Joan of Arc: A Life

The Penguin Lives series are not traditional biographies. They are short essays on the meanings and mysteries of a person's life, at the time they lived and in the present for us. They are for people (like me) who would not, could not read an 900 page book containing every detail of Joan's life, times and trial. There are plenty of those big biographies out there if you need them. But for people who want a little thoughtful insight on how a teenage girl in 1431 was able to accomplish the unheard of, unprecedented things she did, this book is perfect. This is a book I will always keep and reread.

Gordon's book is a little wooden, but it packs a lot of history in this short 170 pages. Some of the other Penguin life books have been a little wacky in their interpretation of the life of these great people, but Gordon does very well in her version of Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was a great leader of people in the unification of France. However her life was very short, and her military insight was slight causing her to be ultimately defeated. King Charles may have been a slacker but at least he saw his goal of a united France, long after Joan went up in flames. I think Gordon does a good job in detailing this.At the end, Gordon shows us the after effects of Joan being burned. The Catholic Church bowing to political pressure started the process of making Joan a Saint in the late 1800s. Gordon relates these events in a concise summary. A good short read for those interested in the history of France.

Although this is my first Mary Gordon book, I am fairly impressed by both her narrative skills and fairly in-depth analysis on the life of Joan of Arc. After reading all the readers' poor reviews on this book, I feel responsibile to defend Gordon and voice out some objections towards the readers' harsh comments on Gordon. Although her book is not an excellent source for Joan of Arc as an biography, Gordon did a good job in informing the readers some rare (instead of popular) historical background during the time as well as Joan's personal motives which contribute to her uprising. It's true that Gordon did not tell a straight forward story about Joan, it does not mean that she is a bad writer who intends to omit important details. In the book she gave a detail chart of dates and events of Joan to compensate the biographical account for Joan (if she did not expose it enough in her book). I am impressed to find that in a short work, Gordon's intensive research on Joan gave vivid, clear, historical and sometimes critical analysis about Joan herself and her actions. Gordon's style is both narrative and analytical. Gordon's book may not an important biography for Joan but it's definitely a wonderful and exciting read for those who wants to know the Joan behind the scenes.

After reading other reviews of this book, I expected it to be thin on facts and heavy on whimsy. This turned out not to be the case at all.With the exception of the final thirty pages, the book is a very clear presentation of the facts of Joan's life with enough commentary to make her come alive as a genuine person, not just the mythical figure I knew before reading the book. Above all, the author conveys that Joan of Arc doesn't fit in a tidy little box, no matter how hard some people have tried to make her do so.