In this second installment of the fictional rehabilitation of Thomas Cromwell, I felt That Was Hilary Mantel falling prey to overkill. That She Is it Too Often has-been complimented on her Fortunate blurring presentation of the point of view in Wolf Hall Regularly but here she shoots herself in the foot with elucidations last resort (he, Cromwell) to make safe the perceptive reader is confirmed in her keen perception. Whats the need? Wheres the fun? It now looks so mechanical and routinist. It is well Understood That Cromwell HAS pride of place in here and That is PRECISELY why Mantels work is so valuable, Even in fiction form. Goal is it necessary to make _him_ sound like a well-wisher Fabian of the working class (p. 204-5), Confronting the selfish political archaism of the House of Commons, without caring to insert the House of Lords in the picture by the way? Just as Anne Boleyn is made to look like the mischievous one-dimensional plotter Was not she, is so Sometimes Tudor politics presented as a caricature of modern issues. So, all in all Bring up the Bodies Was a huge disappointment to me and only Rarely did I find the original, shocking treatment of History so much I relished in Wolf Hall.
