A review by bub_9
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

3.0

I adore short stories, and some of these were absolute jewels. Hilary Mantel clearly possesses a remarkable gift for concision and incisiveness of speech, and some of her turns of phrase linger in the mind long after the stories have been read. Nonetheless, this is far from an ideal collection, with some stories - especially 'Harley Street' - completely falling flat for me. Still, though, the mix of eclectic, confusing and seemingly superficial (though certainly not thoughtlessly so, nor in any pejorative fashion) writing leads me to the only metaphor I can think of, albeit one that is rather overused - that of an onion, with the reader peeling and peeling and peeling and not sure as to whether anything lies at its core.