foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
4.0
Though populated by many characters -- a family of six, their various aunts and other relations, several mistresses and girlfriends -- this novel is tight and compelling. Mantel expertly brings us back and forth between 1960s Apartheid South Africa and 1980s rural Norfolk, with various digressions in between. The central characters are Anna and Ralph Eldred, children of devout, puritanical-leaning Protestants, who, mainly in order to escape the tensions in their local community, become missionaries in South Africa. There, they are utterly unprepared to understand or help the local community in which they find themselves. They become caught up in helping the small Black community fight racism, abuse and injustice, and these struggles echo through their lives and their children's lives. Mantel subtly challenges the idea of missionaries, and makes it clear that these people have no business interfering in a community that doesn't need them, and that the financial resources they have would be better spent in different ways. But she also treats all her characters with care and sensitivity, and creates a vivid and surprising portrait of their lives.
Spoiler
I also appreciated how the murder of the Eldred's baby is treated. In many novels, people who do unbelievably cruel or terrible things are described as crazy, or something other than human. But in this book, the perpetrators of the crime are calculating, vindictive, and astute: it is their very humanity that makes them so terrifying. Often, by making criminals in fiction seem inhuman, we absolve them of their crimes and the choices they have made. We need to see the perpetrators of evil, such as killing a baby, as just like the rest of us, so we can truly acknowledge their misdeeds.libbykc's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
rozydozy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mimster's review
4.0
Such fabulous writing - it would be a 5 if not for two things: I don’t think you could write about Africa like that nowadays and the ending is a bit too nebulous whilst seeming to try to be cathartic
Paperback library book borrowed by J
Paperback library book borrowed by J
backpackfullofbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
solitarysoul's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 It took half way through it to get into it, but it was good.
sawyerbell's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. While I enjoyed this novel about how a buried family secret erodes the foundations of a do-gooding family's love for each other, the characters and setting didn't come alive for me in the way characters and settings in other Mantel novel's have.
marystevens's review against another edition
5.0
One of the finest novels I have ever read. It follows the lives of Anna and Ralph Eldred, newly married and off to South Africa as lay missionaries. Apartheid is at its height, and the couple runs afoul of the authorities. They are deported to neighbouring Beuchuanaland, where an event of almost unimaginable horrow sees them return to England where Ralph takes over the running of a chartitable trust founded by his father. Their lives, though dedicated to good deeds, are tainted by the memory of their time in Africa and a determination to repress the impact of their experiences.
The book contains the great themes of faith, loss, forgiveness and the illusive nature of redemption. The characters leap off the page, and even the minor characters - Ralphs sister Emma, the Eldred children, and a troubled young woman who comes to stay in the Eldred home - are given significant parts to play. I loved the dialoge, especially between the Eldred children, for its humour and wit.
I have to credit for this review. I'm just too tired to write my own. But I agree with everything he says.
The book contains the great themes of faith, loss, forgiveness and the illusive nature of redemption. The characters leap off the page, and even the minor characters - Ralphs sister Emma, the Eldred children, and a troubled young woman who comes to stay in the Eldred home - are given significant parts to play. I loved the dialoge, especially between the Eldred children, for its humour and wit.
I have to credit for this review. I'm just too tired to write my own. But I agree with everything he says.