| Wolf Hall |  | Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £18.99
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Seller: thecreakingbookshelf
Rating:  243 reviews
Sales Rank: 331
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Special Edition
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 2.1
ISBN: 0007230184
EAN: 9780007230181
Publication Date: April 30, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
# Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd (30 April 2009)
# Language English
# ISBN-10: 0007230184
# ISBN-13: 978-0007230181
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 243
 Overly long, but good enough to finish (just) March 17, 2010
Maturin (Dublin, Ireland)
I don't mind reading long books, in fact the better the book, the happier I am for it to take its time. But Wolf Hall starts to drag about half way through. Only the very good writing tipped the balance enough for me to keep reading, combined with the fact that I was on holidays and had time to spare.
The writing is very good, though I too was annoyed by the device of referring to Cromwell's thoughts and words using "he" without any prior reference in that paragraph. As one reviewer said this would work well if it was exclusively used for Cromwell, but often the context will suggest that the reference is to another character.
The characterisation, especially that of Cromwell, is excellent. The story is one most people will know, at least in broad outline. That means that the plot isn't going to hook you, so only consistently good writing will keep you coming back to the book. I'm glad I stuck with it, but only just.
 Wished it had been twice as long March 16, 2010
S. B. Kelly (London United Kingdom)
A book of 650 pages is a daunting prospect but after a couple of chapters I wished it were twice as long. While I noticed the occasional confusion with pronouns (which makes me wonder if it started life as a first-person narration) that didn't stop my being completely engrossed by Mantel's beautiful prose and the tale she has to unfold.
Mantel seems to have found a new angle on a story that should be yawn-makingly familiar. Her depiction of Thomas Cromwell is sympathetic: although he is a pragmatist -- he loves Wolsey but will not let himself be pulled down with him -- he is also a humane and humorous man, loving and kind to his family, devastated by the deaths of his wife and daughters in the 'sweating sickness', a regular blight in the 1520s which vanished as mysteriously as it had come, as if it were a metaphor for the reign of the fat psychopath: Henry VIII.
Henry is a peripheral character in this novel, almost pathetic as he moons like an adolescent around Anne Boleyn, a boyish infatuation that was to change the course of English history. I especially enjoyed Mantel's depiction of Thomas More as a boor and a domestic bully, in sharp contrast to the usual view of him as a secular saint.
I believe that further volumes are to come. I can hardly wait.
Perhaps I'm missing something March 15, 2010
Fiona Colley (Telford, UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Am I missing something? All these bad reviews........I loved "Wolf Hall". I found it gripping from the first page and easy to read. I was so impressed I went straight on to "A Place of Greater Safety" which I also enjoyed enormously. The only confusion might some in the title as "Wolf Hall" doesn't get mentioned until quite literally the last line.
 Terribly written March 15, 2010
B. Barlow (Newcastle-upon-Tyne)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I really tried hard with this book. I was so excited to start it having being absorbed in the synopsis alone but have been sorley disappointed. I am an avid reader and always have a book on the go and normally have no trouble reading, understanding and following a plot or narrative. Sadly, i was left confused and frustrated in simply trying to follow this story to the point where i have now given up which is a sin in my book usually. I always say, give a book a chance and never give up becasue you find that once its gotten off the grounds, 9 times out of ten, it's a satisfying read in the end. No such satisfaction to be found here i'm affraid.
History as it really is March 15, 2010
Chloe (Barcelona)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - but it does require dedication. It can't be dipped in and out of but read for hours at a time - insomnia has its advantages. I found myself empathising with a wide range of the characters and in this way Mantel allows you to see the many sides of the issues of the day. She also makes clear the importance of individuals on the fate of mankind. History is not a series of events - it is a series of actions.
I felt I had lived through a part of history and hope Mantel will give us the pleasure of picking up where she left off.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 243
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