Whenever I first saw the title of this book on the syllabus, I was very intrigued and excited because who isn’t up for a good spy story? Especially when it involves some of the most famous royal persons in history. I will say though, I felt that the book left a lot to be desired. For the majority of the time I found myself getting lost in attempting to follow who and what Bossy was speaking about. After a relatively short period of time, I came to the conclusion that this text is simply too dense for the average reader to truly comprehend- especially after a certain hour of night- and can really only be fully appreciated by a small group of similar academics, or something of the like. I think the best that the average reader can do is to look for the underlying themes that are present throughout the book in order to come to terms with what they’ve read. Though the details on a small scale are difficult to understand, broader themes can be taken from the text, mainly in regards to the various dynamics of Elizabethan politics, both domestic and foreign, religion and how these matters all were woven through family ties, most especially between Queen Elizabeth and her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.
The style that the book is written in makes it difficult to comprehend as it seems to switch between a Bossy describing his research and his findings to a nonfiction history novel. In discussing Bossy writing style though, it does sound very academic but I felt that he took entirely too long to get to the point of what he was trying to say. The descriptions he gives when attempting to get to the point also seemed to lack any real evidence towards his overall argument of who the mole is. There seemed to be “fluff” information in between, which made the pace of reading slow, confusing and somewhat monotonous. Regardless of how one feels about the book though, as with any, it is important to keep in mind that the author spent a great deal of time writing and editing to get it where it is. That is why I try not to be too critical of the little details, but again focus on the bigger picture of things.
I definitely agree with you, Erica, this book is not made to be read when one is fatigued and it requires strong coffee to even attempt to follow all of the changes in style, the twists and turns of the story, and the not so apparent argument. I too struggled to understand all of the evidence that Bossy presented, but I did notice some important historical details and themes, so I guess it was not a total loss. Although, I would like to note that it is extremely difficult to pull out a short quote from that book due to of the style of prose, which says something about conciseness and clarity on Bossy’s part. He did not do any of us favors with that!
Erica,
I completely agree! I tried reading it at night too, and I couldn’t get through it! Then I tried reading during the day, and it turns out that it was just dense! However, I did understand the broader themes of it as well, so not all was lost. I thought his personal narrative was unnecessary. As a reader, trying to understand his arguments, listening to his tangents was very distracting!
Good point! I wish all book reviewers would try to imagine the time, energy and effort that goes into a monograph. That doesn’t mean that there can’t be negative reviews. Only that the reviewer must try to evaluate the book that was written as opposed to the one they thought or hoped would be written.