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Wolf Hall: A Novel |  | Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $13.71
as of 11/27/2009 00:41 CST details
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Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 55
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 560
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 0805080686
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780805080681
ASIN: 0805080686
Publication Date: October 13, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, October 2009: No character in the canon has been writ larger than Henry VIII, but that didn't stop Hilary Mantel. She strides through centuries, past acres of novels, histories, biographies, and plays--even past Henry himself--confident in the knowledge that to recast history's most mercurial sovereign, it's not the King she needs to see, but one of the King's most mysterious agents. Enter Thomas Cromwell, a self-made man and remarkable polymath who ascends to the King's right hand. Rigorously pragmatic and forward-thinking, Cromwell has little interest in what motivates his Majesty, and although he makes way for Henry's marriage to the infamous Anne Boleyn, it's the future of a free England that he honors above all else and hopes to secure. Mantel plots with a sleight of hand, making full use of her masterful grasp on the facts without weighing down her prose. The opening cast of characters and family trees may give initial pause to some readers, but persevere: the witty, whip-smart lines volleying the action forward may convince you a short stay in the Tower of London might not be so bad... provided you could bring a copy of Wolf Hall along. --Anne Bartholomew
Product Description
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
 Superior November 26, 2009
Christopher A. Meli (New Canaan, CT USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The novel is an extraordinary achievement that ranks amongst the best books that I've read. If you come looking for conventional presentation of plot-driven historical fiction, which appears to have been the case for many of the Amazon reviewers, you'll not find it. This is far more - the story is there, told with astonishing artistry and wit, but the core of the book is an exploration of the the transition from the medieval to the modern, and the ideas and emotions on both sides of this transition. The more you reflect on the book, the more you realize is there.
 A Book About Him and He . . . Who? Whom? November 26, 2009
mamasunset (Wash., D.C.)
It's so sad that a beautifully researched book sometimes reads like such a muddle! "He" seems to be Mantel's favorite word; she fixates so much on the story that she forgets to identify which "he" is speaking. I suspect it's her stylistic manner of stressing that the story is Cromwell's; but there are other characters, too. It's not a one-act, one-man story. The mystery of "he" interferes with the flow of the book and really wearies the reader. And it could have been better, if only "she" used names once in a while. A worthwhile read, but cumbersome.
Making Headway - it does grow in you November 25, 2009
Lyn Craven
I started this book because I like all things to do with history and in particular anything up to and including ELizabeth I. I admit, at the beginning I struggled and several times almost gave up. Why? The reasons stated in many of the reviews... the present tense, the use of multiple names in a complex cast of characters, the dialog alternating between using quotes and not (are they thinking or speaking?) and finally - the worst annoyance - "he/him/his" -- who?????
The dry wit and pithy delivery of much of the dialog is captivating. At those moments the characters come to life in a way I have rarely seen before for Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, More or Cranmer (usually highly stereotyped characters). Its a real shame that the parts of the book that are so excellent are damaged by the annoyances.
OK that said - I am still reading it. I read it on my Kindle... at around 35% I stopped thinking "I am going to give up on this". By 45%, I am looking forward to picking it up. As stated by another reviewer the annoyances do seem to stop mattering (although they are still there) and for me that was about 1/3 of the way through. Granted, that is a LOT of reading in such a large book.
I will update my rating when I am finished. At this point I would make it 3.5 if I could and unless things change I don't see it going down. It may end up going up to 4 stars. Its worth sticking with it... but I will say I wonder why the author flawed this otherwise terrific story with some peculiar prose choices.
 Wolf Hall November 23, 2009
Doug R (Minneapolis, MN)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I love historical fiction and have read many books from the Tudor period. I read the reviews for Wolf Hall and disregarded one that said it was difficult to follow the characters due to the author's failure to identify them as they spoke. I have finished 7% of the book on my Kindle and can go no farther. The book is confusing regarding characters and makes jumps in time that are unexplained. For me, the book is unreadable, and I have deleted it from my Kindle.
It stinketh November 23, 2009
lauren sylvan
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
Wolf Hall is artsy, literary, and contrived. The method of telling is confusing, compounded by the author's insistence of referring to her protagonist as 'he' in the middle of paragraphs where there are other characters to whom the pronoun would, under normal rules, refer.
Her mastery of detail is excellent, but that seems to be all there is to the book--endless detail and lots and lots of internal monologue (philosophizing, going on and on about motivations) most of which is very tangential to whatever is happening in the story's present. There are unannounced flashbacks, side-steps, references to characters not introduced-- in short, the story weaves and ducks like a drunken prizefighter, but never connected with this reader.
This is an excellent novel for those who abhor plot in any form.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
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