Customer Reviews

Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My rating is extra low for two reasons: one, I expected the writing to be worthy of 5 stars and so was sorely disappointed, and two, those 5 star ratings need to be balanced into reality.

Eleanor of Aquitaine had the fascinating life depicted in this book, but she was also famous for her intelligence, which is in no way mirrored here. I'm sure the author is a nice guy, and he did do his homework on Eleanor and the period she lived in, but he's not the right person to be trying to capture the thoughts of such a person as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Dame Dorothy Dunnett or Dame Rebecca West would have done Eleanor proud, I'm sure. And there are probably others out there who could match her intelligence with the facility of expression of the above two authors.

Besides mistakenly presuming he could write from Eleanor of Aquitaine's point of view (a point of view informed by a thoughtful intelligence), he writes full history in the style of mass-market books, and thus should disappoint both the true history buffs (like me), and the mass-market book readers (who don't want so much information).

"Power of a Woman" brings us an "autobiography" of Eleanor of Aquitaine that is accessible and entertaining! Eleanor was Medieval Europe's most interesting woman. In an age when women were considered a necessary evil, and expected to bear sons and be quiet, she defied tradition. She married two of the most powerful men in Europe, and birthed several more. She went on Crusade. She ruled vast territories. She created a definition of love that survives to this day. Telling her story in Eleanor's voice, Robert Fripp shows us Medieval Europe through her eyes: Crusades, wars, enmities, alliances, eternal subterfuge. Fripp's vision brings the very stones and glass of cathedrals and castles to life. History becomes a tapestry which Eleanor works, stitch by stitch. At eighty-one, she hasn't much time. We feel her urgency, the ache in her knees, the chill in her bones. Will she finish before she dies? Her sorrow of lost love, lost children, lost time is as real as the triumphs of her extraordinary life. Eleanor emerges as a woman of great wisdom, dearly won. A real woman, with a strong sense of her place in this life and the next. What a great read! This is so gripping. I got so totally caught up in this story one night that I woke up with images of Eleanor in my mind, and Kate Hepburn's voice in my ear. I love this story."

"Power of a Woman" captures the moment in 1203 when the 80-year old
Eleanor of Aquitaine, near the end of her life and feeling mortal,
reflects on the life she has lived, and the loves and hurts she has
survived. To capture the essence of Eleanor, (queen of first France and
then England, mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John of Magna
Carta fame), the author has successfully parked his gender beside his
name on the title page and written Eleanor's memoirs through the mind of
this medieval woman.

Jane Rady Lynes, NY

Robert Fripp's novel/faux memoir has much more multi-layered depth than any of the dozen or more Eleanor books I've read. The characters are richer, the stories and themes have many more angles, and the Eleanor who saw more and aimed higher than the powerful people she played with, really comes through at age 80. It's not the most 'pop' or easy of the books, but it's the richest in its vision, much of it coming from Fripp's journalistic rigour as a former CBC series producer for "The Fifth Estate". He sees very far, in many directions--as did Eleanor.

"Power Of A Woman" is gripping in its wealth of detail. It makes me feel like I am in the midst of all the action. Of all the books I have read, this is the only one that makes me experience what it must have felt like to have lived during those troublesome and exciting times. Such a wonderful and exciting book! "Power Of A Woman" is more than just a book, it bring the people to life in a fresh, new way and contains a wealth of exciting information on its people and the times in which they lived. I highly recommened it to all who want a historically accurate book!

Lady Shirley Cassidy
Dublin, Ireland

"Power of A Woman by Robert Fripp turned out to be a disappointment. I was looking for a book that would provide, in clear and concise language, the history of Eleanor's origins; her life as a young French Queen and her marriage to Henry, King of England. There is too much historical information that is presented in a way that separates the woman from the experience. Perhaps it is Fripp's language, which seemed an effort to speak in the manner that Eleanor would have used were she alive today. I found this aspect laborious and this created a difficulty in maintaining interest. It is only at the end of the book that I began to feel a sense weariness from a turbulent and difficult life.

Reading this book aloud to my legally blind companion was
immensely fun and educational. We gained many details of Eleanor of Aquitaine's life which I feel other biographers missed, especially her deeply personal feelings around Thomas Beckett. We are brought to ponder Eleanor's emotions in many various contexts. I loved how [the author
explains] her relationship with Richard the Lion. And all so vividly expressed from the mouth of a very wise and passionate woman!

Through diligent research, and artful pen, Robert Fripp brings
Eleanor of Aquitaine to life. I am absolutely amazed at his stunning ability to know the heart of a woman.

I found this book to be incredibly entertaining. It's a memoire (drawn from translations) from a woman who lived almost 1,000 years ago and for some reason the conclusions she draws from her experiences as a woman in control of land, privvy to political change, and smack-dab in the middle of the crusades seems to be the same types of conclusions we could draw upon today. History repeats itself, but this book makes it entertaining insomuch as Aleanor dictates to her secretary that which she really thinks about life, education, social norms, men, and a woman's place in society--even women of power. She's a hoot and comes off as a tough old broad with much to say and the freedom to say it at the end of her days. I have read the book 4 times and love it. It is noted on the book cover that one could just hear Katherine Hepburn's voice as they read the book(picture Katherine's performance in "The Lion in Winter" movie). I couldn't agree more.

How captivated I was with "Power of a Woman"!

I found the ruthless nature of the twelfth century shocking, wrought
with not only loveless, but murderous marriages! I understood that
alliances (marriages) were the crucial scaffolding on which the survival
of a clan depended, but I did not realize that royal issue became
betrothed as infants, and that the female of the match went to live with
future in-laws in order to be more completely absorbed into the social
intricacies of that clan. Simply, the toddler was held hostage in the
face of present and future intrigues. Shocking indeed.

What particularly fascinated me in this telling saga of noble, military
and religious life during the Middle Ages was the description of how
Eleanor developed her own spin on Chivalrous Love. What a creative way
of compromising three conflicting demands: an individual's yearning for
love and intimate recognition, the passionate and artful culture of
courtship and restraint, and the absolute necessity of loveless,
politically-sanctioned marriage.

I enjoyed the book immensely, and am astonished that the author was able
to write from inside such a particular, feminine persona as Eleanor of
Aquitaine. I was immediately hijacked by the voice of Eleanor, and
became a willing victim of her extraordinary prowess. What a dame!

As a lover of historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book. I was disappointed. The book reads more like a history disertation written under the 'guise' of a 'memoir' than it does a piece of finely crafted fiction. Eleanor comes across as flat and one dimensional, instead of the fullsome and complex woman that she was. The barebones of the story are here - and accurate - you can check the endnotes. This is a good beginning for what should have been a much better developed work of writing. For the vehicle that the author chose to use for writing about his subject, it would have been helpful to have an appendix that included a family tree - with at least the dates of Eleanor's marriages, and the birth and death dates of all her children.