Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Summary (Goodreads):

Tudor England. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is charged with securing his divorce. Into this atmosphere of distrust comes Thomas Cromwell – a man as ruthlessly 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.

 

Review:

When I first began reading this novel, I gave up after two pages because I just could not follow what was happening and who was speaking.

Luckily, my new book club had chosen this novel as their book for February, which meant that I had to read it. The second time around it was no different – I had no idea who the narrator was or what was happening – but this time I kept reading, and after page fifty or so, it all clicked and fell into place – narrator, characters, setting and plot (intrigue, politics, back-stabbings, beatings, murders!).

Mantel’s account of Henry VIII’s relationship with Anne Boleyn told through Thomas Cromwell’s perspective was engrossing and action-packed – no dull moments. My knowledge of Thomas Cromwell (the very little I knew about him as being ruthless and manipulative, and possibly murdering) was pleasantly changed. Mantel presented him as a sympathetic character – generous (to a fault), intelligent,  hard-working, loyal and, most of all, caring. Seeing this side of Cromwell (whether historically accurate or otherwise) made reading the 650 page tome enjoyable.

I enjoyed it and am in the middle of the sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. This novel is very much worth reading, even if the beginning is a bit of a struggle. Recommended.

 

Review: Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

Summary (from Goodreads):

Roth’s award-winning first book instantly established its author’s reputation as a writer of explosive wit, merciless insight, and a fierce compassion for even the most self-deluding of his characters.

Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman and pretty, spirited Brenda Patimkin, he of poor Newark, she of suburban Short Hills, who meet one summer break and dive into an affair that is as much about social class and suspicion as it is about love. The novella is accompanied by five short stories that range in tone from the iconoclastic to the astonishingly tender and that illuminate the subterranean conflicts between parents and children and friends and neighbors in the American Jewish diaspora.

Review:

I read this a while ago, and while it was easy to read, what surprised me was the depth of the story. While on the surface the story is one of love, the commentary on social class, especially that of American Jewish families, was educational and enlightening because I didn’t have much knowledge about that subject.

I haven’t read the other stories in the collection, but will do so soon.

Review: The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho

Summary (from Goodreads):

The beloved, bestselling international author of The Alchemist returns with another haunting novel—a thrilling journey into our constant fascination with the worlds of fame, fortune, and celebrity.

A profound meditation on personal power and innocent dreams that are manipulated or undone by success, The Winner Stands Alone is set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema.

Taking place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival, it is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa. Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. The conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and as the novel unfolds, morality is derailed.

Meet the players and poseurs behind the scenes at Cannes—the “Superclass” of producers, actors, designers, and supermodels, as well as the aspiring starlets, has-been stars, and jaded hangers-on. Adroitly interweaving the characters’ stories, Paulo Coelho uses his twelfth novel to paint an engrossing picture of a world overrun by glamour and excess, and shows us the possibly dire consequences of our obsession with fame.

Review:

This is not what I expected from Paulo Coelho, at all – actually, I wasn’t sure what to expect since I hadn’t read anything by the author since Veronica Decides to Die, which was okay.

But, I have to say that I was taken by surprise … As always, Coelho comments on some aspect of human nature or society, and this time it’s about celebrity, celebrities, and the public’s obsession with them. The ‘Super Class’ are attending the Cannes film festival, and one in particular, Igor, is not there for the films – he’s at the event to win back his ex-wife, Ewa, at any cost. Thus begins a Hercule Poirot/Sherlock Holmes-type novel where people are killed, suspects are questioned, and truths are revealed.

Coelho opens the curtains to the backstage world of celebrity, and what we see is not pretty, to say the least. It is a dark, dangerous, degrading, greedy, needy, desperate, volatile, and heartbreaking place – a place I am quite happy not to be a part of, especially the way Coleho describes it.

This is darker than his previous works (at least of the ones I have read), and quite entertaining. It’s nice to read something that does not feed into the celebrity machine, and questions the extent some will go to be a ‘star’, and how the ‘Super Class’ sets the tone for everything – fashion, food, morals, values, and beliefs.

If you like mysteries, and don’t mind a little (or a lot of) social commentary, then this is for you.