Reviews with content warning for Grief - Bring Up the Bodies

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

6 reviews

waytoomanybooks's review

adventurous challenging 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

In Bring Up the Bodies, Cromwell has decided to ditch Anne Boleyn. His demeanor around her changes completely and irreversibly. It almost feels like a 180°, but if you look back, the bread crumbs become more obvious. I think the book fleshes this out considerably. There were many points that made me stop and have a mini meltdown, (which you can see in my liveblogs lol).

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!

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carojust's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I think those who love this book read it as a historical biography -- you're in it for the well-researched depiction of the Tudor court drama, I get that. But I went into this as a fiction reader, and as a story, this was a slog to get through.

"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.

Content Warnings