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Amazon.co.uk Review
"His appetite was great, as befitted him; he could eat a granary, he could drink a barrel. But now that all Ireland is coming down to ruin together, how will giants thrive? He had made a living by going about and being a pleasant visitor who fetched not just the gift of his giant presence but also stories and songs ... many hearths had welcomed him as a prodigy, a conversationalist, an illustration from nature's book. Nature's book is little read now, and he thought this: I had better make a living in the obvious way. I will make a living from being tall."Unfortunately, O'Brien's height attracts more attention than he might wish for: John Hunter, a surgeon, becomes fascinated with the giant and obsessed with the possibility of dissecting him after he's dead. Thus Mantel sets up the central conflict of her novel: Hunter's thirst for knowledge and fame versus O'Brien's conviction that, without his body, his soul cannot go to heaven. In the mean streets of 18th-century London, the author explores the division of soul and body, imagination and rationalism, as she juxtaposes the two men's lives. In this collision of cultures and paradigms, she offers no easy answers, but instead turns a disturbing spotlight on questions that continue to resonate to the present day. --Alix Wilber
Review
‘[A] novel that magically creates an illusion of the Age of Enlightenment. Hilary Mantel puts the stink of the eighteenth century into our nostrils.’ Independent
‘A novelist of remarkable diversity…She writes about curiosity, companionship, art, love, death and eternity. She writes with wit, compassion and great elegance. Her books never fail to surprise, nor to delight: in this one she is at her very best - so far.’ Independent on Sunday
‘Mantel can out-write most writers of her generation, male and female. What she has done here is disturbing, grievous and extraordinary.’ Maggie Gee, Sunday Times
'Filled with bizarre happenings, brazen images and characters whose earthiness you can smell.' TES
'Hilary Mantel has felt herself into the poetics of history with singular intensity.' New York Review
'Pathos and humour as they are elsewhere in the book are blended to perfection.' Sunday Telegraph
'Simultaneously vigorous and poetic, full of satisfying earthy details.' Sunday Independent (Ireland)
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This remains my favourite novel of all time (so far) for the sprightly clear-eyed way it draws you convincingly into another century - right into a sordid, packed London where the relationships between the characters (the Giant, his motley unreliable gang and his London promoter, plus Hunter and his posse of body snatchers) are played out. What happens to these people really does matter to you, even though the world of 18th century giants and obsessive scientists isn't exactly familiar. You could go on about this book's themes for hours, but the main thing is that it has compelling central characters and an overall sense of adventure and wisdom that keeps you reading and plays with your emotions at the same time.
I've never bothered to write a review on Amazon, but was so shocked to see that Giant O'Brien didn't have one that for once I made the effort. I hate to think that there are people out there who love books who haven't read this one
Enjoyed reading it but didn't grip me.
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