Wolf Hall

Critics

• Book Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Share

  After watching The Tudors, with the wonderful James Frain as Thomas Cromwell, it was impossible to read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall without a sense of dread — fear and knowledge of what's coming for all of them — Cromwell, Henry the VIII, Anne Boleyn, ... (read full critics)

  blogcritics published on Sun, 23 Jan 2011

• Wolf Hall

  La trama e le recensioni di Wolf Hall, romanzo di Hilary Mantel edito da Fazi. L’Inghilterra all’inizio del 1500 è in un vicolo cieco, a un passo dal disastro. Se il re morisse senza un erede maschio, il Paese sarebbe condannato a una guerra civile. ... (read full critics)

  Qlibri published on Tue, 18 Jan 2011

11 Reviews

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  The novel is an account of the rise of Thomas Cromwell, a courtier of Henry VIII.

  I had high expectations on the book because it is the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and I read up a bit of Tudor history to get prepared. However, I was disappointed half way through and had to plough throug ... (continue)

  The novel is an account of the rise of Thomas Cromwell, a courtier of Henry VIII.

  I had high expectations on the book because it is the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and I read up a bit of Tudor history to get prepared. However, I was disappointed half way through and had to plough through it in the end.

  The writing was dry and monotonous and bulk of the story centred around how Cromwell helped Ann Boleyn to become Queen of England. The story ended before her execution, which I thought was the more exciting part of the history of that era! The book was written in a rather matter of fact manner, although there was a lot of scheming, killing and politicial manoeuvring behind the scenes, but those did not come out well.

  May be I have been spoilt by reading too much 'thrillers' and no longer have the patience to read and appreciate stories which are rather flat.

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  Sawyho said on Feb 28, 2010 | Add your feedback

• 

  Three out of five

  Now, I did not rate this book three stars because I am not a fan of historical fiction.. On the contrary, I enjoy history in different forms, but this book was not a friendly one to me. I found Mantel's writing style abysmal and confusing. It was hardly ever clear who was speaking, because the prono ... (continue)

  Now, I did not rate this book three stars because I am not a fan of historical fiction.. On the contrary, I enjoy history in different forms, but this book was not a friendly one to me. I found Mantel's writing style abysmal and confusing. It was hardly ever clear who was speaking, because the pronoun "he" was bandied about with such vigour. The narrative was from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, and in his telling of the story, Cromwell's presence would shift from "he" to "I" and back again, with no consistency. The cast of characters was around 20 or so; I was completely lost as to who everyone was for most of the novel, and in the end just gave up and learned to associate the names with the characters I DID know. To make things even more difficult, the less obvious characters were often called by two interchangeable names each.

  The novel itself, apart from the style of its narrative, was very intellectually researched and written. It was refreshing to hear the Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn story from Cromwell who came from extremely humble beginnings, as a blacksmith's son. The very sights and smells of Tudor England were brought to life through the minutiae of life, and the deep relationships Cromwell held with his family members - including the members of his household brought in from destitution.

  'Wolf Hall', although a long book, did not do itself any favours in even attempting to be compelling.

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  Jemma said on Mar 28, 2012 about the eBook edition | Add your feedback

• 

  A Re-Read

  Reread once a year list...

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  Alexanderb said on Mar 12, 2012 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

• We all know the history, and this is a well to version of it. Worthy of the Booker Prize

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  Carolyn said on Jan 30, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

• Gave up after 50 pages.

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  Tracy W said on Apr 18, 2011 | Add your feedback

• 

  England - 1520's

  Very well written and interesting - unfortunatly too slow for me

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  Mati said on Mar 28, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

See all 11 comments

Book Details

• Rating:
  (57)
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• English Books
• Paperback 400 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0007351453
• ISBN-13: 9780007351459
• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Pub date: Jan 01, 2010
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Livros em Português, Libri Italiani, Česká kniha

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