Scan barcode
incrediblemelk'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? Yes
4.25
I found myself getting really enraged on Alison’s behalf that Colette completely fails to understand the kind of torment that Alison faced as a child, and now also faces from the ghosts of the men who abused her.
To Colette Alison seems hopeless: grossly fat, vulgar, undisciplined, fanciful. But Alison is actually quite sensitive, wise and insightful, and also a genuine medium who can actually predict the future and communicate with spirits of the dead.
(I liked that Mantel treated Alison‘s ‘sensitive’ ability in a completely matter-of-fact way, rather than as something magical or fantastical. This book is quite insightful about the ‘show-business’ of being a spirit medium, but Alison’s often tacky colleagues are also the only ones who really understand this modern carnival life.)
Alison has also actually survived a truly heinous childhood in the most heroic way, and the contempt Colette feels for her is a complete failure of imagination and empathy.
At first, Colette thinks that she can get Alison to write a book and make money from her experiences, but when Alison actually describes what happened to her in tape-recorded interviews, Colette shrinks from any recognition or understanding.
Hilary Mantel has described Alison as the kind of person that she Mantel might have become if she hadn’t been educated, and she’s also described Colette as the polar opposite of Alison.
Mantel’s general contempt for English society (which suffuses this book) seems to be expressed most clearly in the character of Colette: someone with no intrinsic sense of self, who is completely obsessed with consumption and status, trends and fads. In raging against her hopeless and unpleasant ex-husband, Gavin, Colette completely fails to recognise that her own lack of imagination makes her Gavin’s perfect match.
But particularly reading Colette’s virulent fatphobia, and her bullying attempts to force Alison to diet, I wondered if Colette also represents Mantel’s cruel, self-punishing inner voice.
To read Alison and Colette’s interactions as their partnership goes on for years, and what was at first quite a mutually complementary and fruitful friendship disintegrates into mutual misunderstanding, felt dreary and infuriating, like trying to thread a needle with yarn too thick for its eye.
The way Mantel handles the details of Alison’s childhood is really interesting as well. Alison has become protectively amnesiac, blocking out memories of her neglectful sex-worker mother, who seemed both drawn to and trapped in a grotesque demimonde of soldiers and criminals in Aldershot, using Alison’s childhood home as a place to stash contraband and feed murder victims to savage dogs.
The absolute dread I felt to realise that these appalling men were not just bad memories from Alison’s childhood, but physical presences that have tormented her for decades, and who now are ganging up beyond the Veil to assault and torture Alison, made me not want to read the book at times.
But I was quite impressed by how deftly Mantel manages to turn the book around so that I found the ending quite hopeful and triumphant.
Graphic: Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
wordsread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia
lfmp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Abortion, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Abandonment, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Racism, Stalking, Murder, Child death, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
dr_aimz'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness and Fatphobia
Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Xenophobia and Racial slurs
rworrall78's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Violence
cailinrua's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Abortion, Blood, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, and Suicide