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Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable but flawed
Review: (Sigh) Just once I'd love to read a fictional biography of a powerful woman that doesn't revolve around her love life, particularly when the affair in question is entirely fabricated for the story and has no basis in history. What, no one was ever able to prove Eleanor of Aquitaine had an extramarital affair, so you just make one up? I think the reverse (which is far more historically accurate) makes a better story - how in return for power a queen would grit her teeth and do without romance or love. Instead we get an Eleanor who carries on a weepy affair with the fictional Richard Rancon (loosely based on her factual vassal Geoffrey Rancon, and renamed, it seems, entirely so that her son Richard the Lionheart can be named after him) right under the nose of her second husband, Henry II - who does nothing about it. Yeah, right.
After reading Alison Weir's excellent biography "Eleanor of Aquitaine," I was pleasantly surprised at how closely Kaufman had mirrored her novel to actual history - which makes her decision to base the backbone of the story on a made-up character for the sake of romance even more confusing. With all the men Eleanor was alleged to have slept with (including Henry's father), why would you need to make one up?
Aside from that, I greatly enjoyed this book. The tales of court intrigue and European political conflict are full of all the best medieval scheming and backbiting, while never getting too bogged down in minutiae. Even if you know next to nothing about this period, you'll be able to follow Kaufman's novel and cheer for one of the greatest Queens in history.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant novel about one of the world's great women
Review: Eleanor of Aquitaine remains, nearly 800 years after her death, one of the truly monumental women of history. And for the first time, a novelist writes about her with depth, complexity and no saccharine romantic revisionism. This was one of the best historical novels of 2002.Pamela Kaufman's first two novels, SHIELD OF THREE LIONS and BANNERS OF GOLD, focused on the Crusades and Eleanor's legendary son, Richard the Lionheart. Both are extraordinary, illuminating looks at life in the middle ages--warts and all. Eleanor makes a memorable appearance in BANNERS OF GOLD, and I was delighted to find not only another novel by this talented author, but one that tells the full story of the extraordinary queen, from her youth to her old age. Pamela Kaufman strikes just the right tone. Medieval life was not rosy, romantic or chivalrous. It was almost always, in the immortal words of the Enlightenment, "nasty, brutish and short." Which makes Eleanor's 80 years all the more remarkable--and underscores everything that modern readers can learn from her long life and many achievements. Kaufman's Eleanor is a realist, a pragmatist, and yet still a romantic. And one with a wicked sense of humor. I couldn't get enough of her sharp, wise and witty voice. This is one of the best, most realistic and most entertaining historical novels to come along in years. Kudos to Pamela Kaufman for not writing a romantic fairytale, and for producing yet another book that is impossible to put down!
Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating
Review: Familiar with the historical figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine, I was excited to come across this novelization of her life. Unfortunately, this is not the tale I expected. While I loved the character of Eleanor herself, somewhat flawed history and strange, jumpy writing made the story itself impossible to really enjoy. Frustrated, I found myself skipping over parts just to see what happened to Eleanor, and I finally abondoned my quest when I realized I was not enjoying it. Even in that, I was not satisfied, as Eleanor's strong personality and tenuous situation stayed with me, unreconciled. Ms. Kaufman has created a memorable character, but she (Eleanor, that is) deserves a better story to live in.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the read
Review: I hardly ever read any books cause none of them seem to capture my interest for very long. Amazingly enough this is the only book that I have read 4 times so far.I actually just stumbled across it in a bookstore. Granted I didn't know anything about Eleanor of Aquitaine before I read this book, but it got me researching. I know that it is not totally accurate ,but it is quite close for a fictional novel (in my opnion). If you need a book with an inspiring love story this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, as long as you take history with a grain of salt
Review: I love the tale of Eleanor and Henry and their relationship, and was quite excited to hear of a new book about this famous woman's life.
This first part of the book, as far as I can tell, is pretty close to history, but the second half has me wondering. It seems to me that Ms. Kauffman has spent more time around Tristan and Isolde than her titular heroine, and that she has spent too much time watching the Cate Blannchett version of "Elizabeth".
Ms. Kauffman strays too far from the historical facts of Elenor and Henry's relationship to make a scholar happy. The biggest problem, for me, at least, is the kiddnapping of Eleanor by Henry less than a few days after her anulment is finalized, and then Henry's forceful taking of his bride. I find it hard to believe that a little more historical research could not be done. Ms. Kauffman has a great flair, and she could have given the relationship bewteen Eleanor and Henry a wonderfully fresh take...what better love affair is there than with someone you clash with when you are not ripping each other's clothes off?
If Ms. Kauffman wanted to write a historical romance, then she should have just done it.
The best way to read this novel if you love Eleanor is to take it a work of historical FICTION, i.e., a story whose main characters happen to bear a striking resemblence to historical characters.
If you are looking for a good story of Eleanor, watch or read "The Lion In Winter."
Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating
Review: I really enjoyed this book because it showed how true love can prevail. Although it may not have shown the true aspects of her life it was only a fictionous novel so I enjoyed reading about her feelings towards her husbands, lovers, and political figures. This book has kept me reading it over and over again. I cannot get enough of Eleanor and her life now.
Rating: 
Summary: An ambitious project badly executed
Review: It is noted on the endpapers that it took Pamela Kaufman fifteen years to reasearch and complete "The Book of Eleanor." Judging by the book I read, the manuscript must have spent fourteen and a half of those years in a drawer someplace. Eleanor of Aquitaine has always been an attractive subject for those interested in medieval history--in a time when women counted only as brood mares, she managed to gain enormous power not only as the wife to two kings and mother to two more, but as duchess of Aquitaine and countess of Poitou in her own right. When her story is presented well (and, like other reviewers, I will also cite Sharon Kay Penman's novels as examples), she is trememdously fascinating. In the hands of Pamela Kaufman, however, she is a shrill, imperious self-centered harpy. If that wasn't bad enough, Kaufman throws in a completely--and admittedly--fictional love affair between Eleanor and her Aquitanian captain and asks the reader to believe that this man fathered three of Eleanor's children, including the future Richard Lionheart. Also, Kaufman's Eleanor is dragged kicking and screaming into her second marriage to Henry of England, while history strongly indicates Eleanor wanted the marriage and probably had a hand in arranging it. Add in other enormous historical liberties and just plain bad writing (Kaufman is inordinately fond of exclamation points and crudity for crudity's sake) and you have what could have been a very original novel become an exercise in tedium. There are many excellent books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Eleanor of Aquitaine. "The Book of Eleanor" is not one of them.
Rating:
Summary: History Plus Fiction Equals Friction
Review: The Book of Eleanor covers historical events that are largely known. The life of Eleanor, her Husband-Kings, and the impact she had upon her time are well established. So, in reading this book, I was hoping for a glimpse into the character of Eleanor based on a measure of historical accuracy. This is not unreasonable since the format of the book is a diary written by Eleanor herself. Unfortunately, the book delivered what is best described as a fictional character based on the life of Eleanor of Aquitane. Some artistic liscense is to be expected and in some cases welcomed in historical fiction. Some names where not available are invented in the style of the time, and some historical characters are combined or split to fit the greater story. However, this fictional Eleanor is given a life long love affair which the author admits (at the end) is entirely fictional. Where, then, is the legitimate understanding of the historical Eleanor? Where is the greater understanding of possible motives for her actions? This book, in creating a fictional love affair, created a fictional and distorted Eleanor. Throughout this quasi-Eleanor's life she acts through the filter of this ersatz love. Her annulment from Louis is portrayed as a way to unite with her fictional Rancon. This union is interrupted by her forced marriage to Henry of Normandy. Eleanor then struggles to free herself from Henry to reunite with Rancon. The reader does not come away with a greater understanding of Eleanor of Aquitane, but merely another look at well known historical events of the time and a fictional character based on the life of Eleanor. This fails to satisfy the goals of historical fiction. If you want quality historical fiction of this time period, try Sharon Kay Penman.
Rating: 
Summary: The Book of Eleanor
Review: This book took me by surprise. It reads like a fascinating rollercoaster of events. It is filled with all the components necessary for a true incantation of 18th century politics. Following Eleanor's life threw these events proved to be the most challenging. Never was there a dull moment depicted in the novel, only the gasps of my own breath at some of her turmoil and triumphs. I would recommend this book to women who are interested in the truth behind the royal bedchambers, but beware there are no rose colored glasses here!
Rating:
Summary: A really great medieval fantasy
Review: Viewed as pure fantasy, _The Book of Eleanor_ is an engrossing account of the life of one of the most important women of the Middle Ages. But wait. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a real person, so how can a novelization of her life be fantasy?
Therein lies the problem. This story *could* have worked as a fantasy, but only if the names of the places and people had all been changed and it contained at least one fantasy element, like, say, the two moons in Guy Gavriel Kay's _Lions of al-Rassan_. As it stands, Ms. Kaufman, scarcely batting an eye, delivers us an Eleanor who couldn't possibly have existed. At least not for very long.
_The Book of Eleanor_ begins promisingly enough, at the beginning of the 50-something Eleanor's imprisonment by her husband, Henry II. By this time, the two hate one another, and Eleanor, thinking that she is to be starved and/or frozen to death, begins setting her life down on paper. (I'm surprised the real Eleanor didn't actually do that.) Thus we're shown the fifteen-year-old Eleanor, much-coveted as a wife more for being heiress to a vast duchy than for her legendary beauty. She's forced into an odious marriage with religious fanatic Louis of France. Here's where the story begins to unravel.
There isn't any way Louis of France could have held his throne as long as he did and then died of natural causes if he'd been as effete and ineffectual as he's portrayed here. In the Middle Ages, all sorts of nasty things happened to people who tried to be king and weren't up to the task. As the narrative wears on, you notice that every man, with the exception of Abbot Suger and Eleanor's quasi-fictional lover, Rancon, is portrayed as reprehensible. You sense a pattern: Eleanor, for all her intellect, beauty and courage, was a mere Victim of Men, nearly all of whom were Evil. And, as a weak woman, she found jealousy -- of a husband Kaufman would have us believe she hadn't wanted to begin with -- her chief motivator.
Despite its tenuous grip on historical reality, this book did hold my interest -- in part because it is a compelling story in its own right, and in part because I found it sort of fun to analyze. Does Ms. Kaufman have a political motive for her slash-and-burn wielding of dramatic license? Did she give Eleanor a fictional lover because she felt the real story needed "sexing up" to satisfy the average reader? Why did she not stick closer to the real story, which most of us find fascinating, and which still contains enough unknowns to allow for considerable novelistic speculation? And what would have happened to the real Eleanor if Henry had ever suspected her of even a single incident of infidelity, let alone of depositing at least two cuckoos into his nest?
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