a couple of quick reviews

[pellucid]

I've recently finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and for the record, I emphatically recommend it. I mean, it's received loads of critical acclaim, and it won the Booker, and everyone says it's awesome, so you don't really need me to say that they're right. But they're right

Comments

[pellucid]

If you like historical fiction, slow and careful character development (and a book that's about the character development), and a really striking prose style, definitely give Wolf Hall a go. It's long and not a particularly quick read, and I know more than one person who has gotten a little bogged down in the middle, but that didn't happen to me, and from what I know of your reading tastes, I don't hesitate to recommend it to you. Except perhaps that I don't know how you feel about historical fiction. And Cromwell is definitely the protagonist, so a certain tolerance for a novel about a man is required. :) (I'm so interested to see what she'll do with Jane Seymour, assuming the sequel really does focus on her like this one focuses on Cromwell.)

As for Body of Proof, there's a chance--perhaps only an outside one--that Megan Hunt will turn out to be exactly the sort of character we love. There's a certain intentional ambiguity about her, and a refusal to apologize for the aspects of her personality that are unconventional and prickly,

[de23]

A bunch of us read Wolf Hall for our annual January get together. Everyone enjoyed it, except for the mysterious pronouns without antecedents, and the ending wasn't much of one (because of the sequel, we presume). But, as you say, the characters are so engaging - yes, there were tears. Our most interesting discussions were on religious perspectives - those in the books (More's vs. Cromwell, etc.), and our own (we have a Catholic/Protestant mixed group). I do recommend it as well!

[pellucid]

Whereas the pronouns were part of what I particularly liked about the style! It's such a common problem (which "he"?), and I liked the way she decided to embrace it. I found I never had a problem with comprehension. But I do tend to like prose styles that call attention to themselves as such--I like styles that are very "written," if that makes sense--and I know some people really, really don't like that kind of thing. Nor did the ending bother me, but probably because I know the history pretty well; More's execution seemed like a reasonable place to end it. But again, this may have something to do with a preference for anticlimactic endings (my all-time favorite end of any book is "It is Clarissa, he said. For there she was," which is pretty much the perfect non-ending ending!).