Scan barcode
waytoomanybooks's review against another edition
- 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
It’s so wild how quickly and seemingly effortlessly he can throw his weight behind someone, be it More, Anne, or Jane. He can so easily flip a switch when he needs to, when it is advantageous to do so. He does show respect to More and not to Anne, but I think it is only because with More, he has these tiny moments from his childhood with him. Moments that weren’t what I’d call happy or positive, but were maybe inspiring to Cromwell? Like More’s life as a young, well-off academic who was clearly going places showed him someone he could aspire to be. Through More, he learns the power of words, of learning them (he asks More if he was at his dictionary when he brought him his bread) and using them to get ahead. I think he feels he owes More something for that, however small and ultimately meaningless.
But he feels he owes Anne nothing. I’m sure he would say, “What did she give me other than headaches?” He would argue Anne didn’t make him, Henry did. Henry made them both, so if Henry wants to unmake Anne, well, he’d better take Henry’s side so that he doesn’t unmake him, too. She’s become a liability to him. By falling from grace in Henry’s eyes, that puts him in danger, so fuck her. Why should she get respect when he’s in danger?
I don’t think he genuinely believes the misogynistic crap Henry spews. When Henry is having a panic attack about “How did she know I’d like sex positions that weren’t just missionary?” Cromwell is mentally rolling his eyes, but physically nodding along because agreeing is expedient. He doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with anyone liking or enjoying sex as a man or a woman, but hating women is convenient and expedient and gets the result he wants, so he goes along with it. Which is it’s own brand of misogyny, but in a somehow more fucked up way. Like he believes in women being educated. He is pained when Jane Rochford tells him about her awful marriage. He admires Meg More’s talents. He mourns his wife and daughters constantly. He is actively betraying his own beliefs and values because it gets him what he wants. He’ll say anything to get himself where he wants to be.
This series is a stunning work of brilliance. I cannot wait to read the final novel, and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the second season of Wolf Hall!
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Torture
carojust's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
"Bring Up The Bodies" follows Thomas Cromwell and his political and personal maneuvering in the name of King Henry VIII, leading to Anne Boleyn's demise. I think what's most notable about this book is the reimagining of the queens -- Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour -- who are given more influence, motives and personality than history may credit them with.
You have to be prepared for pretty dense and archaic wording (I appreciated this, honestly), and each person having 3-4 different names and titles that are alternated every sentence. But beyond these stylistic choices, it's just way longer than it needs to be, every conversation completely spelled out for you.
I vacillate in rating this, because I can see Hilary Mantel's talent in defining and empathizing with Cromwell's headspace and relationships. I just wish it were more interesting.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War
ssummar's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Classism
bfab18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia
naomi_k's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, and Pregnancy
Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, and Classism
queerloras's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Incest, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
jhbandcats's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As before, the writing is exquisite. It’s a bit challenging - there aren’t always quotation marks and it’s difficult to tell who is saying what - but once the rhythm settles in it flows smoothly. Mantel’s sardonic wit is as caustic as ever; she describes Anne Boleyn’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, as looking “like a piece of rope chewed by a dog, or a piece of gristle left on the side of a trencher.”
Wolf Hall is one of my favorite all-time books, and Bring Up the Bodies is a worthy sequel. I’m now hoping to finish the trilogy with the 800+ page The Mirror and the Light. Mantel is just an extraordinary writer.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, and Classism
tmickey's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide and Blood
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“But remember this above all: defeat your instinct. Your love of glory must conquer your will to survive; or why fight at all? Why not be a smith, a brewer, a wool merchant? Why are you in the contest, if not to win, and if not to win, then to die?”
“You can be merry with the king, you can share a joke with him. But as Thomas More used to say, it’s like sporting with a tamed lion. You tousle its mane and pull its ears, but all the time you’re thinking, those claws, those claws, those claws.”
“‘Well, Francis,’ he says. ‘We know not the hour, do we?’”
- more by Hilary Mantel!—TBR
- the Welsh Princes trilogy, by Sharon Kay Penman
- The Sunne in Splendour, by Sharon Kay Penman—TBR
- When Christ and His Saints Slept, by Sharon Kay Penman—TBR
- Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll—for the parody of English court etiquette—the scene early on (in Mantel’s book) when they’re trying to decide how to wake Henry who’s fallen asleep at the dinner table particularly recalled Carroll’s story for me 😂
Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, and Sexual content
malloryfitz's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, and Alcohol