Bertie: A Life of Edward VII by Jane Ridley, Carol Boyd (Narrator)

Final Rating: 2.8/5

 6 hours and 12 minutes left and he is finally King!

  Perhaps this is one of those nonfiction titles I should have picked up a hardback version of instead of listening to or maybe should have tried to find another title to enjoy about King Edward VII because this wasn’t that great an experience and this didn’t turn out anything like I hoped for. Oh dear I hate to have this reaction to such a devoted work to a historic figure but I have to be perfectly honest- I was pushed to my limit with boredom and frustration of the rampant repetition in Bertie: A Life of Edward VII. I keep going over what could have went so wrong with this book for me and I am trying to recall the positives but perhaps this just wasn’t the best choice for night listening. I think my main disappoint fell under; every chapter ran in a vicious montage of either: cruelty or disapproval from a member of the extensive family listing, a sickness or death in said family, a supposed mistress and her coveted stash of letters or suspected illegitimate child, a long description of a hunting expedition, another “shattering” court case or scandal that sadly began to blur together in subject and manner, listings of costly menus and weight or size measurements and very precious little else but with plenty of “it is supposed or suspected and rumored” thrown throughout the narration. I didn’t think it possible to become frustrated or find an overabundance of details or rumors uncomfortable to listen to or plain dull but this audio book unfortunately proved that notion wrong to me.

Very few positives I can list but I did learn more about complex family dynamics than I thought proper to know, the various medical analyses were interesting and kept me listening, the narrator was excellent at pronouncing different languages or creating voices for historic figures and finally I did serve as constant entertainment to my fellow coworkers with me pulling out my earphone quite a few times late at night and yelling “9 hours left and he is still not King!” or “Not another mistress!” and “Why are you crying, you didn’t even like him!” Yes, I did receive confused looks and laughs and I had to quickly explain myself for the outbursts otherwise I would have found myself alone at my station. At least someone enjoyed the experience but for me, I think I will look elsewhere to learn about fascinating topics and figures of the Victorian and Edwardian Eras.

-purchased and listened to Audible version