The Real Borgias

An important Book for any interested in Renaissance Italy, it's Popes and politics. A book that debunks centuries of myth regarding the Borgias and places the family within the context of their age.

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Great story... Impossible narration

Where does The Borgias rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For story, it's great. For narration, it's in my bottom five audiobooks ever.

Who was your favorite character and why?

All of the Borgias were interesting in their own ways.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Enn Reitel?

Somebody. Who. Can. Read. And. It. Doesn't.


Sound. Like. There. Is. A. Full. Stop. After. Every. Word. And.



No. Random. Pauses.

Any additional comments?

Please reissue this with a different narrator. Not only is the reading stilted, but there are obvious mispronunciations (beau-dlian library Oxford).

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7 people found this helpful

Not so great

Would you try another book written by G. J. Meyer or narrated by Enn Reitel?

Yes to author - no to narrator

What was most disappointing about G. J. Meyer’s story?

It might be me but I love books about the Borgias, Popes, The Vatican, Medieval history in general but this just sounded like a list of historical moments e.g. this happened, then that happened, then this happened, then that happened etc. etc. etc.

Did Enn Reitel do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

There weren't any characters it was one long yawn really

Did The Borgias inspire you to do anything?

Yes listen to the samples before buying anything

Any additional comments?

No not really worth my finger power typing YAWN

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent Book!

This book shows what happens when an unbiased scholar does the painstaking research necessary to write accurate history rather than merely seek out the sensational. The result gives the lie to all the anti-Catholic nonsense written about the Borgias since the days of the Reformation.

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Horses for Courses!

Would you listen to The Borgias again? Why?

Yes, because it is a truly complex story and there are so many names that I'd never heard of before that I would really like to listen again as it's am amazingly compelling story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Borgias?

There aren't any particular moments as it's not that kind of book, G J Meyer writes a particular type of history - he also wrote The Tudors which is on Audible and I had listened to that before this one. Bear in mind that Meyer is an American and, just speaking personally, I always find that Americans writing on European history are overly kind to some of Europe's most notorious and infamous characters! But, on balance, he is reasonably fair and does at least put his metaphorical cards on the tablet right at the start. This is a redemption of the Borgia's, make no mistake. An apology if you will

What about Enn Reitel’s performance did you like?

The reason I entitled this "Horses for Courses" is that I was very nearly put off from this book by some of the near-vitriolic comments on Enn Reitel's performance.

Personally, I liked his narration as it is very rhythmic. Yes, he does stop and start a bit but it usually seems intended to emphasize inflection or tone, or perhaps actual punctuation in the book. I found it very easy to listen to but found his Italian and Spanish pronunciations quite hard to follow and/or understand at times.

I have no idea if his European pronunciations were good, but they certainly were very "Spanish" or "Italian" if you know what I mean?!

I would say to any other potential listener, don't be put off. Listen to the sample and see how you get on. I LOVE rhymic readers who read with a kind of lilt, nice clear up and downs. Mind you, I have high-functioning autism and often find nuanced inflections quite hard to follow and so I enjoyed Enn Reitel's very clear pauses, stops, comma spaces etc.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

There have been so many films of The Borgias, all of which are mostly invented history. Similarly to the British obsession with The Tudors, who are characterized as caricatures mostly, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I bearing little resemblance to their truths, so it is with The Borgias.

Any additional comments?

Meyer is attempting to redeem ALL of the Borgias in this tome. No mean feat! I find some of his interpretations a little unconvincing personally but, then again, I am an historian professionally (not European history!) and so perhaps I expect more original source research. Meyer is very honest in his introductions that original source documentation is not really his 'thing' although, to be fair, he does introduce original sources and speak about them. However, he seems to rely heavily on other historian's work, some contemporaneous with The Borgias. This is fine other than he seems to pick historians who have been mostly discounted by historians of today for being biased or bigotted. Meyer states that they are biased and bigotted and that is his entire point really - they all had something to gain by slating The Borgias - and he's right. But, whether it is entirely legitimate to base your entire work on such accounts mostly in order to dismiss them, is another question.

However, Meyer writes with humour and intelligence and I found it a really enjoyable book and would highly recommend it to others.

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4 people found this helpful

not enough about the borgias

What disappointed you about The Borgias?

it had too much information about the catholic church and other popes

Would you ever listen to anything by G. J. Meyer again?

no

How did the narrator detract from the book?

didn't detract but the content was a bit dry

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Borgias?

most of the book

Any additional comments?

if you want to know about challenges for the catholic church and the choice of popes this is for you

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3 people found this helpful