Wolf Hall is a great glorious beast of a book. Like the hike up a steep sloped volcano, no rest for the reader but the imminent sense of power and danger, the spectacular views. Some will find the reading arduous, I know many have complained they are confused, that was never my experience.
My first thought was Marquez-like, and as in Hundred Years of Solitude many characters have the same name. Our central protagonist is Thomas Cromwell (not Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Audley, Thomas Avery, Thomas Wriothesly, Thomas Boleyn…. certainly NOT Thomas Moore… nor Thomas Howard…) and as portrayed here he – Cromwell – is fascinating.
This character study is one of three great accomplishments in Wolf Hall. Well, this one study in particular. Many characters are well created, multi-faceted, engaging, surprising, believable, but Cromwell is Mantel’s Odysseus, her man of many tricks. Often fierce but with a tender side, clearly ambitious for wealth & comfort but with a generous side, always restless intellectually and often physically. The reader is always curious to what is coming next, as is Cromwell, and sharing this view we proceed through the violent late-medieval sectarian civil war that is England before the Renaissance.
This is Mantel’s second triumph. She has clearly done her homework, and she brings life to the history. The setting is rich and detailed from high to low, from who wore which silks to which servants most likely had fleas. Palaces, inns, monasteries & prisons are peopled and alive but also detailed for their structural gifts and flaws, their component materials, feels and smells. Affairs of State are conducted but by humans portrayed as having humble desires, strengths, flaws, who get distracted, or grumpy, or shy… who have homes to go to (or to be kept from while imprisoned) with people they love (or don’t). The rich fullness of her portrayal of time place people is impressive.
And lastly, complexity of tone: the book is funny and grim, sad and frustrating, graceful and illuminating, snide and humane. But instead of becoming a mess – this becomes a success. Though Mantel has chosen to be many things, she loses track of no threads and the reader comes away with a full tapestry rather than a mere sketch.
Full five stars.
LttischWitness8726 on
Wolf Hall, as /u/downthecornercat says is excellent. You could also try Q by Luther Blisset.
2 Comments
Wolf Hall is a great glorious beast of a book. Like the hike up a steep sloped volcano, no rest for the reader but the imminent sense of power and danger, the spectacular views. Some will find the reading arduous, I know many have complained they are confused, that was never my experience.
My first thought was Marquez-like, and as in Hundred Years of Solitude many characters have the same name. Our central protagonist is Thomas Cromwell (not Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Audley, Thomas Avery, Thomas Wriothesly, Thomas Boleyn…. certainly NOT Thomas Moore… nor Thomas Howard…) and as portrayed here he – Cromwell – is fascinating.
This character study is one of three great accomplishments in Wolf Hall. Well, this one study in particular. Many characters are well created, multi-faceted, engaging, surprising, believable, but Cromwell is Mantel’s Odysseus, her man of many tricks. Often fierce but with a tender side, clearly ambitious for wealth & comfort but with a generous side, always restless intellectually and often physically. The reader is always curious to what is coming next, as is Cromwell, and sharing this view we proceed through the violent late-medieval sectarian civil war that is England before the Renaissance.
This is Mantel’s second triumph. She has clearly done her homework, and she brings life to the history. The setting is rich and detailed from high to low, from who wore which silks to which servants most likely had fleas. Palaces, inns, monasteries & prisons are peopled and alive but also detailed for their structural gifts and flaws, their component materials, feels and smells. Affairs of State are conducted but by humans portrayed as having humble desires, strengths, flaws, who get distracted, or grumpy, or shy… who have homes to go to (or to be kept from while imprisoned) with people they love (or don’t). The rich fullness of her portrayal of time place people is impressive.
And lastly, complexity of tone: the book is funny and grim, sad and frustrating, graceful and illuminating, snide and humane. But instead of becoming a mess – this becomes a success. Though Mantel has chosen to be many things, she loses track of no threads and the reader comes away with a full tapestry rather than a mere sketch.
Full five stars.
Wolf Hall, as /u/downthecornercat says is excellent. You could also try Q by Luther Blisset.
https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/173487/luther-blissett