Audiobook Review: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Unabridged, 14 hr. 35 min.
Macmillan Audio
Simon Vance (Narrator)
May 8, 2012
★★★☆☆

Genre: Historical fiction (literary)

Source: Received from publisher for review as part of Audiobook Jukebox Solid Gold Reviewer Program

“The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn

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?”

While I didn’t love the predecessor, Wolf Hall, I still wanted to give this book a try and chose the audio format because it was the only reason I was able to actually get through Wolf Hall. I actually liked this book more than the first, but it still is not a favorite and there are still problems that I had with this novel.

I was able to get into the events of the story more in this novel because there was action and intrigue happening at every turn. This story focuses primarily on the short period of time where Anne Boleyn gets caught up in the events that eventually bring about her downfall and ends shortly following the executions of Anne and her associates. These were familiar events that were easy to follow and I already knew the characters.

I found myself disliking Thomas Cromwell more and more as the book progressed. He just became a more despicable character to me as he gets more involved in Anne’s downfall. I am actually quite interested in seeing how she deals with the fall of Thomas Cromwell.

The nagging problem with pronouns was still prominent in this novel. I have read reviews that state that Mantel solves the issue some readers had (as I did) with the “he, he, he”. I found the solution to be just as aggravating as the problem. There is still a lot of “he, he, he”, however periodically there is now a “he, Cromwell” or “he, Henry”. I would prefer if they just went with “Cromwell” or “Henry” – just get rid of the “he”! It became just as frustrating with all of the “he, Cromwell” as it did with “he”.

Also, as with its predecessor, the ending was quite abrupt. It felt just like it ended in the middle of the thought. I would have appreciated a little more closure.

Overall, for me, this was a better read than Wolf Hall. This book can be read as a stand alone and I would recommend this over Wolf Hall any day.

★★★★☆

The narrator did a fabulous job of portraying different characters, accents, female characters, etc. He was very easy to listen to and his characters fit with the personalities I had crafted in my head.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

You can also check out the audiobook sample below:

You can also watch a discussion with the author about Bring Up the Bodies.

Reviews of this book by others: 

• Sarah’s History Blog
• Bill Sundstrom’s Blog

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Hilary Mantel:

Wolf Hall
[My Review]

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

Find Hilary Mantel: Website | Facebook

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Book 1 of Thomas Cromwell trilogy

Unabridged, 24 hr. 19 min.

Macmillan Audio

Simon Slater (Narrator)

October 20, 2009

★★☆☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction (literary fiction)

Source: Borrowed audio from Arleigh at Historical-Fiction.com

“England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the Pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events.

Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.”

Alright, right off I’m going to tell you that I didn't really like this book like most others that I talk to, and there are quite a few reasons why, which I will elaborate on in a few lines. I have actually attempted to read this book twice. I had received this book for review back in 2009 and could not get myself past about page 30. Every time that I picked it up to read it I would find myself falling asleep. At first I thought it was because I was just tired at that time, but I would still have similar problems when I read it the second time. So I stopped reading it and gave it away to a fellow blogger.

Time elapsed – a year and a half passed – and I read so many awesome raving reviews of the book I thought maybe I had missed something. I decided I would think about trying it again on audiobook this time (a great narrator can really make a difference). Arleigh at Historical-Fiction.com offered to let me borrow her audio copy and I took her up on the opportunity. The second time around was better and I will give all of the credit to the narrator and audio production because I still didn’t love the story.

I had a difficult time staying interested in this novel because it never felt like anything was happening. I have been told that this is a hallmark of literary fiction – which focuses more on style and characters – and if that is the case, I guess literary fiction is not for me. I certainly like to have depth of characters and well written prose, but I want to know that over the 600-ish pages there are plot points and excitement and in general, things that happen. I learned a lot about the character of Thomas Cromwell, who was relatively new to me and often serves more as a periphery character in other’s stories. He was also portrayed as more of a sympathetic character as opposed to the mostly negative depictions of him in other works of literature. I didn’t like the point of view – everything was “he”, “he”, “he” – and at several points I totally lost track as to who was being described. I also felt that the ending was very abrupt – I was waiting for the story to wrap up, but apparently that wasn’t meant to be.

Also, my biggest question, what the heck is up with the title? They never went to Wolf Hall, nothing happened at Wolf Hall, nothing critical related to Wolf Hall happened, and the only connection to it (Jane Seymour) was a minor character. If someone could explain this to me I would be very grateful.

★★★★☆

Now, the audio production on the other hand, was quite good. The narrator did a fabulous job of portraying different characters, accents, female characters, etc. He even had to do a little singing at one point. There were some very minor sound effects used in the production – the one that stands out most in my mind was the use of a lute-type instrument during the singing portion. It certainly added to the experience. I can safely say that this book would have remained a DNF if I had not chosen to listen to it on audio. The narrator was the saving grace for me.

You can listen to an excerpt from the audio below

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Keep Going You Fool
• Marion’s Blog
• Historical-Fiction.com.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Hilary Mantel

Bring up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell #2)
[My Review]

The Mirror and the Light (Thomas Cromwell #3)

Find Hilary Mantel: Website | Facebook

 
Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court