Lucrezia Borgia

I thought his take on the life of Lucrezia Borgia was very intriguing. I think perhaps the reality of her life lies between the tale he has woven in this book and the tale that history has given her. I find this take on the history to be very interesting as well as thought provoking.

It's not an easy read, but it is an immensely enjoyable one. If, like me, you're a lazy reader, skimming dialogue and skipping long descriptive passages, you will find yourself forced to slow down and carefully digest each word. This is certainly not a bad thing, although it does make for a slower, more immersive reading experience. Very few things are spelled out for you. The Borgias are, after all, known first and foremost for being master obfuscators. Lucrezia, more passionate than her father and saner than her brother, has a penchant for being more outspoken than either, which serves her well as a narrator. But despite everything, I never knew what to make of Rodrigo Borgia, aka Pope Alexander. Come to think of it, I never knew quite what to make of a lot of characters, Lucrezia included. Faunce does go a long way towards ridding Lucrezia of her horrible reputation. Yes, she's beautiful and knows a lot about potions. But the worst of the things of which she's accused - leaving her first husband, sleeping with her brother, etc - are those which are out of her control. She's a pawn, used by her father to political advantage (nothing unusual there) and manipulated by her brother, whom she loves even as she realizes he's a complete psycho. It's unfortunate for poor Lucrezia that she's also smart enough to realize just how she's being used and manipulated, and to rebel against it as much as she's able - which is to say, just enough to get herself in trouble, not enough to actually accomplish anything. I'm sure some people will argue that Faunce's Lucrezia is too modern, too outspoken and feminist. My answer is, she wasn't alone. Look to Katherine Sforza, the "Virago", for a REALLY anachronistic medieval woman. Yes, Lucrezia is not a "typical" woman of the early Renaissance. But they weren't all sheep, and they weren't all illiterate idiots, as some people seem to assume. Lucrezia Borgia is just one example of a woman who resented her position in life - not the first, and certainly not the last. There are times when this is an immensely frustrating book. It's also a very good one, as it sucks you into caring about Lucrezia even as you know, with that sinking feeling in your stomach, what's coming next. History has not dealt kindly with the Borgias, in many cases with good reason. Faunce's book just asks us to consider an alternate viewpoint in their story, and consider the infamous characters of history as real people.

Lucrezia Borgia is one of those historical characters about whom so little is known, historians and novelists can take lots of poetic license. Lucrezia was the daughter of Rodrigo Borgia and his mistress; when Rodrigo was elected Pope the mistress was banished but Lucrezia and her golden brother Cesare were installed at the Papal court. Italy at the time was a muddle of warring city states and shifting alliances, and the Pope was no different from any other powerful ruler of the time, except that he had the power of of forgiveness of sins and excommunication. Now known as Alexander VI, the Borgia pope did not hesitate to use all means at his disposal--spiritual threats, Papal wealth, his children--to engage in a constant struggle to extend his realm. Whether Lucrezia was an active participant or a mere pawn in this exercise has been a subject of fierce debate, but Faunce takes the more sympathetic view. His Lucrezia is beautiful and smart, but her fatal flaw is her inability to disentangle herself emotionally from her brother and father. Given many chances to kill her evil brother, each time she hesitates; she refuses to acknowledge the obvious about her father, that he is the mastermind behind his son's barbaric exploits. Faunce's Lucrezia struggles to understand God's will in the midst of the bloody turmoil of Italy at the time. Faunce freely plays with historical facts to create a blameless Lucrezia--she is faithful to her husbands, even loving two of the three of them; she murders only at the direction of her father; she is innocent of charges of incest. The one time she kills with intent, Faunce makes us feel it is totally justified. I found this book fascinating in its historical detail, its picture of an unbelievably cruel and bloody world, in its portrait of the papacy. But the book also has an overwrought quality--the constant references to the Greek and Roman classics, allusions to ancient philosophers, footnotes that do little to clarify a thought. And the tortured vocabulary and sentence structure at times just get in the way. But the novel--and but for the barebones names and dates, pure fiction it is--is entertaining and a fast read.

I was fortunate to have this book with me on a weekend when I could give it the full attention it requires, as it is chock full of lurid whimsy, historical detail and more new vocabulary than I'd confronted in a while! Since the reputation of Lucrezia Borgia is certainly more notorious than the woman, herself, it was fascinating to get a glimpse (however much fictional license was admittedly taken) of a more human/inhuman person. The time period, chain of global events and relgious history are all of great interest to buffs such as myself and author Faunce vividly colors his characters, their crimes and the world in which they exist. I was happily surprised by all the twists and turns...both fictitious and actual.This work is reminiscent of Maragaret George's fantastic THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF HENRY VIII and I recommend it to anyone interested in an absorbing read about the infamous Borgia family.

I was skeptical when I bought this book, because I had read Mario Puzo's THE FAMILY, which is about the Borgias, and had liked it very much. However, John Faunce paints a much bolder, more entertaining vision of the Borgia's Vatican court. Obviously, I knew the work of a living writer has an advantage over a posthumous, cobbled-together book, even if it is by a great novelist. Still, I was really blown away by Faunce's powers of description, sly humor and snappy dialogue. It's also notable that this is a novel written by a male writer, told in the voice of a young woman. I was also skeptical about this aspect of the book, but again was won over by the skillful writing. Faunce's Lucrezia is passionate, complicated and very intelligent, but also self-deprecating and knowledgeable about her own flaws and those of her family (and they are some mighty big flaws). Her relationship with her father is portrayed very realistically, and her romances with her husbands are believable in a way that I don't normally find in historical novels of today. The author also has a great eye for detail that makes the setting come to life in an almost cinematic way.Overall this is a very entertaining, fast-paced and well-crafted read. It did not disappoint at all. I highly recommend it.