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Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

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Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel was a re-read for me, I originally read it back in 2012, you can read my thoughts on it then here.

I enjoyed the book just as much this time around. Again I was amazed at the behaviour of Anne Boleyn, not that I think she was guilty as charged, but that she was so sure of herself where Henry was concerned and had arguments with him, and threw tantrums. I read the love letters between the two of them, which you can read on Project Gutenberg here. Considering that she strung him along for seven years it’s no wonder Henry was more than a wee bit disgruntled.

I don’t think I noticed at my first reading of it that there were a few mentions of Cromwell’s father Walter going out of his way to help his son out of difficulties, but he had kept it secret from Cromwell, so he didn’t discover his father’s kindness to him until he was an adult and well on his way in his career. Cromwell had hated his father, with good reason as he was abusive and brutal, especially when drunk. But Cromwell’s harsh upbringing helped form the man he became.

I couldn’t help thinking about the Johnny Cash song – A Boy Named Sue.

Another thing that struck me was the number of men called Thomas who were around the Tudor court of that time. It’s not a very common name nowadays, Thomas seems to have been like the ‘John’ of the early 20th century. There are almost no Johns nowadays, but plenty of Jacks.

So why were so many men named Thomas in Tudor times? I can only think that they might have been named after Thomas Beckett. As biblical names go Thomas isn’t a great one to choose as the Thomas in that was ‘doubting.’ It’s a mystery to me, do any of you have any thoughts on the matter? For some reason names have always interested me.

If you’re interested you can read Jack’s thoughts on Bring Up the Bodies here. I’m now reading The Mirror and the Light.

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

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I got an e-mail on Thursday from the library asking me to come and pick up this book, I requested it from them months ago so there was obviously a long queue of people in front of me. Anyway, I picked it up on Thursday night and as there’s a note on the inside of the book asking people to read it as quickly as possible as it’s in demand I did just that and finished it this afternoon.

Thankfully at 410 pages this one isn’t as huge as Wolf Hall which I found to be an unwieldy beast to read even although I enjoyed the contents.

I think I actually liked this book even more than Wolf Hall, possibly because I did read it over such a short period of time and I didn’t have any problems with the writing, either I’ve got used to her style or she has improved it because Wolf Hall was a wee bit confusing at times with so many he saids and it not always being obvious who the he was.

I’m sure everyone knows what Bring Up the Bodies is about. It’s the continuation of Thomas Cromwell’s career at Henry VIII’s court. Cromwell hasn’t allowed the disadvantages of being the son of a blacksmith to hold him back, in fact the survival skills he learned as a youngster have been a help to him in his post of Henry’s Chief Minister. As a commoner he’s looked down on by the aristocrats at court but they’re also afraid of his power. Cromwell has plenty of enemies, it’s a dangerous combination.

Cromwell had done everything he could to please Henry by making it possible for Anne to become his wife and Queen but Henry is less than pleased with Anne and is keen to get on to the next wife, Jane Seymour. It’s Cromwell’s job to find a way out for the king. This book ends in 1536 with Anne Boleyn getting the chop – or should I say the swish!

Hilary Mantel is apparently writing the next book in this series. I’m really looking forward to it. There are only four more years to go for Thomas Cromwell so it shouldn’t be a massive tome.

Bring Up The Bodies won the 2012 Man Booker Prize.