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bfab18's review
- 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: Blood, Misogyny, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Death, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Infertility, and Cursing
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: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Infertility
Minor: Sexual content, Confinement, 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: Death, Infidelity, and Confinement
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: Gore, Blood, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Classism, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Torture, Alcoholism, Violence, Death, Infertility, and Murder
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Toxic relationship
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: Miscarriage, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
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: Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, Animal death, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Torture, 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, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Infertility
malloryfitz's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, and Blood
katherine_ridley'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
Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, and Misogyny
Minor: Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide
nadia's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I found the writing easier to follow in this book and I’m not sure whether that’s down to me being more used to Mantel’s style or that the nature of the material meant that it was dealt with with less subtlety and more drama. I wasn’t complaining. Whilst the book started rather slowly, as the story proceeds it turns into a real page-turner.
Having gone through this twice, I reckon the writing, while still excellent, is, on the whole, more direct in this one!
There will still parts where I had to reread paragraphs a few times to grasp the meaning, and some aspects did some rather dull, but those were few and far in between.
Keeping track of who's who was still relatively difficult on the whole, especially without a paper copy to easily flick back and forth, but having reread Wolf Half very recently definitely helped!
Finally I'm ready to for The Mirror & the Light!
P.P.S. I'm currently enjoying watching the BBC adaptation of the two books with some friends. It's really good!
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Miscarriage and Infidelity
Minor: Incest