Book Count (since 1 January 2012)

Book Count (since 1 January 2014): 30

Sunday 11 April 2010

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Winner of the Booker Prize 2009

This historical fiction novel charts the rise of Thomas Cromwell from a young boy being beaten by his father in Putney to Henry VIII's most trusted advisor. The historical elements of the novel are very interesting particularly the focus on the reformation. However, the fictional narrative is pretty dull and the characters are not properly developed - it is very difficult to relate to them. The book is over 600 pages long which is about 200 - 250 pages too long. The pace of the book is odd - just as it gets so boring it's tempting to give up, it picks up again and revives your interest.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about Thomas Cromwell but would advise reading the Wikipedia entry rather than slogging through this. Although I think I may be fairly alone in this view - whilst I was reading this on the tube 2 separate people (both middle aged men) interrupted me to go on and on about how good they thought it was. Maybe one for Dad...!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.