Wolf Hall- Hilary Mantel

 


Full disclosure: I really struggled with Wolf Hall, and wasn't totally sold on reading it even going in. However, in an effort to branch out from books that I would usually read, and also due to the combination of it being named one of the best books of the month on Amazon and winning the Man Booker prize, I put it on hold at the library and did my best to keep an open mind.  Honestly, I really wanted to like it. It's gotten so many good reviews, and I do think that the history behind it is at least somewhat interesting. Advertised as a novel addressing Thomas Aquinas, a lawyer and advisor to Henry VIII throughout the Anne Boleyn matter, I thought this would be a good way for me to try something different, and maybe learn more about a topic I know very little about. 

A good plan in theory, right? Too bad it backfired in my face spectacularly. 

My first thought upon opening Wolf Hall? “Dear Lord.” I’m not sure there’s anything that makes me want to read a book less than when it opens with four pages of a cast of characters and a family tree. The total 532 pages didn’t bother me, I’ve read Harry Potter books bigger than that, but the sheer number of characters just thrown at you right away is overwhelming. Immediately I was put off by it. Honestly, an author doing that is one of my pet peeves about any book, even one that I’m not already a little hesitant about reading. In my opinion, if you need to start your book by spewing every character in the story at the reader, you aren’t doing a good job introducing us to the novel and won’t be introducing the characters well either. I have less of a problem with this when it’s at the end, if it’s more of a reference just in case it seems less necessary, and therefore gives me more confidence.  

I had four main problems with the book:

1.  Despite the four pages of characters, I never had any idea who anyone was, who was talking, or what/who was even being talked about.  Hilary Mantel skips from first names to last names to titles interchangeably and it is obnoxious.  And none of this was helped by her incessant use of “he” without further elaboration, and only occasional use of quotation marks.

2.  The book reads more like non-fiction, which I have always been impatient with. Flat out, I do not like non-fiction unless it is written like a novel or has a subject matter that I am very interested in. Two strikes against this book.  I need a story to follow and a plot to get into or I lose interest rapidly.  Hilary Mantel’s writing style is disjointed at best, scatterbrained at worst. I couldn’t follow anything, and have never been so frustrated and confused with a book.

3.  I don’t think it helped me any that I only knew the bare bones story of Henry VIII going in. It seems as if Mantel just expects you to know what is happening, and when she drops a year in, to know what has transpired, because:

4. The first 125 pages or so are not chronological.

It was these four problems that pretty much ended Wolf Hall’s chance for me to enjoy it.  They were insurmountable. After slogging through the first two parts of the book, I skimmed over the table of contents and realized that the remaining portions seemed to go in chronological order. Hoping that the book would improve from there, I decided to give it 50 more pages from that point. 

It did not improve. I hated it just as much. It is not enjoyable. It is tedious. And reading it I felt the way I imagine most people who don't like to read feel. Like you'd rather be doing anything else. Finally, after realizing that despite wanting nothing more than to read for awhile, I wasn't doing it because I was not even remotely interested in reading any more Wolf Hall, I gave up on it.

0- I don’t think it’s fair for me to rate this, even giving it a 1 (waste of time) seems incorrect, because I didn’t finish it.  I didn't waste all the time I could have on it, and who even knows what could have happened in the second half? I was not interested in finding out, and that fact alone is the most telling of how much I didn’t like it. I can’t think of more than one or two times I haven’t finished a book that I’ve started.

Next up: a book called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, recommended by my mom. 

Ape House- Sara Gruen

Considering that Water for Elephants is one of my favorite books of all time, I’m still a little surprised that it took me a year to get to Sara Gruen’s follow-up. The fact is, it did not get great reviews. And since I base a lot of my book selections on Amazon reviews and star ratings, maybe that explains it. I’m glad I decided to ignore them in the end though, I’m not sure why it hasn’t been doing well. There are lots of criticisms that Gruen did not develop her characters well, that the most interesting character had nothing to do with the apes, and other things, but for the most part I don’t agree.  Ape House was a perfectly good follow up to an excellent book. Maybe my lowered expectations are the reason that I liked it, but I did like it nonetheless.

Ape House focuses on three main characters/groups of characters: 1. John Thigpen, a reporter, 2. Isabel Duncan, head scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, and 3. The apes themselves.  Here I agree with the reviewers. The fourth main character, John’s wife Amanda, was by far the most interesting. As a struggling writer living away from John, we don’t see a lot of Amanda, but the parts of the book that contain her were the most developed, possibly because Gruen put a lot of herself into the character.  Regardless, John and Isabel are both very relatable characters, and in their interactions with the apes, and the circumstances surrounding a bombing at the Great Ape Language Lab, we see the human side of both of them. The story follows the characters after the bombing, and in the end reveals who was behind the bombing.  Incidentally, the villain is fairly predictable, and I had figured out who it was far earlier than Gruen intended, but the novel is still entertaining as it gets there. Overall, I am still a fan of Sara Gruen’s writing, and Ape House. It’s no Water for Elephants, but really, what is?

4- I’d read this again but I think I’m glad I didn’t buy it the moment it came out.

Next up: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a beast of a book, the next in what seems to be a string of serious novels placed on hold at the library that all came in at the same time. 

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky- Heidi Durrow

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi Durrow from the library. It certainly wasn’t what I got. There are lots of reviews that call this a look at multiculturalism and growing up biracial in a black area. That’s even what the focus is on the book jacket. But what struck me more about it was just the simple story about the difficulties of growing up in an impossible situation. I don’t know how to explain it without giving away the premise of the entire book, but suffice it to say that Rachel, the girl in the title, has more than enough to deal with, and to throw the trials that she faces because of her race gives her even more to overcome. 

Overall, this was an interesting read. Obviously being white and growing up in a predominantly white area makes it nearly impossible to understand half of the problems that Rachel encounters, however I think anyone can identify with the difficulties she faces in being a teenager recovering from a tragic event, and feeling alone.  A worthwhile read, but not something I’ll need to read again. It was very bleak and there are not a lot of moments that make you feel as though the “survivor” is going to survive the rest of her life.

3- I understand the importance that some reviewers are giving this book, but I would have enjoyed a more in depth look at how Rachel dealt with things related to the tragedy that happened in her life.  I never really connected with her or any of the characters, and the way that the story was told, jumping from perspective to perspective in a confusing, non-chronological way made it difficult to get into.

Next Up:  Ape House by Sara Gruen, a book I’m surprised I haven’t already read, as her Water for Elephants is one of my favorite books of all time. 

Bossypants- Tina Fey

Continuing to kick things off is the hilarious book Bossypants, by my new favorite person ever, Tina Fey.  The sample chapter alone had me nearly crying. Seriously, get on Amazon right now and read it and try not to die laughing.  The stories had me consistently laughing out loud, and identifying with her in a way that you wouldn't think a conservative engineer could with a liberal comedy writer.  Maybe it’s because Tina Fey is a fellow nerd, or maybe simply because the entire book is so full of sarcasm and my own kind of humor. Regardless, I couldn’t help but love it.  I could barely put it down. The stories she tells about growing up, SNL, 30 Rock, and family life with her daughter and husband are all so funny that it makes me want to be her best friend. 

I suppose I should add one caveat though, and that is that I loved Tina Fey and her work already. Even before reading her book I was a big fan, and in fact had preordered the book weeks in advance because I knew that I would love it. I'm her target audience. The amount of times I’ve seen Mean Girls alone should be concerning to most reasonable people. I knew from the beginning that there was no way I wasn’t going to like it.  In fact, I put aside the other book that I was in the middle of in order to read it. I think the biggest win here for me is that I wasn’t disappointed at all.  It was 277 pages of awesome. But if you don’t like her style of humor and writing, you’re probably not going to like her book either.

5- of course. 

Next up: Returning to The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow, which had the unfortunate luck to be put aside when I got Bossypants.

Room- Emma Donoghue

My recommendation of Room to several of my friends is one that motivated the starting of a blog, so why not start there?

Room, I cannot stress enough, is weird.  Weird, intense, and physically impossible to put down once you’re sucked in. That thing I was talking about that always happens at the incredibly inconvenient time of 10pm on a Tuesday? And then suddenly it’s 2am and you have to get up in four hours? The entire middle section of Room is like that, and that’s your warning. I hit the un-put-down-able section at about 10:30 on a Monday night, told myself to stop reading every half hour from then on, and wound up not actually putting the book down until around midnight. And even after that I couldn’t sleep.

That being said, I have to return again to how weird it is.  The basic premise of the book is that the five year old narrator has lived his entire life in one room with his mother and a creepy man that comes in the middle of the night and brings them all of their supplies to live. I don’t think the following sentence is that much of a spoiler, but if you’re crazy about those kinds of things, you might not want to read this next part: As it turns out, the boy’s mother was abducted at 19, is being kept in this room by the creepy old man, and the boy is a product of one of many rapes.  I told you it was weird.  But engrossing and intense nonetheless. It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

4- just because after the intense middle part, it slows down significantly. It’s still interesting, but none of the end is something I would read rather than sleeping. 

First Post!

Here's the thing: I read a lot. Since I was little, reading has always appealed to me for the same reason the quote above talks about.  It's one of my favorite things to do on any given weekend morning, or any time at all really.  


Because of that, I have gotten pretty good at recommending books to my friends and family. So why not make it easier and send people to a website instead of wracking my brain for whatever book I've read recently?  Hence, Second Epilogue. A look at the book after the end of the book. 


Have you ever had this happen to you: A book "grabs" you at a completely inconvenient time and before you know it, it's 2am on a Tuesday, you've finished a book that at 10 you were only halfway through, and you have to get up in four hours? Those books are the best. And here I’ll try to write about the books that grab me, the ones that don’t, and everything, including thrillers and chick lit, that falls somewhere in between. 

Here's a basic rating system: 

1- Total waste of time

2- Didn't like it, but still OK with having read it

3- OK, but I don't need to read it again

4- Will definitely read it again

5- Buy immediately to read over and over again

Happy Reading!