Blood And Beauty: The Borgias; A Novel (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I so much wanted to love this – my Christmas audio book 2014 – that I was disappointed that I only liked it. My past readings of Sarah Dunant have been filled with the appreciation of the quirkiness of her imagination and imagery, the surprises of plot and beauty of her writing. All began well, with a robust presentation of Alexander (Pope) Borgia and an intriguingly naïve Lucrezia. Then the sheer drive of the research slowly began to take over, magnificent in itself, but propelling the narrative towards the weight of fact rather than quirks of drama. I must confess, I also don’t favour the third person omniscient narrator style, as it can easily deaden character from its lofty viewpoint. I did finish the book and am even tempted to have a go at the next part of the story, Dunant having cleverly left us at a cliff-hanger for Lucrezia. Yet I am also left wondering why history should be so lightly fictionalized, when to me the story cried out for imaginative cutting and finessing to fulfil the violent power promised by the title. This (perhaps inevitably) felt a lot like the Godfather in period dress. It's a bit more like a TV drama than a sprawling family saga, though - there's a lot of plot events but the focus is firmly on a small set of leading characters, and there is much less of the background detailing. Unfortunately, the handling of the main characters was rather unsatisfying for me. Lucretia is frequently helpless (by the nature of her position), and the author chooses to make Cesare something of an enigma, which means that we get very little of his interior life. Pope Alexander is more compelling, but he springs into the narrative fully formed, and unlike Vito Corleone, we never get much sense of his journey to the point where we meet him, as an entrenched power broker with an established family.Note that this is only the first book, and it pauses rather than reaching a finale.
What do You think about Blood And Beauty: The Borgias; A Novel (2014)?
I'm going to give this book five stars. There were a few flaws - notably, that the story ended very abruptly, but then again, it is a unique burden of historical fiction that the story must fit around the facts, and life does not go in neat story arcs. Still, Dunant managed the difficult task of getting the reader to root for the Borgias, who, if sympathetic characters in motivation, ranged from extreme to downright horrific in the lengths they went to, to secure their power. The story did not shy away from realism in terms of social norms or violence, but also did not dwell on it in an incredibly detailed way - which is a welcome relief!Recommended!
—noor_hadi52
I listened to this fictionalized account of the Borgia family on audio. It’s rather long, so it took me over a month of rather intermittent listening, but it was interesting enough to keep me coming back for more. Obviously, the author had to take some liberties with the history in places where the actual events are in question. But, she did a good job in keeping true to the characters’ personalities as she had drawn them.
—owenow13
Rod Borgiů - skandály, intriky a moc. Jedním slovem BOŽÍ :D
—ajji143
