Reviews

A Change Of Climate by Hilary Mantel

sophiepmeeks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

carolineva's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

3.5

bellygames's review against another edition

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. Hilary Mantel is a talented writer. Although I've never been able to get into her Wolf Hall trilogy, this is the third of her standalone novels I've read and enjoyed.

The less you know about the plot of this one going in, the better. Such simple, powerful writing. I wish I could stay a bit longer with each of the women in this book.

catherine_louise's review against another edition

5.0

amazing (but would you expect less from Our Queen Hilary Mantel?)

krep___'s review against another edition

2.25

After reading her Cromwell trilogy (twice!), this book made for pretty dull fare. Mainly character study - with quite a few characters to keep track of, though none that were particularly compelling. Although original in story and authentic in feel, it was, apart from the period in Apartheid South Africa, (dare I say it?) pretty boring. 2-1/2 stars.

kelbi's review against another edition

5.0

I loved it though found some of it painful to read. She is such a good writer. I'm glad I found this earlier work

bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition

4.0

Ralph and Anna have been married for twenty-five years. Former missionaries in South Africa and Botswana, they now do good in 1980's Norfolk while raising their four kids. Kit, the oldest, still dreams about Africa every night and contemplates going back to do some good of her own. After all, the children have been taught charity and caring for their neighbours.

The Eldred household isn't as devoutly Christian as one might think though. Ralph cares a little too much for his neighbour Amy, and Anna lets slip that she doesn't really believe in God at all. The reason for this moral lapse and loss of faith seems to be a traumatic incident in the couple's past. We know that they spent time in jail for not complying with apartheid standards in South Africa, but the event too horrifying to speak of took place in Botswana, after Kit's birth. The story is slowly revealed in flashbacks, and the suspense is almost unbearable (unless you've read the infuriatingly stupid Goodreads book description, in which case there is no suspense left at all).

It is in many ways a brilliant novel. Mantel poses some interesting questions on ethics and what motivates a person to do good, or bad for that matter. The characters are finely drawn and believable, and the writing wonderfully economical. I came very close to giving it a five star review, but the ending felt a tad contrived and distracting. It is however a very fine book and has convinced me to give Wolf Hall another try (I failed miserably some years ago). Recommended!

annrhub's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

kduhy's review against another edition

emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A story about a family. A son is bullied by his father to change his choice of career and join the families charity which sends aid and missionaries to Africa. He and his wife end up as missionaries in South Africa just as apartheid is happening. The story shifts between Norfolk and the Red House to South Africa and is slowly revealed in flash backs. At times it is suspenseful, claustrophobic and gripping.
The story deals with difficulties of forgiveness, secrets, memories of time spent in Botswana and South Africa and looks at the effects of an event.

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.