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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
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
serendipitysbooks'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Torture
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