Review: The Countess

The Countess by Rebecca Johns was interesting, if not exactly what I was expecting. The novel tells the fictionalized story of the legendary Elizabeth (or Erszebet), allegedly history's most prolific serial killer.

I am not sure exactly what I was expecting out of a fictionalized account of a historic serial killer, but I do think I was expecting more...detail about her crimes. The book was surprisingly light on detail, and I really wish it had an author's note at the end both addressing where she took liberties and giving some more explanation as to what we now know about her crimes. I intend to read a biography at some point to fill in those details. On the flip side, the lack of detail means that it isn't super gory for a book about a serial killer - which could be a positive or a negative, depending on what you're looking for. If you want lots of gore, this book will probably disappoint you.

I found her approach to the book interesting; the book is basically written as a sort of autobiography, intended for the countess's son, explaining and justifying her crimes. I thought this was a really interesting way to tackle the story and the character, so I really appreciated that part. Of course, that also means that there is, I would imagine, some white-washing of her crimes. For instance, the book leaves the number of victims pretty vague, and only mentions a handful in detail - which may in part be an effort to avoid accusations of inaccuracy given that (from what I understand) we don't actually know how many people she killed. This is another thing I think could have been discussed in an author's note at the end to satisfy the reader's curiosity.

Copy of a portrait of Bathory,
probably from the 16th century

Also a positive (at least for me), was that the book the reader a look at the daily life she would have led in that period as a Hungarian noble women. I thought the book might focus heavily on her crimes and neglect the "historical" bit of the historical fiction. That was not the case, which I appreciated.

The book starts with her early years with her family, then her betrothal to Ferenc Nadasdy and the move into his mother's household, followed by their marriage and her later love affairs. There was a lot more detail regarding her overall life than I might have expected; I think I was expecting it to be more focused on scandal.

That means I can also see it appealing to someone who isn't interested in the criminal aspect of her history; that actually takes up a surprisingly small portion of the book, so I can recommend it to someone interested in that time period, even if they don't care about her criminal history.

Overall, this book was a pleasant surprise and I would read another by this author, and I can recommend to anyone interested in Bathory or this period in Hungarian history.

Review: The Kingmaker's Daughter

I've been slowing reading my way through Philippa Gregory's Plantegnet and Tudor books. I was going to wait and review the whole series, but for whatever reason I decided to write a post now.

I have been following Goodreads' reading order for the series, which makes this the fourth book. The first book, The Lady of the Rivers, follows the story of Jacquetta Woodville, a lady in waiting to Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI (aka the "sleeping" king). The second, The White Queen, follows Jacquetta's daughter, Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. The third, The Red Queen, follows the story of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. This book then follows Anne Neville, wife of Richard III. Oof, good luck keeping track!

I had waited a long time to tackle Philippa's books as I knew they were a very mixed bag, and are sometimes controversial. They're exactly what I had heard - good on story, a little rocky on accuracy.

Gregory definitely tells a great story, and makes interesting characters. Another thing I like about these books is that they largely follow the same set of events. That might sound boring, but it's actually really interesting (to me) in that it gives you the different perspectives on the conflict. For example, the tension between the various players - Elizabeth and Anne in particular - takes on a new dimension when you read about it from both perspectives.

Personally, I think this could have been done more strongly by alternating chapters and breaking up the books by time period, rather than having each book by a different character. I think the conflict between the Neville's and Elizabeth Woodville would have been even more powerful if we were going back and forth between them, rather than reading an entire book from one perspective and switching to the other. But, I also love books that alternate characters in general, so maybe I am biased.

So, she tells a great story about a really interesting period of history from various perspectives, with a heavy focus on the perspectives of the women involved - so far it's ticking all the boxes for me. I had read that she doesn't stick particularly closely to historical fact (see The Other Boleyn Girl, which is based on one of her books). For example, she goes with the angle that the Woodville women are witches, which is based on rumor and allegations made at the time. But she doesn't just touch on it as rumor, she uses it as an actual plot in the book. If you're looking for a close following of history, obviously that isn't it, although it certainly makes for a good story.

On the flip side, that does make it pretty obvious she is taking liberties with the facts - I try to think of it as almost a fantasy retelling of history. My biggest complaint isn't that she takes liberties with the facts per se, most historical fiction does, although I think she goes farther than most and farther than I personally would prefer. My biggest complaint is that she doesn't do a good job of telling the reader where she took liberties; she does have an afterward sort of section, but it doesn't really address this with the depth other authors do (Alison Weir and Conn Iggulden are two I can think of off the top of my head). I think where you fictionalize enough that you're changing history, you need to be transparent about it. She does clarify some things, but largely leaves it to the reader to investigate themselves.

For those reasons, she will never be one of my favorite authors, and I am reluctant to recommend her to others without those qualifiers... but damn, she does tell a good story.

Review: The Midnight Watch

I (along with a lot of people) have a sort of morbid interest in the Titanic, so when I saw The Midnight Watch, which looks at the disaster from a different angle, I was sold. 

The Midnight Watch is told primarily through the lens of the Californian, the ship that allegedly watched Titanic sink without going to her aid. Dyer apparently has a history as both a lawyer and as a sailor - in fact, he worked as an attorney for one of the firms that represented Titanic's owners in 1912, so he had access to all sorts of archival documents. I think this really helped him dig into the issue from a place of knowledge, which really helped him address a new side of the story. 

Dyer examines the issue of what may have happened on the Californian that night and why (possibly) the men in charge did not go to Titanic's aid. It's a poignant reminder of how easily the disaster might have been avoided, without being a rehash of the same sort of Titanic plot we've seen before. 

The other reason I enjoyed this story is that it's told from a split perspective; from the second officer of the Californian's perspective, but also from the perspective of a newspaper reporter who is determined to figure out what happened and why. 

The Californian

I think it serves as a good (and timely) reminder as to why the media is important and the role they can serve for our society. It also helps add to the feel of tension - we see both sides grappling with the same issue. On the other hand, Dyer does a good job of not making this feel like a good verses evil story. It would be easy to paint the Californian officers as terrible people, and Dyer avoids that, which I think helps add depth to the story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It had all the elements for me - a topic I am interested in, a bit of a legal aspect to the story, and an in-depth look at another angle of historical event. Definitely recommend. 

Review: River God

I recently finished River God by Wilbur Smith, which is the first in a series about Ancient Egypt, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the series and, assuming they're just as good, I am adding Smith to my list of favorite authors. (I even grabbed the first in his Africa Courtney family series.)

I have had this one on my Kindle waiting for a while; I really love historical fiction, and I am totally fascinated by Ancient Egypt, so I was really afraid this one would be a big disappointment because my hopes for it were so high, even though Smith has a great reputation. I'm glad I finally picked it up.

The book tells the story of a (as far as I can tell) fictional Pharaoh and his family during the invasion of the Hyksos. It has some great battle scenes, almost as good as those of Bernard Cornwell. It also tells the story of the Hyksos invasion, which turns out to be a pretty interesting period in Egyptian history, and it also tells the story of some pretty important developments in Egyptian civilization. It also contains a fair amount about the culture of Egypt, which is something I really look for in historical fiction.

Egyptian War Chariot

The narrator is an Egyptian slave, and the story for how Smith came up with the idea for his story is amazing - in the afterward of the book he explains that he was on archaeological dig of an anonymous queen's tomb and several scrolls were found. The scrolls were written by a man who seemed to be quite confident of his own abilities, but in an endearing way - according to Smith. This made Smith want to write a book with him as the main character, and the Egyptian series was born.

This is definitely going on my list of favorites, and I look forward to the rest of the series. I can definitely recommend to anyone interested in ancient Egypt.

Review: Blonde

I've got very mixed feelings about Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. It was a really interesting look at Marilyn Monroe, and it really made her a hugely sympathetic figure (and made you not really like a lot of the people around her). On the other hand, I wasn't crazy about the writing style, which made it hard for me to love the story in the way that I wanted to. It was almost but not quite there for me.

This is a fictionalized telling of Monroe's life, although it seems to hew pretty closely, at least in the broad strokes. Names are changed for many of the characters, but it's pretty obvious who they are. I have a biography on my to read very soon list to help me sort out what is fact and what is rumor in this book, which I think will help.

The thing that is either a strong pro or con of this book, depending on whether you like it, (for me it was a mix) is that parts of the book seem to be an internal monologue of Monroe's, or at last form her perspective, which makes for a jumbled (not to mention unreliable) narration. The pro is that this really adds to the atmosphere of the book and the sympathy you feel for Monroe - this version of her, at least, is clearly ill. On the other hand, though, at least for me it made for an at times unpleasant reading experience. It also made it hard to tell at times what was "real" and what was in Monroe's head or imagination or dreams.

The real strength of this book is the emotional reaction of the reader - you really feel for Monroe and are disgusted at what can only be called exploitation by many of the people around her. You definitely end up feeling like she really never had a chance, and understanding how she ended as she did.

I'll be really curious to see how this squares with a biography of her. While it really wasn't to my taste from a writing style perspective, it was a powerful book and I can see why it was a National Book Award finalist. While it was not my favorite, it's something I could easily recommend to others, which is not something you can say every day.

Review: Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

I was lucky enough to hear media literacy guru Julie Nilsson Smith speak at a recent conference, and she recommended Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, which sounded really interesting and relevant to a project I am working on, so I had to run out and buy it. I am glad I did!

This book didn't tell me much I didn't already know in an abstract way, but it did give some really concrete and eye opening examples. And some of the data was just plain fascinating. And, he didn't stick only to internet data. For example, he discusses how data sets were used in the decision to purchase race horse American Pharoah.

Stephens-Davidowitz, a former Google data scientist, spends a lot of time talking about internet data, particularly from Google, but also from Facebook and other providers like PornHub (yup, he talks a lot about sex). 

Overall this book was very fascinating, but it's purpose really goes beyond that. We all need to understand how our data is collected and used, and what it tells the world about us - both in good and bad ways. We all share an awful lot of data about ourselves without even realizing it; it's hard not to these days. But we should at least be aware of it and be thoughtful about when and how we do it. 

Stephens-Davidowitz does have a short chapter at the end that deals with the ethical implications of this information, but I think this issue really could have used a more in-depth discussion and been a more prominent part of his book. 

Despite that, I still think this book can be a great educational tool (which is part of why I read it). First, it helps educators be more aware of what is going on. But more importantly, I think it can be used as an educational tool with students directly. For older students, it could be assigned as a course reading, or parts of it could. Even with younger students, using some of his examples in a discussion or presentation adds interest and helps reinforce the point that we are sharing a lot of our personal data. 

It's also just plain interesting to think about how much data scientists and social scientists can learn about us as a species from these new forms of data, and you can see Stephens-Davidowitz's enthusiasm for this throughout the book. It certainly opens up a whole new world for researchers. 

Review: Red Poppies: A Novel of Tibet

I've been interested in Tibet for a while, so I grabbed Red Poppies, which discusses the period before the Tibetan incorporation into China. 

Ultimately, this book disappointed and frustrated me a little bit - I felt there were so many missed opportunities! It was overall lacking in detail and needed to be fleshed out and expanded on in many ways. I am not sure how much is due to losses in translation, but at almost every turn I felt like the plot and setting could have been so much more developed. 

For example, the Goodreads description for the book says "When the chieftain agrees to grow opium poppies with seeds supplied by the Chinese Nationalists in exchange for modern weapons, he draws Tibet into the opium trade -- and unwittingly plants the seeds for a downfall." This is true, to some extent. It does discuss the planting of the poppies and some of the negative effects that followed, but I wanted to know so much more. Did it lead to any problems with abuse or addiction in Tibet, as it did in China itself? Did the Tibetans understand exactly what it was they were growing? Exactly how manipulative was the relationship involved in bringing the poppies to Tibet? This could have been so interesting with just a little more detail, but it basically left me looking to see if there was another book I could read that would delve into this a little more. Ditto for the political situation.... I really would have liked the book to develop a better understanding of what was going on in Tibet at this time, the existing relationship with China, and why China ended up taking over Tibet. This is largely glossed over and/or left for the reader to sort of infer. 

Part of the issue, I think, was the narrator. He self identifies - and is identified by everyone else - as an "idiot," yet he has strange insights that lead the people around him (and the reader) to wonder if he really is an idiot. However, this "idiot" guise of the narrator also hampers the ability of that narrator to understand - and therefore explain to us - what is going on around him in any depth, and I think that really contributes to the shallowness of the overall discussion of the political situation. This may not bother other readers as much as it bothered me, as that is why I read historical fiction, and why I wanted to read a book about Tibet in particular. For similar reasons, I felt most of the characters were shallow and underdeveloped, probably in part because the narrator doesn't really understand the motivations of other people. 

However, it did reinforce the fact that Tibet is pretty interesting and worth reading about, and gave me some ideas for particular things about Tibet that I want to learn more about, particularly the role of the opium trade and the growth of trade between Tibet and China, and at times it was an interesting story. It's also a quick read, so it isn't a huge investment to get through. 

I think the book also has the virtue of being written by someone (an ethnic Tibetan, according to Amazon) who has a different perspective on events than an outsider might, so that is a strong mark in favor of giving it a read.