Helpful Score: 6
Absolutely a fantastic read! Though I don't know why the title, because I saw no reference to Wolf Hall until the very end, it makes no difference. I was consumed and enthralled by all 600 pages and so sorry to see it end.
The book is about Thomas Cromwell's life during the reign of Henry VIII's annulment of the marriage to Katherine and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn, and the tumultous religous times surrounding these events. Mantel is an extremely gifted writer. Her dialogs are so believable, descriptive, and engrossing that one believes they are really witnessing actual conversations.
I LOVE this era of history and have read alot of historical fiction set in this time period, so it helped me understand the novel and characters alot better than I would have otherwise. Even so, I still was grateful for the Cast of Characters at the beginning, as I referred to it frequently! It is sometimes confusing, at least to me, when a person is referred to by name one time and another by title. Anyway, fabulous reading.
The book is about Thomas Cromwell's life during the reign of Henry VIII's annulment of the marriage to Katherine and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn, and the tumultous religous times surrounding these events. Mantel is an extremely gifted writer. Her dialogs are so believable, descriptive, and engrossing that one believes they are really witnessing actual conversations.
I LOVE this era of history and have read alot of historical fiction set in this time period, so it helped me understand the novel and characters alot better than I would have otherwise. Even so, I still was grateful for the Cast of Characters at the beginning, as I referred to it frequently! It is sometimes confusing, at least to me, when a person is referred to by name one time and another by title. Anyway, fabulous reading.
Helpful Score: 5
"Wolf Hall" is a novelization of one of the most fascinating and significant periods in English history: the reign of Henry VIII, his wife (but not for long) Catherine and his beloved (but not for long) Anne Boleyn. Told more or less from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, who rose from assistant to Cardinal Wolsey to highest adviser of the king, we see all the machinations of royalty and commoners alike in a vividly drawn picture of the times. My only problem with the writing of Hilary Mantel is her too frequent use of pronouns rather than proper nouns, thus making it sometimes hard to follow the dialogue and action - who is saying what, who is doing what.
Helpful Score: 3
The best researched, most compelling written book I've read in years.
Helpful Score: 1
While characters might be a little hard to keep track of, this is a great read. Don't miss it.
Helpful Score: 1
Those familiar enough with Tudor history to know that Wolf Hall is the familial home of the Seymour family would likely find it odd that this Man Booker Prize-winning novel focuses on Thomas Cromwells rise to power. Starting with a brief look at the moment in his youth when he left England, we meet Cromwell again in the service of Cardinal Wolsey. Hilary Mantel portrays Cromwell as a practical, business-minded problem solver, and its easy to see how these qualities would help him advance, but it was not apparent how this was happening. I can see how some would find the authors style fragmented and hard to read. He, Cromwell is an awkward construction of many sentences. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed this rare historical novel not focused on love vs. duty or convention and look forward to the rest of the planned trilogy that humanizes this historical figure.
