and I (Yul Brynner, and Deborah Kerr), and Anna and the King (Chow Yun-Fat and Jodie Foster) - would no doubt be surprised by many of the differences between the shows and the book, as I was. The book is much more violent and passionate, and I think it better explains Anna’s true fears and hardships. Despite being English, she’d actually spent most of her life in India, where first her step-father and then husband served the British army. However, once in Siam and away from the protection of the British government, she found herself in a totally new world, one where she came close to being killed several times.

 
There is also much less romance (and less understanding) between Anna and the king. Mongkut was portrayed as a much more mercurial character, one who could laugh at a joke one moment and order an execution the next. The movies hint at the problems he had in trying to help Siam progress into a modern country while still maintaining barbarous customs like slavery and mutilation, but the book makes it much clearer that he didn’t really know what he was doing. In some cases I’d almost say that today we would consider him bipolar. Anna was more afraid of him than anything, and I don’t blame her in the slightest. He certainly lacked Yul Brynner's charm! There was also much more emphasis placed on Mongkut’s eldest son and heir, Prince Chulalongkorn, who was really the salvation of the country.

 
This is definitely a “downer” in terms of novels – a lot of people are either killed or hurt, and it’s hard to tell who is really on what side, sometimes. A lot of the book focuses on Anna’s attempt to free Siamese slaves who are treated unjustly, and this often gets her into loads of trouble. Retribution was often swift and painful. On the bright side, however, her teaching of the royal children obviously brought her great joy, and she remained in Siam despite the hardships in order to make sure that she brought about some decisive change in the country. In the end, her commitment to justice and her passion for freedom and equal rights impacted Chulalongkorn greatly, and he did bring about the end of slavery. In this respect, the book ended on a high note, and it really emphasized how much difference one person can make, even a lowly foreign woman. For this reason alone, I really recommend this novel.

Book number three is The Sound of Music by Maria von Trapp, a title which I am sure you can all recognize. I actually didn’t know there was even a book that the musical was based on (idiot that I am) until rainbowdarling pointed the fact out to me. I must admit that it is nothing like the musical or movie at all. Maria and the captain are married within the first five chapters, for example, and there isn’t much mucking about before hand. Even the names of the children were changed in the musical, which rather confused me. I don’t quite see the point. The biggest surprise for me was that the entire second half of the book takes place in American, where the von Trapps escaped after the Anschluss so that the captain wouldn’t have to fight with the Nazis. They lived like paupers for years, making their living by touring the country and giving concerts. This was actually very difficult, because in Austria they had sung incredibly long, classical pieces, and this bored American audiences. They had to learn to become more modern and have more of a stage presence (or “sex appeal,” as the managers called it – poor Julie Andrews ^^;;)

 
Since this is a true autobiography, obviously the facts are as accurate as human memory allows, and it was really wonderful to “hear” the story being told in Maria’s own words. I’ll admit that the text was a little dry at times, but Maria’s “voice” never was. She was a very passionate and driven woman, and she never allowed herself to be beaten down by odds. Her faith was a great source of comfort, both for her and for her family, and that really shown through in her words. She was the type of woman who would scare easily, but she never let that fear rule her, and as she grew older, she turned the fear into her own weapon.

 
What makes this story so remarkable is that the von Trapp family was no different than many other high-class families in Austria, but they lived such remarkable lives. Like so many Austrians, they lost everything because of Hitler, but instead of either wasting away in defeat or joining up with the Germans because they had no choice (or because they wanted the power) they fought back. They gave up everything for the chance to live free lives, and in the end, it paid off. Most others weren’t so lucky, and that’s probably the saddest thing about the whole book. As they grew older, the von Trapp’s mounted a huge relief mission the help families in post-war Austria. No matter what their hardships, they never failed to remember those who’d lived even harder lives, and I think that’s a very powerful lesson to learn.

 
As I mentioned before, this book is incredibly different from the musical and movie, but if you like the story, I think you’ll like the book. It definitely made me look at things in a whole new light.

All these books basically have one theme in common – they place strong women in the driver’s seat and let them role. Be it a queen, a governess, or a wife and mother, each of these women demonstrated amazing strength and fortitude, and they did whatever it took to protect whatever was most dear to them. Whether it was a country, an ideal, or a family, these women fought for what they believed in and, in some way, changed the course of history for the better.