Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Wolf Hall

This is a gorgeously written historical novel that goes hard on the history.

The prose is phenomenonal. The only qualm I have with the language is the excessive use of "he." It's sometimes difficult to understand which "he" is being referred to.

Unfortunately (for me), there isn't much plot to speak of. Mantel faithfully (I assume, I'm not a historian so I can't say for certain) follows the life path of Thomas Cromwell. That doesn't leave room for the usual beats we except from fiction story and as a result this book feels more like a biography than a novel.

The lack of a plot made the story drag in places, though the nature of the historical events was enough to keep me engaged to the end.

If you like historical novels, especially if they go hard on the history, this is a must read.

If you're not too keen on biographies or history, probably give it a pass.

Content Warnings

ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

“If England lies under God’s curse, or some evil spell, it has seemed for a time that the spell has been broken, by the golden king and his golden cardinal. But those golden years are over, and this winter the sea will freeze; the people who see it will remember it all their lives.”

I was *so* surprised by this book. First of all I can’t believe I was even talked in to reading an enormous historical fiction novel about a white man set in Tudor England. 😅 Never something I would be interested in and yet everything I’d heard about this book from a lot of readers whose opinion I trust made me decide to give it a chance and wow am I so glad I did.

First of all, I have definitely found a new favorite author. The uniqueness of the writing style took me a minute to get into a good reading rhythm, but once I got the hang of it, I absolutely loved it. Mantel did an amazing job of having the reader see everything that was happening as though we were Cromwell ourselves. At times I felt the action of the story so viscerally I thought I could have been in the actual room where it was all taking place, watching every character and their mannerisms and the way they were dressed and hearing their speech and witnessing their subtle interactions with everyone around them, every detail accounted for. It was truly just brilliantly executed. Maybe even the best-written book I’ve ever read, tbh.

I was also very impressed with the very complex, human characters she created. No one was stereotypical or a cliche at all (which is my number one complaint about most historical fiction). And Mantel was not dealing with highly sympathetic figures at all and yet she was able to demonstrate their humanity in spite of both their situation and my preconceived notions of who they were as historical figures.

“Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories.”

I was also struck by her depiction of the stark contrast between the very fragile mortality and transience of life in early modern England and that society’s beliefs in the immortality of souls and personal legend. The speed at which the sweating sickness killed its victims, the constant threat of plague, war, and famine, were clouds that often seemed to blot out any hope of finding joy in such a world—and yet, life, at least somewhere and for some, went on anyway. All of this arranged alongside the whim of one man dictating everyone else’s lives—a man whose legend is most guaranteed to live on—created such an impossibly unstable house of cards you can’t see how anyone could possibly succeed in such a volatile situation. Which, spoiler alert—well nevermind. Wait until the sequels. 😁

This book also presented (imo) a slightly different image of England and English history than I was familiar with—a country and culture that I feel like I’ve always been given such a specific one-sided narrative about. There’s obviously *such* a huge difference between the extremely white-washed and even often sugar-coated “history textbook” narrative and the “reality” of history and since we are so often aggressively fed the former version, it is shocking sometimes to see an alternative proffered that makes the past seem not only more real, but more relatable, which is what I think Mantel accomplishes with this book.

I’m really looking forward to finishing this series (as soon as I can order the edition I want from the UK 😂) as well as exploring more of Mantel’s work.

“They could tell Boccaccio a tale, those sinners at Wolf Hall.”

Content Warnings

caidyn's review

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Second time around, I liked this better. I still struggled at first with the writing because it's so different than the writing I usually read. But, the story is good. I think it's very realistic fiction, especially with Cromwell's viewpoint. It's also interesting how he views Anne Boleyn. It definitely falls under the belief that Anne was conniving and only ever thought of her ambition and maybe didn't truly love Henry, but it's still a perspective that is interesting and valid for maybe how Cromwell did see Anne.

Anyways, it's a very interesting read and I can't wait to get to the sequel later this month because I remember liking it a lot better than this first one.

Original review:

This was a hard book to get into. The writing as well, facts straight, and story tight, but it was just the writing. Switching tense and always referring to Cromwell as "he". It was hard to follow at times in that way, but it was still a book I enjoyed for the history and unique point of view.

Content Warnings

More...