Book Review: "The Devil's Queen"

My book club (yes, I'm in a book club. And it's awesome, thanks for asking) met tonight to discuss our latest selection, "The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici" by Jeanne Kalogridis.

~~ Pause for special thanks to our hostess with the mostess, who served an amazing baked cheese dish and some delicious apple punch. ~~

Let me start by saying I am super impressed by any author who has the skill to write historical fiction. The amount of research alone overwhelms, let alone coming up with a viable plot and characters. As one member tonight pointed out, "There are probably all kinds of crazies out there who will know if something isn't exactly right." It's not the first time I've heard historians called crazies. Hell, my history teachers over the years truly fit the bill. I'm talking to you, Mr. Cates. You and your big, scary beard.

Anyway.

Some messed up stuff happens in this book. Catherine is an orphan, spends time imprisoned, suffers from abandonment issues, has a husband who openly commits adultery and watches the people she loves constantly suffer.

Catherine is also responsible for the deaths of a lot of people.

In 2009, a woman with these same issues gets no sympathy. She's evil because there's no excuse for committing murder (except in cases of self-defense, so we'll allow that one.) And yet, in the book's 16th century setting, I'm on Catherine's side. I'm not saying she's right for her actions; I'm saying I understand.

The 16th century was rough times, man. In some cases it was kill or be killed. If those are the options, who can blame anybody for doing whatever it takes to be on the not dead side of the fight? Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

Yeah, ok, maybe Catherine was a little off. Maybe her reasoning was skewed and her reactions a bit extreme. She probably could have brought the dark stuff down a couple of notches. It might have helped quell the witch rumors, at least.

In this day and age, that woman is a lunatic. It doesn't matter if she kills because she thinks it's the only way to protect herself, her husband or her children -- she's hanging out in the big house with the women from "Snapped."

In 16th century France, crazy gets to be Queen.