Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Wolf Hall

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

16 reviews

justinenoon82's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The book is quite long and my focus did wander at times, but it’s a brilliant read for those who enjoy deep character studies and historical detail.

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waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ooooooo, this book, it’s sequels, and the show have devoured my life! I’m obsessed with it.

This is unequivocally the best novel I have read in the last decade. Rarely does a book like this come along and completely change your brain chemistry, but this is just such a one. I cannot overstate the sumptuous descriptions, the thorough characterization of Cromwell, and the faithfulness to the historical time line of Tudor England.

In this first novel you watch Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn’s meteoric rise, Thomas from peasant to peer, and Anne from Lady to Queen. You get excited for them...until you remember what happens to them both. You know what happens. We all do. And it overshadows *everything*. Can you be truly happy for them when you know the man who has raised them up so high will also bring about their downfall? God, it’ll break your heart in such an achingly good way.

Normally when a book so wonderful comes my way, I cannot put it down and move through it quickly, but for *Wolf Hall*, I couldn’t help but stretch out my reading of it over the course of several months. This is a book to be savored. There is nothing else quite like it, except, perhaps, Hilary Mantel’s other works within this trilogy, though I know the events and prose will utterly devastate me. Even the t.v. show adaptation blows me away! I cannot recommend this book/series/t.v. show enough.

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whirl's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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glorifiedloveletters's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I am extremely late to the party when it comes to reading this book, but I have finally read it, and yes, it's as amazing as you all said. Mantel can write descriptions and interiority like no other, in a way that feels both effortless and "how does she DO that?" I am definitely going to get my mitts on the next Cromwell book, Bring Up The Bodies.

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heather667's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

naomi_k's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wolf Hall introduces us to Thomas Cromwell as a teenager who is being abused by his father. More than 25 years later he is a respected lawyer and right-hand man to Cardinal Wolsey, instrumental in arranging the annulment of Henry VIII’s first marriage so that he might marry Anne Boleyn. In Bring Up the Bodies the King has tired of Anne and, still in need of a male heir, desires to marry Jane Seymour. Again Thomas Cromwell, now Master Secretary, is a instrumental, first trying to broker a divorce and when that fails turning up evidence of adultery, enough for Anne to be tried for treason.

These books are works of historical fiction at their finest. The time period is fascinating and Mantel vividly brought it all to life. Not only was her characterisation excellent and her storytelling superb, but her attention to detail was unsurpassed, doubtless a reflection of her copious research. As a reader you are totally transported to the sixteenth century and all the behind the scenes machinations at the court. I thought the portrayal of Cromwell was brilliant. Without necessarily agreeing with Cromwell’s actions I absolutely understood his reasons for making them. He was complex, a pragmatist, flawed and very human, doing what needed to be done for King and country, which conveniently aided his own position. I especially loved all the behind the scenes intrigue and machinations. Mantel’s imaginings of the realities of trying to meet the needs and wants of a sometimes capricious King desperately in need of a male heir felt totally believable, and had me considering what recent behind the scenes goings-on at the palace might have looked like.

History may be seen as dry and boring, but historical fiction - in Mantel’s hands at least- is anything but. It’s totally fascinating and absorbing, full of bawdiness, duplicitousness, and self-serving behaviour. Exceptional reading.

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