Wolf Hall
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Review
‘This is a beautiful and profoundly human book, a dark mirror held up to our own world. And the fact that its conclusion takes place after the curtain has fallen only proves that Hilary Mantel is one of our bravest as well as our most brilliant writers.’ Olivia Laing, Observer
‘As soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret that the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle.’ The Times
‘Mantel is a writer who sees the skull beneath the skin, the worm in the bud, the child abuse in the suburbs and the rat in the mattress…Turning her attention to Tudor England, she makes that world at once so concrete you can smell the rain-drenched wool cloaks…This is a splendidly ambitious book…I wait greedily for the sequel, but “Wolf Hall” is already a feast.’ Daily Telegraph
‘A compelling and humane investigation of the cost of ambition.’ Guardian
‘Mantel’s ability to pick out vivid scenes from sources and give them life within her fiction is quite exceptional…Vividly alive.’ London Review of Books
‘A stunning book. It breaks free of what the novel has become nowadays. I can’t think of anything since “Middlemarch” which so convincingly builds a world.’ Diana Athill
‘Superb new novel…A second volume is apparently planned; I await it with all the serenity of Henry VIII outside Anne Boleyn’s bedroom door.’ Nina Caplan, Time Out
‘A fascinating read, so good I rationed myself. It is remarkable and very learned; the texture is marvellously rich, the feel of Tudor London and the growing household of a man on the rise marvellously authentic. Characters real and imagined spring to life, from the childish and petulant King to Thomas Wolsey's jester, and it captures the extrovert, confident, violent mood of the age wonderfully.’ C.J. Sansom
Review
'This is a beautiful and profoundly human book, a dark mirror held up to our own world...Hilary Mantel is one of our bravest as well as our most brilliant writers.' Olivia Laing, Observer 'As soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret that the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle.' The Times 'Mantel is a writer who sees the skull beneath the skin, the worm in the bud, the child abuse in the suburbs and the rat in the mattress!Turning her attention to Tudor England, she makes that world at once so concrete you can smell the rain-drenched wool cloaks!This is a splendidly ambitious book!I wait greedily for the sequel, but "Wolf Hall" is already a feast.' Daily Telegraph 'A compelling and humane investigation of the cost of ambition.' Guardian 'Mantel's ability to pick out vivid scenes from sources and give them life within her fiction is quite exceptional!Vividly alive.' London Review of Books 'A stunning book. It breaks free of what the novel has become nowadays. I can't think of anything since "Middlemarch" which so convincingly builds a world.' Diana Athill
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
571 of 619 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Have finished this book and am sure it's very worthy of all the accolades but I really found this quite a hard slog and I'm quite a prolific reader. The story is really interesting but I am so glad to see other reviewers on here that had the same horrendous problem of trying to follow who was talking whenever there is any dialogue. Fair enough to refer to Cromwell as "he" if you're going to stick to that and use it exclusively, but when you use "he" for other people during the same conversation, it's really confusing and I found myself having to re-read paragraphs containing dialogue (as a result this took me so much longer to read than normal and I feel like I've read it 3 times). Obviously am not one to comment on such a good writer but it would have been so much more of a pleasure (rather than a chore) to read if it had been either written in first person or clearer reference used as to who is talking.
560 of 611 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Anyone who paid attention in history classes at school will need little background to the events of Wolf Hall. The key events of the story take place over just less than a ten year period from the 1520s to the 1530s. Mantel has taken what is, supposedly, Britain's best loved history topic, Henry VIII and his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, marriage to Anne Boleyn and the resulting split with Rome and has melded it into a compelling story.
She has obviously had some of her work done for her - the key dramatic events, characters, plots and intrigue are fairly heavily based in fact, but what Mantel has done is to breathe life and substance into the historial figures to make them loveable, hateable, complex characters. At the centre of her book stands Thomas Cromwell, a man from humble origins who rose to unprecedented power in England as Henry's chief minister. Cromwell is beautifully portrayed and his personal relationships, be they loving, tragic or political are fascinating reading. The relationships with Wolsey and More in particular are executed wonderfully (no pun intended in the latter case).
My only grumble with the book were that some events are included, but skated over in short passages and other events are included, but drag a little. This is probably an inevitable part of a historical novel covering such a long period of time; you can't simply leap forward 2 years and avoid the need to understand certain intervening events. However, whilst this slows the pace of the book in places, I enjoyed the book so much that it didn't particularly spoil it for me (indeed, those who prefer a fast paced novel are probably not going to enjoy Wolf Hall).
The book ends shortly after the death of Thomas More, and I can't be only one who wonders (and hopes) whether we might yet see a second, "decline and fall" book. I'd certainly love to read it.
She has obviously had some of her work done for her - the key dramatic events, characters, plots and intrigue are fairly heavily based in fact, but what Mantel has done is to breathe life and substance into the historial figures to make them loveable, hateable, complex characters. At the centre of her book stands Thomas Cromwell, a man from humble origins who rose to unprecedented power in England as Henry's chief minister. Cromwell is beautifully portrayed and his personal relationships, be they loving, tragic or political are fascinating reading. The relationships with Wolsey and More in particular are executed wonderfully (no pun intended in the latter case).
My only grumble with the book were that some events are included, but skated over in short passages and other events are included, but drag a little. This is probably an inevitable part of a historical novel covering such a long period of time; you can't simply leap forward 2 years and avoid the need to understand certain intervening events. However, whilst this slows the pace of the book in places, I enjoyed the book so much that it didn't particularly spoil it for me (indeed, those who prefer a fast paced novel are probably not going to enjoy Wolf Hall).
The book ends shortly after the death of Thomas More, and I can't be only one who wonders (and hopes) whether we might yet see a second, "decline and fall" book. I'd certainly love to read it.
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I LOVED this book! Sure, it takes a while "to get your eye in" what with the lack of speech marks and the number of people called Thomas, Henry, Mary etc., but once you do you can't put it down! And as with most things in life, the more effort you have to put in, the more rewarding the result. And that was definitely the case with this book. Once you get your head round the relationships between all the different "characters" you can start just getting lost in the writing - especially in the wit, cunning and audacity of Thomas Cromwell! [Most English readers should probably have even less trouble than I did as I think the Tudors are taught in school down there? (Here in Scotland - at least when I was at school - the emphasis was more on Scottish history (Jacobites etc.), so I was reasonably ignorant of the book's subject matter beyond the most obvious facts regarding Henry VIII.)]
This is a real beast of a book and I found I had to read it in short bursts. It's definitely not one to read when you're tired either, or you'll miss lots of little witty asides or very subtle shifts in power. But each time I put it down I would be desperate to pick it back up again. Having finished it, I absolutely *cannot wait* until the follow-on book is released.
This is a real beast of a book and I found I had to read it in short bursts. It's definitely not one to read when you're tired either, or you'll miss lots of little witty asides or very subtle shifts in power. But each time I put it down I would be desperate to pick it back up again. Having finished it, I absolutely *cannot wait* until the follow-on book is released.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wonderful world-building and attention to detail
I must start straight away with Mantel's construction of language and grammar and the technical aspects of the writing, since we're thrown into not just the plot but also the... Read more
Published 3 hours ago by Isis
Confused
I bought this book because the history of the Tudors has recently become an interest of mine and also because of the glowing reports from critics. Read more
Published 7 days ago by ElectricGhost
Pronoun coinfusion
I must say this is a very well written book but I found it difficult to enjoy because of the author's use of the pronoun "he" when referring to Cromwell. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Mumdupegge
Excellent, but for one thing.
I've read a lot of Miss Mantel's books, and enjoyed them all. She writes well, and I knew what was going on. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Mr. K. H. Cobb
Kindle version of Wolf Hall
I am enjoying this prize winning book, especially using the Kindle, making it much easier to hold than the hard back version!
Published 11 days ago by maggie
Interesting but a bit Confusing
To be honest I struggled with this book a bit. In all fairness to the author this is not because it is a poor or boring book, but it's not a genre I usually read. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Wendy Jones
Description the key
This is an episodic book with no character development and, for those who know the Tudor period even a little, not much in the plot to surprise one. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Graham R. Hill
Wolf Hall
This was a fantastic book. Yes, it took a little while to get into - the style of prose was - unusual, and I had to pay close attention to the dialogue at times, to keep track of... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Rosemary
Very rewarding
I'm currently waiting for Bring Out The Bodies to arrive (hurry up Amazon!) so I thought I'd review this in the meantime. I absolutely loved this book. Read more
Published 17 days ago by wordfan
Wolf howl
For historical novels try Bernard Cornwell or Steven Pressfield. For Tudor dial David Starkey. For infantile writing and unmitigated boredom it's time to don the Hilary Mantel.
Published 20 days ago by John Coffey
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