Rating: 
Summary: "Mary Queen of Scots" is definitely a worthwhile read.
Review: "Mary Queen of Scots" by Antonia Fraser is an extremely informative, well-researched account of the tragic life of the infamous Scots' queen. She (Fraser) managed to dispel many myths about Mary Stuart and did a wonderful job of transporting the reader back to the age of the Renaissance. I have only two "negative" comments to make about this otherwise excellent narrative: first, the author has an extensive vocabulary and I recommend keeping a dictionary nearby. Secondly, the author tends to assume that her readers already know who certain people are without ever actually "introducing" them to the reader; she also fails to offer definitions or descriptions of many of the everyday, 16th century items that she mentions throughout the book; again, a dictionary will probably be needed in order to identify what these items were and what they were used for; again, she just assumes that the reader is already familiar with these things. Other than that, I highly recommend this most wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: "Mary Queen of Scots" is definitely a worthwhile read.
Review: "Mary Queen of Scots" by Antonia Fraser is an extremely informative, well-researched account of the tragic life of the infamous Scots' queen. She (Fraser) managed to dispel many myths about Mary Stuart and did a wonderful job of transporting the reader back to the age of the Renaissance. I have only two "negative" comments to make about this otherwise excellent narrative: first, the author has an extensive vocabulary and I recommend keeping a dictionary nearby. Secondly, the author tends to assume that her readers already know who certain people are without ever actually "introducing" them to the reader; she also fails to offer definitions or descriptions of many of the everyday, 16th century items that she mentions throughout the book; again, a dictionary will probably be needed in order to identify what these items were and what they were used for; again, she just assumes that the reader is already familiar with these things. Other than that, I highly recommend this most wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not a biography
Review: . . . it reads like a bad lawyer's closing argument in Mary's defense at a trial. Why bad? Because Fraser, instead of confronting the evidence against Mary, ignores it all. This is certainly not an impartial biography or even an open-minded one; Fraser admits in her preface that she adores Mary, and refuses to acknowledge any evidence against her -- Casket Letters, coded messages to Anthony Babington approving of the plot to kill Elizabeth, signing her kingdom away to France when she married the Dauphin. This should have been privately printed by a vanity press at the author's expense, not presented as valid biography by a reputable publisher.
Rating:
Summary: Erudite and compelling
Review: A little over a month ago I picked up this book off the bookshelf knowing very little about the queen of scotts. After I first started reading it I thought it would be some prejudiced story about the queen Mary Stuart (after reading that the auther had admired Mary scence childhood). But later I found the story to be told in a very justified manner showing Mary's goods and bads. I was also impressed at the amount of effort Antonia Fraser must have spent trying to uncover the most accurate version of the story. She does a wonderfull job of making the book an interesting story to read while still including important details which may otherwise make the book long and tedious. The only reason why I don't give it 5 stars is because there is lots of french and lattin phraises which are not accompanied by translations (which for me who dosn't know french or lattin is somewhat disappointing), and in some parts Elizabeth is shown in and unfair light.
Rating: 
Summary: Mary Queen of Sotts- the unpredudiced story
Review: A little over a month ago I picked up this book off the bookshelf knowing very little about the queen of scotts. After I first started reading it I thought it would be some prejudiced story about the queen Mary Stuart (after reading that the auther had admired Mary scence childhood). But later I found the story to be told in a very justified manner showing Mary's goods and bads. I was also impressed at the amount of effort Antonia Fraser must have spent trying to uncover the most accurate version of the story. She does a wonderfull job of making the book an interesting story to read while still including important details which may otherwise make the book long and tedious. The only reason why I don't give it 5 stars is because there is lots of french and lattin phraises which are not accompanied by translations (which for me who dosn't know french or lattin is somewhat disappointing), and in some parts Elizabeth is shown in and unfair light.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and Revealing
Review: After having read many biographies on Elizabeth I, I decided I should now take a look at the view point of her rival, Mary. Indeed, it was eye opening.Frasier does an excellent job at making sure that no details are left out. She takes the time to look at each side of the coin, dismissing blatant rumors and indicating was is fact and what is mere speculation. She also leaves no thread loose, making sure to add a footnote to even minor characters of interest so that the reader may know of what happened to them. Indeed, her research is thorough, and lacks a lot of the nagging questions about people and events I find that I have when I read biographies written by other writers. Yet despite all of the heavy reading, the narrative does not lag, but is fresh and interesting. My only complaint was the untranslated French phrases. Even with the assistance of several French-to-English dictionaries, I often had a hard time finding specific words or phrases. Yet this was a minor annoyance, and did not interefere with the quality of the work as a whole. For those looking for a detailed and thrilling biography, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but slow moving
Review: Antonia Frasier's research on Mary Queen of Scots is rich and well founded, however she tends to become weighed down in lengthy descriptions of less important/less interesting topics. Additionally,I found her hero-worship of Mary so overbearing at times that I could not develop any sympathy at all for Mary. Admittedly, toward the end, Fraser does make some honest and unflattering comments about Mary's decisions. But it is not enough to compensate for the tremendous flattery Fraser lavishes on Mary. Like other reviewers, I found the book to be lacking in that it did not provide any pictures. Fraser admits that few exist, but it would have been nice to have a reference of what people looked like, where towns/houses were situated, etc. I rate this book only 3 stars because it contains a lot of information about the life of Mary Queen of Scotrs, but it is a very slow read. I feel like I forced myself to finish it. This book is not nearly as good as Fraser's book on Marie Antionette. I recommend that book over this one based on sheer interest of the subject matter and better writing by the author.
Rating:
Summary: A Case of Historical Misinformation
Review: Anyone who has made an in-depth study of Mary Queen of Scots has to come to the conclusion that what Fraser has written is not a biography--it is a detailed historical novel. Fraser's endless piling-on of often irrelvant detail (did we really need to know what color garters Mary wore at her execution?) helps to obscure the fact that her work is often misleading at best, and seemingly deliberately mendacious (to quote one Oxford professor) at worst. For a book that claims to be a "defense" of Mary, Fraser's interpretations of Mary's character, and, in particular, the Queen's relationships with Darnley and Bothwell, put Mary in a most unflattering light--and, worst of all, a light that seems to have little to do with reality. There is a good deal of historical evidence that shows that--contrary to Fraser's claims--Mary wed Darnley for strictly political reasons, the idea that the marriage was a "love match" is utter myth, and that Bothwell, far from being Mary's abductor and rapist, was the one love of her life. Fraser, of course, deliberately omits all this evidence--as she omits all evidence that contradicts her frequently ridiculous opinions. A word of caution to those of you who assume this book is the definitive work on Mary--it absolutely is not.
Rating:
Summary: She never disappoints us
Review: Every time I finish one of Lady Antonia Fraser's historical works, it is with a deep feeling of satisfaction, and also with newly-increased admiration for her intelligence and analytical skills. Queen Mary comes completely alive in this book, and we walk with her along the smooth way of her happy early life and the treacherous paths of her adulthood, while learning a lot about her historical background and her genuine, deep sensitivity. This was a great woman, and Fraser does a great job in this engaging, comprehensive portrait.
Rating:
Summary: Complete and Fascinating
Review: Fraser's biography of Mary Stuart remains the standard against which others are measured -- and with good reason. It is complete; containing all details available from the historical record at the time of the writing: 1969. And it presents a good case for the redemption of Mary's reputation. Though at times, Fraser can seem an apologist for Reformation-period English Catholics, as she does in her excellent work on the gunpowder plot. The book did for me what I most wanted it too; provide the full story on Mary, the Scottish-French connection, Marie de Guise, and the importance of all of these in the history of Elizabeth I. I found this book a great supplement to my other reading in Tudor history. The book is dense with detail -- but very readable and enjoyable.
|
