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A review by courtneydoss
The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women and Power in Renaissance Italy by Leonie Frieda
2.0
My sister got me this book for my birthday, and I was psyched to read it. I was expecting something epic and feminist, showcasing the strength of these women and their roles in the huge cluster that was Italian politics at the time. Some of these women, I already knew a lot about (Lucrezia Borgia, Caterina Sforza, Giulia Farnese), others I had a basic knowledge of (Lucrezia Tornabuoni) and the rest I knew pretty much nothing about. Given the length of this book, I wasn't expecting some epic analysis of all of the women. I know that usually in group biographies things get glossed over or edited out to make room for everyone's stories. But this book was just bad.
First of all, the title is confusing. This book isn't about any sort of "sisterhood" between the women involved. In fact, some of them outright hated each other. Neither were any of them particularly deadly. Caterina Sforza was the only one with any real independent power that would have put her in the position to kill anybody, and she did have plenty of people executed after plots against her loved ones, but other than that none of the other women were involved in any sort of violence. Most of them were just married to powerful men, who were deadly, sure, but that definitely doesn't fit in with the Deadly Sisterhood motif.
Also, this book claims to be the story of women. And yeah, it does have sections that focus on the women themselves, but a lot of this book is reiterating history of the time period. That is necessary in a book about the shifting politics in the Renaissance, but again it doesn't do what it promises in the title. If you're writing a book about politics in the Renaissance, say it. Don't go after the readers of history who are dying for some female centric nonfiction and then not deliver what is promised.
I wanted to learn about the women in this book that I didn't know much about; Isabella d'Este, Beatrice d'Este, Isabella d'Aragona, Clarice Orsini, and to a lesser extent, Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Honestly, after reading this entire book, I feel like I still don't really know much about them. I learned that Lucrezia Tornabuoni couldn't smell despite having a big nose. I learned that Isabella d'Este was petty and jealous and did nothing really important on her own (or more likely Leonie Frieda just doesn't like her). I learned that Isabella d'Aragona was sad. And that's about it. I think the most valuable thing I got from this was a firmer understanding of who all these women were married to, names that I recognize from all the other books I've read recently, and so connections in the convoluted world of Renaissance Italy were more easily understood. The family trees at the front of the book were good, but even they were lacking because when I wanted to see how Giovanni Sforza, Lucrezia Borgia's first husband, was related to Caterina Sforza, it wasn't even on the tree.
Overall, this was one of the most disappointing books I've read lately.
First of all, the title is confusing. This book isn't about any sort of "sisterhood" between the women involved. In fact, some of them outright hated each other. Neither were any of them particularly deadly. Caterina Sforza was the only one with any real independent power that would have put her in the position to kill anybody, and she did have plenty of people executed after plots against her loved ones, but other than that none of the other women were involved in any sort of violence. Most of them were just married to powerful men, who were deadly, sure, but that definitely doesn't fit in with the Deadly Sisterhood motif.
Also, this book claims to be the story of women. And yeah, it does have sections that focus on the women themselves, but a lot of this book is reiterating history of the time period. That is necessary in a book about the shifting politics in the Renaissance, but again it doesn't do what it promises in the title. If you're writing a book about politics in the Renaissance, say it. Don't go after the readers of history who are dying for some female centric nonfiction and then not deliver what is promised.
I wanted to learn about the women in this book that I didn't know much about; Isabella d'Este, Beatrice d'Este, Isabella d'Aragona, Clarice Orsini, and to a lesser extent, Lucrezia Tornabuoni. Honestly, after reading this entire book, I feel like I still don't really know much about them. I learned that Lucrezia Tornabuoni couldn't smell despite having a big nose. I learned that Isabella d'Este was petty and jealous and did nothing really important on her own (or more likely Leonie Frieda just doesn't like her). I learned that Isabella d'Aragona was sad. And that's about it. I think the most valuable thing I got from this was a firmer understanding of who all these women were married to, names that I recognize from all the other books I've read recently, and so connections in the convoluted world of Renaissance Italy were more easily understood. The family trees at the front of the book were good, but even they were lacking because when I wanted to see how Giovanni Sforza, Lucrezia Borgia's first husband, was related to Caterina Sforza, it wasn't even on the tree.
Overall, this was one of the most disappointing books I've read lately.