Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies Review

Bring Up The Bodies is Hilary Mantel's second novel in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell.  In the follow up to Wolf Hall we join Cromwell as he successfully brings down Henry VIII's second Queen: Anne Boelyn. 

In Wolf Hall I felt as if I was transported to the 1500's, following Cromwell as he rose through the ranks at Henry VIII's court.  There was a great blend of historical detail, and fiction that made it worthy of the Man Booker Prize.  At the end I felt I came away feeling as if I knew the man a little bit better.

Bring Up The Bodies is a clunky read.  It has the same attention to detail as its prequel, and similar characters of course because of the time period.  But that's where the similarities end.   A big difference is the narrator. In technical terms I think what Mantel was going for here was either a "3rd person first"  or maybe a second person narration?  She tried to make the narrator a separate character, and yet was also trying to see inside Thomas Cromwell's head. 

On page 182 Mantel writes: "He, Cromwell, stands back while Thomas Cranmer, pale and smooth takes charge of the king's bereavement."  She uses the expression of "He Cromwell," a lot to get into his head.  The lack of commitment to a point-of-view makes it a tough read.  If the character Thomas Cromwell is a mysterious figure, then why not use first person? The failure to commit to a narrator makes it confusing.

Mantel writes sections of the book without dialogue.  I appreciate there is a lot of detail to cram into a book about Henry VIII and Anne Boelyn. But, as a writer, and reader too, I find dialogue key to advancing the plot, and showing a character's background.  She's not successful at it here.  Basically the only thing I'm left with after reading it is that Cromwell is  good to his friends/family.  This I can see through his conversations with his neighbour Ambassador Chapuys, and the occasional exchange with other characters.

And then there's Henry VIII himself.  He's relegated to a secondary character for most of the book.  That makes sense since the primary focus is Thomas Cromwell who struggles in the background. Towards the end Henry VIII becomes a little more prominent as he reacts to Anne's betrayal, and is played up to be melodramatic.  In everything I've seen on television or read in history books, this King was anything but melodramatic.  I found myself thinking; she betrayed you, and you do get a chance to mope around... but honestly it's time to get over it now.

Overall verdict on this one: Great for historical detail, but not if you're looking for a good story.