Book Talk: Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

SUMMARY

Anne Boleyn has still not produced a male heir for the kingdom of England, and Henry VIII is running out of patience. He has already started to romance (what will be his new wife) Jane Seymour and is begging Thomas Cromwell and his other close "friends" to help him with this matter. Cromwell decides to kill several birds with one stone. He will finalize his revenge on those courtiers (or most) who brought down Cardinal Wolsey along with Anne Boleyn by creating a sensational story about the queen and her romantic life outside of marriage.

THINGS THAT SURPRISED ME

Hilary Mantel says that this book is not about Anne Boleyn. It is a book about the events which transpired around her death as seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. I find this so interesting because as you are reading the book it seems like Anne's spirit is everywhere. Even when she is not in the room (and if you think about it, she's not present through most of the book), Anne is being talked about, rumored about, teased, back stabbed, etc. By the end of the book you are almost convinced that she is truly this horrible person who might have committed some of the charges that were brought against her. However, even though Mantel says outright that she needed a villain and Anne had to be it for book two, I feel wretched for Anne once she is taken to the Tower of London, and on the day of her beheading. When a villain is written this well that you don't want the inevitable to happen, you know the writing is incredible.

STILL THINKING ABOUT

As with the first installment of the Thomas Cromwell trio, I cannot get out of my head that a lot of these events, writings, and people were real. A lot of the action in this book, and the other books actually happened. Hilary Mantel did a brilliant job of researching the history of the times and these people. The writing is so good, that I am constantly asking myself could Henry VIII truly have been that cruel? Could Anne Boleyn really been that much of a mastermind and "bad guy?" Did Thomas Cromwell really get all that stuff done? Incredible. I love when writing leaves you asking questions which take you to more books.

RECOMMEND?

Yes! While we are not covering the third and final Thomas Cromwell book by Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies is possibly the best of the three. Mantel's writing is clear, and I truly got the sense that she hit her stride. I don't know if that is because she was able to gather the more information about Thomas Cromwell at this point in history or not, but I completely understand why some readers are taking this as reality rather than fiction. It is a truly an excellent read, and I highly recommend this book.