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A review by takumo_n
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
5.0
We see the downfall of Thomas Cromwell in this last book of a brilliant trilogy. Maybe the most meandering the the three, but incredibly fun and unbealievably well written. The incidents, that Cromwell engineered, in the first and second book bleed into this one in the sense that our protagonist believes he can manipulate the king into saving or executing anyone, or pass any policy, or married whom Cromwell pleases. As Wosley step a little too high in his pretentions, Cromwell does the same. He saves and kills who he needs, ends up with no friends and nothing but traitors, at least from his perspective. Even though the king himself tells Cromwell he knows he's being manipulated, or when the king has a second accident with his horse and Cromwell gets this deep desire to run away, or the appearance of his daughter, or the hated Norfolk who says they're just nothing more or less than tools to the king, or a queen who the king doesn't want, Cromwell still wanted his own way in the royal court and international conflict. The accumulations of frustrations left the king weak and angry, in the epilogue of the book Mantel tells us that Henry made nothing but bad decisions after Cromwell's death, not that it was going dandy while alive. But the book goes into a lot of details in the dealings of the royal court, etiquette, civil war, foreing policy, etc. It feels like a amazingly written soap opera. And again this Cromwell we like, but sometimes the real life one appears, inevitably, in these pages when he becomes a monster, a manipulator. But there's nothing but pity for this character at the end, specially with that last paragraph, my God!!
He is like a man retreating from a cliff edge: in despair he thinks he will throw himself down on the rocks, but then he feels the blue air bouncing him along to perdition, he feels the wind in his lungs, he sees the gulls flying below, he is blown like a feather to the brink, and then he digs his heels in, he grabs at the sparse bent shrubs, screws up his eyes and holds tight for his life. He says, 'You will not hear me speak against the king.'
By the way: there is a lot of descriptions with the color blue in them. I don't know if Mantel just likes that image or if there's actual symbolism. Because there is A LOT of blue in this book!
He is like a man retreating from a cliff edge: in despair he thinks he will throw himself down on the rocks, but then he feels the blue air bouncing him along to perdition, he feels the wind in his lungs, he sees the gulls flying below, he is blown like a feather to the brink, and then he digs his heels in, he grabs at the sparse bent shrubs, screws up his eyes and holds tight for his life. He says, 'You will not hear me speak against the king.'
By the way: there is a lot of descriptions with the color blue in them. I don't know if Mantel just likes that image or if there's actual symbolism. Because there is A LOT of blue in this book!