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A review by jimbowen0306
The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel
3.0
I won’t lie, I’m somewhat bemused by this book.
In this book, we see what happens to Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s England, after he managed the death of Anne Boleyn. It’s a depressing read.
In the first 2 books in the series, Cromwell felt… sure footed? You might not have liked his vision, but Cromwell had a vIsion, and knew how to guide/coax/cajole/bully/tempt/berate and harm people, to get where he felt Henry, and England needed to go. You might not like it, but he didn’t really put a foot wrong.
In this book, I’m reminded of Churchill’s quote that Success is process of moving from failure to failure, without loss of enthusiasm. I number of times I thought “Oh for God’s sake, the Cromwell of the previous books, wouldn’t do that.” This may be because the research Mantel did told her that it broadly happened as described, but it felt… incongruous, when I think about what went before.
So overall, I found the book a little disappointing.
In this book, we see what happens to Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s England, after he managed the death of Anne Boleyn. It’s a depressing read.
In the first 2 books in the series, Cromwell felt… sure footed? You might not have liked his vision, but Cromwell had a vIsion, and knew how to guide/coax/cajole/bully/tempt/berate and harm people, to get where he felt Henry, and England needed to go. You might not like it, but he didn’t really put a foot wrong.
In this book, I’m reminded of Churchill’s quote that Success is process of moving from failure to failure, without loss of enthusiasm. I number of times I thought “Oh for God’s sake, the Cromwell of the previous books, wouldn’t do that.” This may be because the research Mantel did told her that it broadly happened as described, but it felt… incongruous, when I think about what went before.
So overall, I found the book a little disappointing.