The English Governess

You must approach it as an historical book, and realize that it pertains to the Siam of the late 's.

I read this book because I recently saw two movies about Anna and the King of Siam and decided I wanted to know the true story. I'm very glad I did. Once you get used to the old fashioned form of writing this book is full of fascinating stories, details and facts about the King, Siam and the Siamese people.

The King of Siam of that time denied its truth, and the kings following. Because of my knowing a deposed Thailand princess, and deported to the USA, and my personal experience in Thailand, I tend to believe the story is true. However, she writes poorly and makes her book difficult to read. This is a fascinating story, especially for those who have seen the Hollywood versions.

The authoress goes into very great detail about Siam's customs, but that adds flavour and interest to her personal story. My biggest complaint with this version is the lack of pictures, but what do you expect for free? Anna and the King. Quality of the physical book -- fine. Value of the content -- really interesting.

Her own version is fascinating Siam had two kings at a time, and the King of the play and movies was a complicated and definitely not romantic character. Her book gives a vivid picture of a time and place long gone. The King and I didn't do some of the complexity underlying this story justice, but this is a bit of a slow read as a result of the simple time and period its from.

There was something seriously wrong with this copy. It was very poorly-printed. Whoever printed the book Hard Press Publishers did not see fit to use any Upper-Case letters beginning of sentences, proper names, etc. This made the book extremely difficult to understand.

This is certainly not congruent with the original manuscript, as other publishers print their books properly. One person found this helpful. See all 46 reviews. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. The writing style used was florid — typical for the times — and she managed to stretch the facts so that more exciting incidents could be included to attract a larger readership. She led an active life both before and after her experiences in Thailand, and it is worth reading about it in several articles on the web. Dec 11, Mel rated it did not like it Shelves: That book, which is largely considered to be almost entirely fictional, nevertheless told a story focusing entirely on the role of women in the court.

Leonowens was able to focus on issues that were interesting, whether or not her examples were real or not. I enjoyed it greatly. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for this book. In the intervening three years I have learned a great deal about travel writing but I think the difference is greater than this. The issues in Siamese Harem Life seemed more real, the stories more cohesive and the author a lot less judgemental.

In this book the chapters were very short and jumped all over the place. The author came across as terribly judgemental, and I found myself not liking her at all. I felt like I was wasting my time reading it, learning nothing much about Siam or the colonisers. I may go back to it at some point. But not for a while, it was very disappointing. Unfortunately for the modern reader the womens' literature of the time, especially traveller's notes, was excessively wordy, filled with outrageous amount of pompous adjectives, rhetoric ensuring the reader about the awfulness of Siam and the goodness of the West, and other unnecessary flowery language.

Underneath it all would be a quaint day-to-day description of the life and actions of a king, who tried to deter Western colonizers from gaining too much influence or subvert the most intransigen Unfortunately for the modern reader the womens' literature of the time, especially traveller's notes, was excessively wordy, filled with outrageous amount of pompous adjectives, rhetoric ensuring the reader about the awfulness of Siam and the goodness of the West, and other unnecessary flowery language.

Underneath it all would be a quaint day-to-day description of the life and actions of a king, who tried to deter Western colonizers from gaining too much influence or subvert the most intransigent among them, and articulated why the Christian ideology was a poorly thought-out subset of Buddhist values, which the Europeans themselves did not follow. Overall, I would not recommend reading this book in its original edition Gutenberg project , as at times it is diffucult to force oneself to read on, because of the repetetive nature of the 'flowery prose' within. I think I remember hearing that Anna and the King was written, because this original version was not really suited to a popular audience.

I think I can understand that view. This book is good when it is a memoir, not so good when it digresses into being a travelogue, a history primer or a political treatise. The memoir has a fine middle, but no beginning whatsoever. The reader is simply dumped into the middle of the story without any hint of who the characters are. The story does come to a logic I think I remember hearing that Anna and the King was written, because this original version was not really suited to a popular audience. The story does come to a logical conclusion, but then several chapters are tagged on after the ending--a travel account of a visit to a Cambodian temple and a myth explaining the origins of that temple.

The writing is a bit stiff at points, but the greater issue is a lack of organization integrity and solid editing. My mother had the edition of this book that was printed in Thailand and now out of print because it is banned due to all of the controversy of the story it self. Feb 18, Julie rated it liked it Shelves: It was historically fascinating. And although her racism and closed mindedness is somewhat disappointing by our modern standards, it gives true insight into the perceptions of the west towards the cultures of the east in the s.

Jul 27, Rene rated it liked it. The interesting thing about this book is, that it contains the real memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who was a teacher of the royal children of King Rama IV. However, many people doubt if she wrote her real memoirs. They believe that she mixes fact and fiction. Whatever may be true, I get the impression that her memoirs are real.

That makes the book worthwhile. Only three stars, because the style of writing is quite old-fashioned and nowadays not really gripping.

After my two-year L. After his father's death, he became Rama V, whom the Thais revere and love. As king, he made many reforms, including the abolishment of slavery. I learned from other reading that Anna is pretty sloppy in her memory and writing, and doubt the romance between the Rama IV and Anna as protrayd in the movie.

Dec 06, Tammy rated it it was ok Shelves: I liked reading Anna's descriptions of her life in Siam, did not like the free version of this on my kindle. Lots of typo's, and the text-to-speach feature mispronounced, not just the native verbage which is to be expected, but the English as well.

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The whole time I was reading it, I kept hearing the March of the Children over and over in my head! I would recommend to someone who liked the Anna and the King and The King and I, but desired to get the non-Hollywood-icized version. May 12, Liz rated it did not like it Shelves: Unfortunately, I didn't finish this one. It was an interesting read, but I couldn't distance myself enough from my 21st century viewpoint to appreciate the story. Compared to her English peers at the time, I'm sure Leonowens was incredibly forward-thinking and respectful to the people of Thailand. But I just couldn't get over the "Oh, these savages.

They could be almost human if they just found Jesus. It was just too frequent, and too heavy handed. Jan 31, H.

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Reed rated it liked it Shelves: I read this as a teenager because of my love of "The King and I. Jun 15, Lorri rated it liked it Shelves: Despite her obvious Orientalism, I found the account an interesting perspective on Thailand. The beginning tells Anna experiences in "Siam" but by the end, she only relates histories and the last chapter is about Angkor Wad and Cambodia.

I was waiting for the scenes I loved in the movie about the party for Englishmen. Maybe there a sequel I am missing. The description written at Goodreads pretty much sums it up. It was very interesting and much of it was well-written. There were tedious moments when Anna seemed to feel the need to catalog the commercial life of the country, but her descriptions of her impressions of court life and her experiences there were engaging.

Mar 04, Desirae rated it did not like it Shelves: The book is so poorly organized that it's kind of painful to get through. It's the least reflective memoir I've read; the narrator is farcically Anglo-supremacist. The most enjoyable aspects were a considering the narrator unreliable and reading the implicit storylines of her ridiculousness, and b the overwrought adjectives.

How did this become a musical??? Sep 27, Alex rated it it was ok. True story behind the story made popular in 'Anna and the King. Parts were ok, but the story just seemed dated. Aug 30, Dima Kindle rated it it was ok Shelves: Didn't finish the book yet, and I'm affraid I won't be able to do so. Most of it is descriptions of views and customs, and almost nothing about real PEOPLE and the author's personal experiences, which is what I find interesting.

Return to Book Page. The English Governess by John Glassco ,. A classic of Canadian erotica, this is the original restored edition of the flagellation story Glassco crafted for the notorious Paris publisher Maurice Girodias and his Olympia Press. He was a distinguished A classic of Canadian erotica, this is the original restored edition of the flagellation story Glassco crafted for the notorious Paris publisher Maurice Girodias and his Olympia Press.

He was a distinguished poet, novelist, essayist and translator—the Glassco prize for translation was named after him. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The English Governess , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The English Governess. Lists with This Book. I read this title because I heard it was a literary classic about female domination.

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I was quite disappointed. I didn't connect much with the characters as it is more telling than showing. Theo Reijnders rated it liked it Nov 20, Joseph Milazzo rated it did not like it Dec 10, Haappy rated it really liked it Sep 08, Casey rated it it was amazing Aug 14, Justine rated it liked it Nov 18, Lenny Nero rated it it was amazing Dec 17, Orchid rated it liked it Sep 10,