Book Thoughts - Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
published May, 2012
480 pages

Synopsis from publisher:

Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.


At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

My thoughts:

First Impression - 7/30/12

I reviewed the prequel to this novel, Wolf Hall, in 2009, and had some issues with it. It was the first novel I'd read by Mantel, and her writing style was difficult for me to adjust to. Before I picked up this novel, I spent a little bit of time re-acquainting myself with her writing, and I'm glad I did - this time around, I'm enjoying her work much more. She again writes in the present tense, and again uses the somewhat ambiguous "he" whenever she refers to Cromwell, but I'm prepared for it this time, so it just seems quirky rather than irritating. This time around I'm also able to enjoy much of the humor that Mantel gifts Cromwell with - the dialogue itself has been a lot of fun to read. I feel like this might be a breakthrough for me and this author.


Second Thoughts - 8/5/12

I think Bring Up the Bodies is just an easier novel to read than its predecessor. Perhaps it is because Mantel has a much smaller period of time to cover, but her narrative seems tighter and her connection to her characters seems stronger. Mantel's Cromwell is a fascinating man - I think I like him, but I don't necessarily think he's a good guy. He is smart, though, and has learned what needs to be done to preserve himself - so I can certainly understand the many macinations he makes to secure his position with the king.

"What is the nature of the border between truth and lies?  It is permeable and blurred because it is planted thick with rumour, confabulation, misunderstandings and twisted tales. Truth can break the gates down, truth can howl in the street; unless Truth is pleasing, personable and easy to like, she is condemned to stay whimpering at the back door." (p. 159)

I am enjoying Mantel's writing so much - she is skilled at her craft, and I am finding the novel a pleasure to read as well as a great story.


Last Word - 8/9/12

I feel like I know this story pretty well, but Mantel actually had me tense at the end - as though I wasn't completely aware of how Anne's story ended. I've long thought Thomas More an incredibly fascinating figure, and now I see Thomas Cromwell as his equal. I was completely engaged in his process as he methodically went about bringing down Anne and her companions - the who's and why's, the coersion and manipulation - and his reasons for every single move = all remarkable.

"Look, he says: once you have exhausted the process of negotiation and compromise, once you have fixed on the destruction of an enemy, that destruction must be swift and it must be perfect. Before you even glance in his direction, you should have his name on a warrant, the ports blocked, his wife and friends bought, his heir under your protection, his money in your strongroom, and his dog running to your whistle. Before he wakes in the morning, you should have the axe in your hand."  (p. 351)

Such good writing, such an interesting character - still a bit distant, but an enjoyable read nontheless. Recommended - if you are interested in the series, I would almost start with this novel, and then go back and read the first, especially if (like me) you already know how it ends.

Finished: 8/9/12
Source: review copy from publisher
MPAA rating: R for violence and adult situations
My rating: 8/10

Relative Reads: The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter (part 3)

I was given the great fortune of growing up in a family of readers. Both of my parents read, and so do the majority of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. In fact, my Great-Grandma had cataract surgery in her 90's, because she couldn't bear to not be able to read. I thought it would be interesting to read some of the books THEY have discovered and enjoyed over the years, so I asked them to send me some recommendations, and the fun began! I
have a list of the titles various family members have suggested on the side of the blog, so if you want to see what will be coming up you can take a peek.



The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter
published May 2003
657 pages

Talcott Garland is a successful law professor, devoted father, and husband of a beautiful and ambitious woman, whose future desires may threaten the family he holds so dear. When Talcott's father, Judge Oliver Garland, a disgraced former Supreme Court nominee, is found dead under suspicioius circumstances, Talcott wonders if he may have been murdered. Guided by the elements of a mysterious puzzle that his father left, Talcott must risk his marriage, his career and even his life in his quest for justice.

(see part 1 of my thoughts on this novel here and part 2 here)


My final thoughts:

It's interesting how much faster I was able to read the last part of this novel. The first section took me almost a month, the second section a couple of weeks, and this third section just a few days. It might have been that I just had more reading time than usual, but I think it also has to do with the pacing of the novel - the author started out slowly, introducing the reader to his wide and varied cast of characters, allowing time to begin to understand the politics of the legal profession, and really taking his time in the early parts of the novel. It wasn't until 2/3 of the way through that I felt like I was reading a true legal thriller, and then once the story gained momentum it was impossible to stop.

This is not a mystery that you will be able to figure out halfway through the novel, so if that is your favorite part about thrillers you will be disappointed here. Carter doles out his clues sparingly, never giving his readers all the information they need until the very end - and even then, he leaves a bit of ambiguity - Misha says, "I have long been comfortable living without perfect knowledge..." (p. 653), and I think Carter purposefully leaves a few loose ends, choosing not to wrap up his package with a neat little bow.

He also doesn't give anyone a happily ever after ending - as in real life, when relationships are damaged, they take time to repair, and Misha has done a lot of damage in his life. Watching him take the first steps toward fixing his mistakes - and choosing to forgive mistakes done to him - is an integral part of the resolution of his story.

This is a really good book. It's not easy, and if you choose to tackle it you will have to be willing to be patient, and read carefully. But I know it will be one that stays with me long after I have turned the last page, and I also think it will be a novel that will stand up to re-reading, maybe even becoming richer the second time around. I do recommend it - this novel won't be for everyone, but the skillful reader will find it to be a very rewarding experience.

Finished: 7/12/11
Source: loaned from my mom
MPAA rating: R for violence and sexuality
My rating: 9/10

Review - Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline
published 8/09
275 pages


I've been dreading this particular entry in Jenners' Take A Change Challenge - I was never really that good at "creative" writing. But as I was reading this novel, the haiku just popped into my head, so I figured this would be as good a choice as any to complete this challenge.


Poetic Review. Write a book review in three different forms of verse: haiku, limerick and free verse. (You can pick any book you want to write about.)

Here goes -

A tragic mistake.
Friendships teeter on the brink -
Is the grass greener?

-------------------------------------

Four friends - two girls and two boys -
Get married to experience life's joys.
But when two members stray,
Hiding their love away,
Their happiness becomes so much noise.


------------------------------


What happens when a boy and a girl and a boy fall in love?
They promise each other forever, the boy and the girl,
And the second boy and the second girl, conveniently best friend
to the first girl, mentioned above.
They plan their lives, piece by piece,
Overlooking nothing,
except the love of the first girl and the second boy,
Which no one mentions.

Until one day, unbeknownst to the second girl and the first boy,
the first girl and the second boy remember,
Rekindle,
Betray.

A falling-out, a tragedy, a book tour -
events conspire to uncover the truth.
And soon all the boys, and all the girls
watch their carefully constructed lives slip away.
Was safety really such a good thing?

In the end, it's all about love.

------------------------------


Well. Not as painful as I'd anticipated, but definitely out of my comfort zone. Great challenge, Jenners! In case you're wondering, Bird in Hand was an excellent novel, and I'll be looking for more by this author.

Finished: 9/19/09
Source: the publisher
Rating: 8/10

This book counts toward -

Relative Reads Review - A Good House by Bonnie Burnard

I was given the great fortune of growing up in a family of readers. Both of my parents read, and so do the majority of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. In fact, my Great-Grandma had cataract surgery in her 90's, because she couldn't bear to not be able to read. I thought it would be interesting to read some of the books THEY have discovered and enjoyed over the years, so I asked them to send me some recommendations, and the fun began! I have a list of the titles various family members have suggested on the side of the blog, so if you want to see what will be coming up you can take a peek.

A Good House by Bonnie Burnard (recommended by Aunt Rhoda)
published 1999
309 pages

Synopsis from publisher:

A Good House begins in 1949 in Stonebrook, Ontario, home to the Chambers family. The postwar boom and hope for the future color every facet of life: the possibilities seem limitless for Bill, his wife Sylvia, and their three children.

In the fifty years that follow, the possibilities narrow. Sylvia’s untimely death marks her family indelibly but in ways only time will reveal. Paul’s perfect marriage yields an imperfect child. Daphne unabashedly follows an unconventional path, while Patrick discovers that his happiness requires a series of compromises. Bill confronts the onset of old age less gracefully than anticipated, and throughout, his second wife, Margaret, remains, surprisingly, the family anchor.

This extraordinarily moving and beautifully crafted first novel was a number one bestseller in Canada where it won one of the country’s most prestigious literary awards, the Giller Prize, in 1999.

My thoughts:

This is a very quiet book. It tells the story of the Chambers family from 1949, when Bill and Sylvia are a newly married couple, to 1997, when Bill and his second wife, Margaret, are grandparents, watching their grandchildren marry. It's not really a story about any one particular thing - just the lives of this family, as they love and win and lose over the years. But, because of that, it's about nearly everything - family, and love, and loss, and winning, and defeat, and all the tiny, mundane things that hold a family together, no matter what, through all the years.

The first chapters of the novel are involved more intimately with the characters' lives - there are just a few, Bill and Sylvia and their children, and so Burnard gives the reader a chance to delve more deeply into their stories. As the years pass, the family grows larger, and Burnard must skim over much more of what happens to each particular character - suddenly, children are born and grown, spouses come and go, making the individuals seem more distant. For readers (like me), who really enjoy connecting with specific characters, this distance can make the second half of the novel less rewarding than the first. I found it to be an interesting parallel to a real family - the more we multiply, the less we are able to know each other intimately.

I especially enjoyed the sections about the children growing up in their small town. There were moments when something in the story made me recall an exact moment of my own childhood so clearly - specifically, the chapter where the kids put on a circus. I can remember my sister and I, and some neighborhood kids, putting on "shows" at my grandma's house, complete with costumes and batons. We'd make the adults sit and watch us - it was really pretty pitiful, I'm sure. But these paragraphs really resonated with me, and I felt like I understood these characters' lives:

"There were tough kids and kids not nearly tough enough, but most of them were assumed to be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. If there were quarrels or fights, and occasionally there were, these were not reported back to parents because parents never did anything anyway. Parents couldn't save you. When kids came home muddy and soaking wet or bleeding from an unusual wound or cranky or worried or defeated, there was no great fuss. A dish of ice cream, a bowl of cereal, a joke, a bath, a bandage, a good night's sleep, these were the solutions."

Burnard has written short story collections, and in a way, this novel was similar to a collection - each chapter had its own beginning and end, and didn't really carry over into the next. Things happened, and then we move on, and something else happens, and then we move on - the only thing really tying each section together was the constant desire of the family to hold itself together, no matter what was going on around it.

I was also interested in her portrayal of the family as a group - a very clearly defined, members-only type group, with their own set of rules and expectations. Whenever a new person was introduced, THEY were required to conform to the group. There was never any question of the group changing to meet them. And if someone inside the group varied from their unspoken rules, there were swift consequences - the rules were set, no deviation tolerated. It's interesting to think of a family in this way. I tend to believe my own family is much more tolerant of new people and ideas, but I've never had to try to experience it as an outsider. I wonder how true that assumption is.


I don't think this novel will be for everyone - it's thin character development and slow moving narration will likely be frustrating for some readers. I ultimately liked the novel. It felt comforting to me, like a warm blanket to curl up under. I was interested in Burnard's examination of the family, and how its members respond to each other and to outsiders over the years. It's a novel about nothing, and everything, and well worth the time I spent inside its covers.

Finished: 7/4/09
Source: Franklin Avenue library
Rating: 7/10

This book counts toward:

TSS - Review - Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson

Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson
published 02/09
276 pages
purchase from Amazon or Powell's

Synopsis from publisher:

A haunting novel of loss, love, and human connection from the author of Astrid & Veronika.

In Sonata for Miriam, two events occur that will change composer Adam Anker's life forever. Embarking on a journey that ranges from New Zealand to Poland, and then Sweden, Anker not only uncovers his parents' true fate during World War II, but he also finally faces the consequences of an impossible choice he was forced to make twenty years before — a choice that changed the trajectory of his life.

My thoughts:

At the outset I have to say that I don't think this book will appeal to every reader. It is not an easy read - sometimes ambiguous, dreamlike, poetic. Several events are awfully convenient - and some events are really not explained that well, or at all, leaving the reader wondering what actually just happened.

That being said, I found myself really enjoying this novel. I was grabbed by Adam's voice from the opening sentences, and fell into the rhythm of the narration. I found the dueling narratives - Adam's search for the truth about his family, and his journey back to Cecilia - equally interesting, and while I didn't always understand concretely what was going on, it seemed to fit the mood of the novel. I think memories are often like that - not necessarily detailed or specific, but rather an impression of a person or place that stays with you. That's the way this book felt, and it worked for me.

Of course, the beautiful prose was a joy to read. I wanted to keep reading to see what happened next, but also just to read the words that Olsson wrote. Here are a couple of examples:

"I can take one individual note out of the music I am trying to write at the moment, and it could belong anywhere. Yet where it sits, where I have placed it, it follows what came before and leads to what comes after. Without it the whole would not be as it is...When you listen to the finished composition, or when you go about living your life, the individual components join to make a whole that can so easily be taken for granted. But it is not until you become aware of the parts that you can begin to understand the miracle."

"Smells and sounds and tastes are known to have the power to evoke memories. But I had never before understood the enormous power of tangible objects in this respect. I looked at the clip on my palm, and memories poured forth with almost unbearable intensity. Almost unbearable. No. Either things are bearable or they are not. There is no almost. And these memories were certainly bearable. I welcomed them. I reveled in their blinding intensity, the smarting pain of the sweet moments as they flooded back."

"I never knew how to tell you. If I had found the words, perhaps everything might have turned out different. But now, when so unexpectedly and so very undeservedly I have been given this opportunity, I will try to explain. No, that is not the word. There are no explanations. But I will try to talk. Try to break the silence. When you come, I will try to find the words."

Sonata for Miriam is a moody, beautiful novel, and the right reader will find it an unforgettable experience.

Finished: 5/15/09
Source: Penguin books
Rating: 8/10


Don't just take my word for it! Here's what some other fabulous bloggers had to say:

Marie at The Boston Bibliophile
Lisa at Books on the Brain
Swapna at S. Krishna's Books

Review - The Story of Forgetting

The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block

Synopsis from the publisher:

Abel Haggard is an elderly hunchback who haunts the remnants of his familys farm in the encroaching shadow of the Dallas suburbs, adrift in recollections of those he loved and lost long ago. As a young man, he believed himself to be "the one person too many"; now he is all that remains. Hundreds of miles to the south, in Austin, Seth Waller is a teenage "Master of Nothingness" - a prime specimen of that gangly, pimple-rashed, too-smart breed of adolescent that vanishes in a puff of sarcasm at the slightest threat of human contact. When his mother is diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimers, Seth sets out on a quest to find her lost relatives and to conduct an "empirical investigation" that will uncover the truth of her genetic history. Though neither knows of the other's existence, Abel and Seth are linked by a dual legacy: the disease that destroys the memories of those they love, and the story of Isidora - an edenic fantasy world free from the sorrows of remembrance, a land without memory where nothing is ever possessed, so nothing can be lost.

Through the fusion of myth, science, and storytelling, this novel offers a dazzling illumination of the hard-learned truth that only through the loss of what we consider precious can we understand the value of what remains.

My thoughts:

This was quite a remarkable debut novel. I'm not sure why I picked it up - probably something about the title struck my fancy - but once I started reading I could barely put it down. There are actually four intersecting narratives in the novel - Seth's story, Abel's story, the story of Isidora, and the story of Seth's mother's genetic history. I realize it sounds complicated, but the pieces fit together beautifully.

It was really Seth's story that resonated with me so deeply. A young boy, just trying to figure himself out, suddenly has to deal with a mother who is disappearing. He loves her, and doesn't want her to leave, and yet feels guilty because he hates visiting her in the assisted living home, where she sometimes knows who he is, and sometimes can't even remember her own name. Block captures this young man's struggle perfectly, and I was captivated by his story.

Block also illustrates the devastation of life with early-onset Alzheimers very well. I feel like I am painting this novel as fairly bleak, and while really, really sad things happen, it doesn't feel like a sad novel. It was quite funny in parts, and lovely in others. Mostly just a great read - I recommend it!

Finished: 2/15/09

Source: Franklin Avenue library

Rating: 8/10

TSS - Review - By the Shore

By the Shore by Galazy Craze

B&N Synopsis:

Published to great international acclaim, Galaxy Craze's best-selling debut, By the Shore, launched a young actress into literary fame. In clear and sparkling prose, her novel evokes a fragile, bittersweet world of youth on the cusp of adulthood and "captures perfectly the hopes and hurts of childhood" (The New York Times Book Review). Twelve-year-old May lives in a less than thriving oceanfront bed-and-breakfast run by her single mother. Her life is filled with the frustrations and promise of youth, complicated by a loving if distracted young mother who strives to care for her two children without forfeiting fun and passion. May puts her faith in the things that elude her - her absent father, the London city life left behind, the acceptance of the popular girls who have boyfriends -- and wonders if her life will ever change. When a kindly writer and his glamorous editor come to lodge in the weeks before Christmas, opportunities are in the air. But then May's playboy father, estranged from the family for years, drops in and threatens to freeze the delicate new possibilities stirring in all their lives.




My thoughts:

I initially picked up this novel because I am slated to review its successor, Tiger Tiger, for CurledUp.com, and I really, really hate to read the second book before the first. (I know, I'm a little anal about that.) I'd read some pretty wildly disparate reviews of the two books, so I didn't quite know what to expect - I was very pleasantly surprised.

By the Shore captures perfectly the voice of its 12-year-old narrator, May. The prose itself is quiet, almost tentative, much like a young girl taking her first steps into adulthood. May is sweet, lovable, funny, wise, bratty - very much what you would expect of a young girl. She is smart beyond her years, due to her mother's somewhat haphazard care, and yet still clings naively to the hope that her father will return and create one big, happy family. Eden, her brother, and Lucy, her mother, are both compelling, and the three characters form the strong backbone of the novel.

I was captivated from the first paragraph:

"It can be dangerous to live by the shore. In the winter, after a storm, things wash up on it: rusty pieces of sharp metal, glass, jellyfish. You must be careful where you tread. Sometimes I see a lone fish that has suffocated on the shore and think for days that there are fish in the water waiting for it to return. Then I think, There is nowhere to be safe."

Something about this earnest, sweet young girl just grabbed me, and I read her story with fascination. Oh, how I wanted her to be happy, and not to learn the hard lessons I could sense would be coming her way.

"When they had gone into the house I pushed myself up off the ground and walked over to the tree where Eden had been playing. There were some acorns, leaves in piles, small stones and twigs: a whole world of something I couldn't see anymore. When you are six years old you can sit at the bottom of a tree and everything becomes alive around you. The moss is a soft green carpet, the stone a sofa, the hollows of a tree a house. The wind was a low voice around me. It was getting darker out. The kitchen light was on and I could see the yellow walls and the long shadows made when someone walked past the light. I stared down at the base of the tree, but all I could see was a pile of twigs and leaves, and a few stones. This is how I know I'm getting older: a stick is just a stick."

It certainly has is weaknesses - the romance between Lucy and the visiting writer is predictable, May's father is, of course, a huge jerk - but the bond between the three main characters, and the voice of May, made me overlook the problems and fall in love with this novel. I'm so happy I decided to read it, and now can't wait to start the next one!

Finished: 1/23/09
Rating: 8/10