Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jan 26, 2021 Booknblues rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: england, historical-fiction, 16th-century

Some books, and particularly this one, Wolf Hall fall into the category of a Relief Book or more specifically a "what a relief it is to be done with that damn book." Truthfully, as day by day dragged by seemingly no closer to the end, Anne and Henry not wed, my reading goals slipping away from me in What? January and when suddenly it seemed as if the last page would soon appear, a great burden lifted from my very essence.

And so, how does one judge a book which was such a great burden to read, wh Some books, and particularly this one, Wolf Hall fall into the category of a Relief Book or more specifically a "what a relief it is to be done with that damn book." Truthfully, as day by day dragged by seemingly no closer to the end, Anne and Henry not wed, my reading goals slipping away from me in What? January and when suddenly it seemed as if the last page would soon appear, a great burden lifted from my very essence.

And so, how does one judge a book which was such a great burden to read, which was such a relief to finish? While one could argue, quite easily in fact for a one, two or at the most three star, by pointing out the tediousness of it, the small useless conversations about garden, the continual noting of fabric, its type, its color, how it was made, the abundance of characters, who seem to add so little to the story except to bungle the mind of the reader. There is another side of it however, the frequent visits to Austin Friar's, Cromwell's home, one gains the sense of his changing life, his children growing, new additions to his household, his adding gardens, and buildings to his estate, his growing wealth, of the time that this is taking, its slow progression as if the very tedium is the point.

And then there is he , so confusing for so many and really what could possibly be the point of this endless confusion and misuse of the English language? Why really? To drive home the point that it is really about him. Not Henry the VIII or Thomas More of Utopia fame or the pope or any Duke, Lord or Sir, but the self-made blacksmith's son, Thomas Cromwell. And what does he have to say for himself this, inconsolable Master Cromwell: the unknowable, the inconstruable, the probably indefeasible Master Cromwell?

“And look, Gregory, it’s all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it’s no good at all if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow.”

"but you need not emulate her in having the wit of a sheep.” He smiles. “Sheep are maligned in that way. Shepherds say they can recognize each other. They answer to their names. They make friends for life.”

“No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They’re not affordable things. No prince ever says, ‘This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.’ You enter into one and it uses up all the money you’ve got, and then it breaks you and bankrupts you.”

"That was the key, of course, the key that would unlock profit. People are always the key, and if you can look them in the face you can be pretty sure if they’re honest and up to the job."

So, I find that Wolf Hall is a very good character study set in the vital love story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, which has been told again and again. Cromwell emerges for me as a sympathetic and intriguing character and even if there is a certain tediousness to the story, I couldn't toss the book aside and continued reading. ...more

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Oct 29, 2020 Diana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've read "Wolf Hall" at the best time, as I currently have a slight obsession with Henry VIII's court. In most works, from the time 1528-1536, Anne Boleyn is in focus as the controversial figure she was. Yet, in Wolf Hall, both her and Henry are nothing more than supportive characters, as we witness the rise of Thomas Cromwell. It's a work that is written in a somehow ambiguous way, you don't always fully know who is saying what, but as the focus is on Cromwell, you get to witness his thoughts ...more

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Oct 10, 2019 Rosemary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The story of the spectacular rise of Thomas Cromwell from his childhood as the son of a violent blacksmith in a rough area of London to become King Henry VIII's closest adviser by the time of the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn.

It's a long book but flows well, not difficult to read once you get used to the way that Mantel tends to refer to Cromwell as "he" even when he's not the last-named man, so that it sometimes takes some sorting out in the reader's head. It makes Cromwell a much more sympat ...more

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