Rating: 2 stars
Cover synopsis: Queen Victoria is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Her decendants were to suceed to most of the thrones in Europe.
Some members in my book group saw the movie, "The Young Victoria" and decided they'd like to learn more. But this was not the right book for the job. I just feel even more confused!
The book's main redeeming quality: It's short. Only 118 pages. But it took me about 2 weeks to read it because it was mind-numbingly boring. I felt like I was reading a history textbook. It was all names and dates, and the author would refer to people by their nicknames, their given names and their titles interchangably so I couldn't keep them straight. She also started using initials for political posts -- and since I am not knowledgable about English politics or history, I had no idea what what going on most of the time.
The author would occasionally bring up interesting tidbits, but would merely reference them -- giving no clue as to what happened in the situation. Anecdotes! Give me anecdotes!
If I had some English background, or a strong interest in Queen Victoria, this book might have been more interesting. But as it is, I was relieved to finally finish it. Not sure how much I'll be able to add to my book group's discussion, though...
