Review: Bring Up The Bodies
Bring Up The Bodies, Hilary Mantel[ "Bring Up The Bodies" by Hilary Mantel (published by Fourth Estate 2012). Historical novel concerning the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII and Anne Bolelyn.]
My Mum often said “If you cannot say anything good, then say nothing”. If I follow that advice I should end here. Again I was told “never complain, never explain”. (Attributed to various people among whom are Katherine Hepburn and Wallis Simpson.) But despite this good advice I will do both.
Bring Up the Bodies is a historical novel by Hilary Mantel and sequel to her award-winning Wolf Hall. It is the second part of a planned trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. [Wiki]
The book is written in the 1st person present * then mixed in with Omniscient Narrator.** and a bit of 3rd person***. It did'nt 'alf confuddle me! I am sure I have read other works that used the same device but this one really did not work for me.
The basic facts, as much as any history is fact, you might know from your school history and this is a story written around those few knowns, 500+ pages of story, very little of which can actually be attributed. But is it a good story? I hear you cry. I did not think so. A lot hinges around a perceived slight to Thomas More and Cromwell's way of getting back at the perpetrators of the slight and at the same time getting rid of the incumbent queen, Anne Bolyn. If that actually happened then did it deserve the repercussions? Hardly. But was it a symptom of the recorded fact that Thomas Cromwell was the most powerful man in the land and was, a Mister (son of a blacksmith) among Lords. That must have been hard for him and maybe he took revenge. He was later Governor of the Isle of Wight and Earl of Essex. I am not well versed in the hierarchy of the upper class nobs to know if either of these promotions were a good thing, but by today’s values they might be regarded as damning with faint praise.
After reading a while, the 1st and 3rd person stuff was not so noticeable to me, either the author stopped doing it or I got used to it, but it had lost its impact. If impact is what the author intended.
The story seems to start in the middle. Not surprising really being the second part of a trilogy, but it was a bit too obvious. Maybe one should read the first part first. And the end was also unsatisfactory, because this was supposed to be about Cromwell and we know he was beheaded for treason but the story leaves him when he is still going strong. The story is not so much about Cromwell but about Henry and his Queens. And another thing... All this seems about one incident and not a balanced view of Cromwell’s life or work, again maybe I was expecting more of something different.
Apart from his wheeling and dealing, Cromwell would appear to have brought to England, via Henry VIII, many great reforms to both the Church and in the secular sphere. Maybe his modest upbringing gave him an empathy with the people. But he is best known for his services to the King who is trying to get a male heir and so stabilise the future of England that was in danger of becoming an outpost of France or Spain, or of the Dutch (or the Scots).
The philosopher Socrates, was reputed to have said that “we are judged not on what we do, but on what people say of what we do”. Hilary Mantel has speculated on history to say what Cromwell did and why. Maybe this is as good a history as any other.
Cromwell has been gradually mellowed over time from being a power crazy, to being a skilful manipulator of and for the King. Maybe with some more time he will become a true and faithful servant to the King, to the Country and to the People.
Adding to things I was told not to do, there is “Comparisons are odious” but I will do that as well.
We had previously read work by another historical novel writer and all of us had enjoyed that, and some of us read further work by that writer. Maybe we were expecting something more like that. But we were universally disappointed.
But this was a prize winning work, so how could that be? Maybe the answer is in the competition itself and the judges. Or maybe I am just not clever enough to really understand.
What are you doing with that?---
That is not for you!---
Step away from the book!
PS Thomas Cromwell was not related to Oliver.
*A type of narrative in which the protagonist relates their story using the first person, i.e. using the pronoun ‘I’
** A rare form of first person is the first person omniscient, in which the narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all the other characters [Wiki]
***In the third-person narrative mode, each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we" (first-person), or "you" (second-person).
'ere 'ark at me! Me with my O level in Eng Lang (ungraded).