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Wolf Hall: A Novel |  | Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $9.99
as of 11/20/2009 21:46 CST details
You Save: $17.01 (63%)
New (36) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $8.99
Seller: smokymtnbooks
Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 36
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 1-2 business days
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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 51
 Grammatical problems November 19, 2009
Dave Schwinghammer (Little Falls, Minnesota USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
My main problem with WOLF HALL was grammatical. Hilary Mantel does not have a firm grasp on pronoun agreement. The novel was intended to be written in author limited point of view, where we're in the head of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's principal adviser during the Ann Boleyn controversy. But instead of referring to Cromwell by name she uses "he," or, in rare cases, "he, Cromwell." There are long passages where Cromwell is describing a meeting with Henry VIII or Thomas More, when it's not clear who she's talking about when she refers to "he." Modern writers like to use such stylistic gimmicks as the lack of quotation marks and switching from 3rd person to first between chapters and James Joyce, of course, originator of stream of consciousness, didn`t bother with such silly notions as periods and commas, but none of this stuff bothered me more than Mantel's idiosyncrasy.
WOLF HALL is pretty much a character vehicle. Thomas Cromwell was the most gifted man in Henry VIII's court from 1532-1540. According to Mantel, it was his idea to make Henry the head of the church of England and confiscate monastic lands and income. This ploy resulted from Pope Clement's refusal to recognize the dissolution of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. We also see Thomas Cromwell at home dealing with the loss of his wife and two daughters during the plague, arranging marriages for his nephew and ward, and trying to get the best possible education for his son, Gregory, who was not that enamored of learning.
We also get to eavesdrop on the behind the scenes plotting going on at court. Anne wanted her children to be first in succession, ahead of Mary, Catherine's daughter. The Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, was Cromwell's main nemesis in that the Duke disapproved of the king appointing a layman and son of a blacksmith as one of his councilors. There's also the sad case of Mary Boleyn, whom Cromwell tried to marry off to his nephew Richard. Henry nixed that match because he needed Mary in the bedroom when Anne refused him.
Thomas Cromwell was pretty much a thug as a boy with a brutal father; he ran away to become a soldier in France, then got involved in trade in Italy and Holland, ultimately working his way up to Cardinal Wolsey's lawyer and then Henry's adviser. Cromwell comes off as a decent sort of man. Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor after Wolsey, is torturing and executing heretics with a vengeance and Cromwell does his best to save some of them. He also feels sorry for Mary Boleyn and tries to secure a sinecure for her when she marries a wastrel and moves away from court. The book ends with Thomas More's execution, kind of shock since anybody with a firm grasp of English history knows that Cromwell, himself, was executed after Henry fourth marriage, negotiated by Cromwell, went bad.
The novel is 532 pages long, but Mantel's choice to end it at More's death makes it seem like she didn't know how to finish it. Cromwell was Wolsey's lawyer and they had a close relationship, and More may have had something to do with his downfall, but Cromwell was not the vindictive sort. He actually tries to help More to some extent. The novel does not build toward More's execution.
 turgid November 18, 2009
John E. Martell Jr. (Kalamazoo, Michigan USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a very disappointing work. Writing hitorical novels as fictional representations of real life obviously has significant problems, which take, perhaps a Tolstoy to do real justice to them. Wolf Hall is not only a poor attempt at an historical novel, if it can even be called that, but the style is turgid, sometimes flippant, but never facile. You have to force yourself to plod through it in the hope that something interesting will appear.
The characters are two dimensional at best. If there were one dimension, her characters would quilify for that category, e.g., Wolsey appears a weeping cartoonish buffoon who lives and acts in confusion, and the reader tires quickly of him, though historically he was a fascinating man, for example.
How this won the Booker prize, or any at all, astonishes me. I've had undergrad writers who wrote better fiction. What was that committee thinking? Did they actually read the novel? What a pity. Read The Glass Room instead. That is a first-rate novel and finalist for the Booker. For Wolf Hall, save your money and eyesight.
 densley packed and delightful November 18, 2009
karl b. (Fraser Valley, BC, Canada)
Hilary Mantel spins a captivating yarn
Wolf Hall is a tapestry with a rich palette of succulent imagery and savours. It is an epicurean delight for the senses.
The author provides a luminous introspection into the intrigues and personalities around Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Katherine, with its fierce religious and political undercurrent.
Ribald in parts, sometimes bawdy, it maintains a patient and methodical cadence, fully developing the characters and venues of the court and sanctuaries.
Everyone has an agenda here, or is trying to stay out of harm's way of that of others. These are much different characters than that portrayed in the touchstone 'A Man for All Seasons'.
Thomas More, by comparison is a tarnished saint, less than idealistic, Thomas Cromwell, more benign and practical, Anne Boleyn, is vain, plotting and cruel , Henry VIII, a man of grasping ambition, mediocre intellect and shrivelled conscience. It is the Cromwell, though, who Mantel chooses as her primary point of view, just short of making him the first person narrator. The border between the sacred and profane is loosely defined here.
Lists of characters and genealogy provide a helpful reference. I found myself using it constantly to recall people, in the constantly recombining plots and subplots.
Mantel's predilection for favouring pronouns in the place of proper names, which can lead to confusion in a less than attentive reader, is my one gripe with the book. It takes concentration to keep the complex epic composed in one's mind. But Mantel never gets bogged down. Twists and complications in the narrative merge seamlessly from many different points of origin.
In my personal experience I often find women's fiction difficult and opaque. It is just not synchronous with my circadian reading rhythms. But this book adds an intensely provocative perspective of well trod subject matter. In fact it provides a compelling counterpoint to the conventional typecasting in the saga.
This is a worthy recipient of the Booker by gifted writer.
Steeped In Treachery November 18, 2009
Richard Roth (Seattle, WA, USA)
Very, very Shakespearean. Henry's court is steeped in blood and treachery, and your friends become your enemies overnight. The betrayals can come from politics, religion, personal animosity or sexual intrigue, but that Cromwell survives in such a snakepit is ultimate testimony to his being the smartest (that is, the savviest) man in England (after Wolsey dies). This is the court of Denmark recreated; as Hamlet says, "They smile and smile and yet they are villains". Foul, rank and incestuous--what's not to like? Never play poker with a trickster like Cromwell. And Henry is truly terrifying in his corrosive and callous self absorption.
Don't Wait for the Paperback- Make this Your Next Bookclub Choice! November 17, 2009
BookWoman/BookMan TV REVIEWS (Nashville, Tn United States)
Wolf Hall will be talked about more than any other book this fall. Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize for this believable historical novel about Thomas Cromwell. Was Cromwell a saint or sinner or a little of both? How did Cromwell outmaneuver Thomas More and gain power with Henry the Eighth? Wolf Hall will be on every bookclub list in 2010. Get your copy now and do not wait for the paperback.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 51
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