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A review by emmarj
Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope by Eleanor Herman
3.0
A misleading title and jacket. There is zero evidence presented that Olimpia was engaged in a sexual relationship with her brother in law, Pope Innocent X. And the illustration on the jacket is not of Olimpia, who was actually rather homely.
Truth be told, I thought I was reading historical fiction and began to get rather annoyed 100 or so pages in. Gee, this sure is a ton of background, when does the story begin? Aaannnndd then I noticed the "biography" library label on the spine of the book. Yep.
But hey! It speaks volumes about the book that I expected fiction, got a biography, and kept reading it anyway. This book is extremely detailed and well researched. At times, the detail is almost too much but I think there is much value in the very complete picture Herman paints of the era.
Unfortunately, I felt Herman was heavy handed with the anti woman rhetoric and that is why I downgraded my rating. Discussing the societal misogyny of the 1600s is extremely relevant but Herman discusses the Church as anti woman from birth to present time and I don't find that to be fair or factual. My opinion aside, such a broad and offensive statement was not backed up by evidence.
Truth be told, I thought I was reading historical fiction and began to get rather annoyed 100 or so pages in. Gee, this sure is a ton of background, when does the story begin? Aaannnndd then I noticed the "biography" library label on the spine of the book. Yep.
But hey! It speaks volumes about the book that I expected fiction, got a biography, and kept reading it anyway. This book is extremely detailed and well researched. At times, the detail is almost too much but I think there is much value in the very complete picture Herman paints of the era.
Unfortunately, I felt Herman was heavy handed with the anti woman rhetoric and that is why I downgraded my rating. Discussing the societal misogyny of the 1600s is extremely relevant but Herman discusses the Church as anti woman from birth to present time and I don't find that to be fair or factual. My opinion aside, such a broad and offensive statement was not backed up by evidence.