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

5.0

I was saddened to hear of Mantel's passing the day after I finished this collection of short stories. I've tried and failed to read Wolf Hall, but I had much more success with this collection, which is full of twisted, dark tales and cranky characters. Her writing is perfection, full of understated commentary, such as when describing a shabby part of town: "where the dustbins had wheels but the cars were stacked on bricks." Her view of human nature is as salty as the Dead Sea. A favorite passage: "My mother got the house. She said she would have been loath to leave the garden. He had to pay her maintenance, and she spent some of it on yoga classes. Having been a brittle person, she became flexible. Each day she saluted the sun."