Bring Up the Bodies

Mantel's fictional retelling of the life of Cromwell continues, using the same conceits as the first book ("he" is always Cromwell). I assume no spoiler warnings are needed for a book describing events that took place 480 years ago: the book concerns the fall of Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell's role in making that happen. As Cromwell circles his prey and closes in, Mantel's writing is riveting and the verbal sparring is absolutely chilling. Reading it was an total pleasure.

As great as part one. I pity Anne Boleyn and all the other women who are not more than mere possessions of their men. I wonder how we missed detecting all that misogony in our history.

As for Cromwell, he plans his revenges and gets them all, yet he never understands that the reason for all that revenge is the king, not the persons carrying out the kings wishes.

And so Cromwell is also carrying out whatever the king wishes, not ever thinking for a second whether morals, law, ethics are damaged when he does what he dors for the king. And one day, Cromwell will be sorted out and executed like all his victims. The only one never blamed is Henry VIII, yet every deed originates with him. And he will not be executed.

I always thought of Booker Prize winners as slow, "literary" affairs. The kind of book I'll need to take time with but the time and effort will end up being worth it for what I take away from the experience.

And then I read this addictive beautifully written thrill-ride and start reconsidering my opinion.

Immer noch gut, wenn auch jetzt mit einigen uneleganten Zusammenfassungen der Geschehnisse im ersten Band. Ich habe was dazugelernt über Erzählperspektiven und ihre Probleme: Die Geschichte ist aus der Ich-Perspektive, aber in der Er-Form erzählt, und das führt im ersten Band oft zu verwirrenden Bezügen, wenn zuerst jemand anders was sagt und das nächste "he said" sich aber auf Cromwell bezieht. Im zweiten Band hat jemand (Autorin oder Lektorat?) an manchen Stellen nachgebessert, dort heißt es jetzt "he, Thomas Cromwell, said". Das ist überhaupt keine Verbesserung, weil man die Ich-Perspektive weiterhin mitdenkt und es jetzt wie in dem Schnabeltier-Gedicht von Gernhardt klingt: "Das Schnabeltier, das Schnabeltier vollzog den Schritt vom Ich zum Wir. Es spricht nicht mehr nur noch von sich, es sagt nicht mehr: Dies Bier will ich! Es sagt: Dies Bier, das wollen wir! Wir wollen es, das Schnabeltier!"

Continues everything good from Wolf Hall.

Amazing, the pace of the action suddenly just shows how the unfortunates are swept up and bewildered by the speed of Cromwell.

In general, I liked this book. However, I found it hard to follow at times due to the inconsistent use of quotation marks in dialogue and vague pronouns. I regularly found myself re-reading passages trying to determine what was the actual dialogue and who was saying it. I also found it difficult to keep track of the characters because there are so many of them and they often have the same names - I guess we can blame history for that one though.

I would be interested in reading the sequel, but I would not go out of my way to do so. If the book finds its way into my possession, I will most likely read it.

Maybe reading "Wolf Hall" allowed me to mount the learning curve that I needed to appreciate the sequel, but this book was more engaging, the plot faster-paced, and overall much more enjoyable to read than the first of the trilogy, less "A Man For All Seasons" and more "Game of Thrones" (that's a good thing).

Wolf Hall was pretty wonderful, but Bring Up the Bodies is better. While the first book in the series lingered on some detail that didn't propel the story (but was nice to have anyway) the sequel is much more trim and efficient.

The larger improvement, though, is the developing character of Cromwell. Magnificently calculating and (seemingly) dispassionate in the first, in this volume Cromwell exerts the same will and masterful manipulation with the addition of considerably more passion. It's humanizing.

I hate getting bogged down in series fiction and avoid it whenever I can. But I am eager for the third entry.

I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to inhabit a character, to really sink their mental mandibles into some good meaty writing and to almost sense the world described.
It makes no difference if you're not attracted to historical fiction, this is just top level lit, and amply rewards a little patience, in getting into the style of the first book.
[b:Wolf Hall|6101138|Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall, #1)|Hilary Mantel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336576165s/6101138.jpg|6278354]

Book 2 in this trilogy - so far a masterpiece. If anything, it is more gripping than book 1 (as mentioned by FPP). As is always the case in great works, we see ourselves.

The language just as sumptuous here as in Wolf Hall, the first of Mantel's ongoing fictional portrait of Thomas Cromwell, in this the second sitting darker hues of Cromwell's character emerge as he contrives to settle a personal score while managing the end of Henry's marriage to Ann Boleyn.

This is a populous novel (thankfully, the book includes a cast of characters), so it's a good thing Mantel's powers of characterization are up to the task.

Totally engrossing. I regret giving away Wolf Hall, as I will surely want to re-read the entire series once it's finished, partly for the pure pleasure of reading Mantel's sentences, partly because I know I've missed some plot connections in heedless pursuit of the next blissful prose-fix. Her next book can't come soon enough.

Simply awesome. I am literally awestruck by Mantel's ability. My only complaint would be the overuse of "He." In a book mostly about males, it gets massively confusing.