Book Review

The Constant Princess

Philippa Gregory

The Constant Princess is a wonderfully written piece about Queen Katherine of England. Born Catalina, Infanta of Spain, she marries the Prince of Wales, Arthur. When Arthur dies shortly after their marriage it is up to Catalina to fight for her life and for the throne of England. After lying about her marriage with Arthur she eventually marries his younger brother Henry, and finally gains her title as Queen of England.

I believe that the plot is very exciting and a real page turner. For someone like me who loves historical fiction this novel is a real winner. We know from history what happened to Katherine of Aragon, but Gregory does an amazing job filling in all the other details of her life. This story is full of suspense and drama that could only be found in the English Court.

One theme of the novel is love. Catalina dearly loves Arthur when he dies and promises to do as he commands her-lie she may one day be queen. Ambition is another theme-Catalina herself, England, Spain, and of course the young King Henry.

Catalina is a young and ambitious girl who believes it is God's will that she be Queen of England. She will stop at nothing to do the will of God and of her mother, Isabella of Spain. We meet the future King Henry when he is only a boy, but a very ambitious boy at that.

The child was as iron-spined as her mother. "I am all right," she said.

"You weren't afraid?"

"Not at all."

The woman nodded her approbation. "That is good," she said. "That is what I expect of a princess of Spain."

"And a Princess of Wales," her daughter added.

Gregory uses a mix of dialogue and description to describe her characters. The reader also gets to know the inside of Catalina's head through multiple monologues throughout the novel.

The Grudge 2

Also know as the worst sequel ever. The first Grudge movie was not very good and it still perplexes me as to why they would make a second movie. The plot is much the same as the first; there is a "haunted" house in Japan and if you go inside you will be cursed and eventually killed. The movie attempts to tie up some loose ends and answer questions brought on by the first movie, but really it just leaves the viewer more confused. The film jumps around between two different time periods, the past and the present, making the lack of a plot hard to follow. As my father so bluntly put it "It's about some dead asian brood." This movie is marketed as a horror movie but in reality has all the criteria of a comedie. I had seen the first movie and still had almost no clue as to what was happening in the sequel. This is by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen. So if your lookin for a good laugh...this is a good option.