Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall, Book 2) Paperback – May 7, 2013

I've seldom seen anything similar to the approving furor over Hilary Mantel's WOLF HALL, and if you had told me that a novel about Thomas Cromwell - most famously seen as a sleazy weasel attacking the saintly Thomas More in the movie A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS - could be fascinating and sexy, I would not have believed you. Mantel's writing, however, was utterly perfect as she twisted expectations by showing More as the intolerant, egocentric, venomous 16th-century anti-hero and Cromwell as a man who, in spite of battering, had become generous, loving, wise, reforming, amusing - calculating and vengeful (the vengeful doesn't really pop up until almost the end of WOLF HALL but it's definitely a trail worth following).So where do you go with one of the decade's most approved books, winner of the Man Booker Prize and other prestigious awards, which was so beautifully written that, while waiting for Part 2, many of us read it multiple times just to savor the ironies, the contrasts? You go on, as life does, and do Part 2.BRING UP THE BODIES gives Cromwell an altogether tougher task. Having become rich and elevated by serving Henry VIII in any way he desires, Cromwell now has to metaphorically enter Henry's bed to get rid of an inconvenient woman. Anne Boleyn has failed to give the King what she promised and that, in Tudor England, was fatal. The current Queen, from the first page of the book, has a metaphysical and literal sword hanging over her head. After the most notorious romance in western history, a stitched-up divorce ripping England from Holy Mother Church, all she can provide to the heir-hungry Henry is - another squalling daughter and a series of miscarriages. Just like her predecessor, the sorrowful Katherine of Aragon. So - Cromwell, the ultimate Fixer for his Machiavellian monarch, is going to have to fix this one as well. At what cost? As the book progressed, an image from the first page kept recurring to me - the falcon, stooping to the kill, bloodied and remorseless. Circa regna tonat , indeed.This story has been told and retold, and the same magic that infused Wolf Hall illuminates this catastrophic event with the same surprises, beautiful writing, subtle penetration, and black irony. Somehow, it seems like an entirely new story, one in which you know there will be bodies but still, for a time, it seems like this doom-laden tale could be rewritten, that it will not end in a stage full of corpses. There is magic in Mantel's prose:"Katherine was not without sin, but now her sins are taken off her. They are all heaped upon Anne; the shadow who flits after her, the woman draped in night. The old queen dwells in the radiance of God's presence, her dead infants swaddled at her feet, but Anne dwells in this sinful world below, stewed in her childbed sweat, in her soiled sheet. But her hands and feet are cold and her heart is like a stone."I waited two years for this book and it was worth the wait. If Mantel can sustain this dark, haunted, illuminating, ironic time-travel for a third book, I will be astounded - but perhaps, not surprised.

Hilary Mantel is a brilliant writer. Just brilliant. And this is a fascinating story. I had no idea what a clever, diabolical, ingenious, and manipulative person Thomas Cromwell was. He is a man around whom you want to be careful what you say. He can and will use it against you--if it suits his purposes. And since he's right-hand man to King Henry VIII (no slouch at plotting himself), it will sooner or later suit his purposes. He is cold, cunning, intelligent, mysterious, and at times, darkly funny. Yes, the book has humor--but you have to pay attention. Having watched "Wolf Hall" with the inimitable Mark Rylant, I could picture no one else in the role, and Rylant's slim, barely noticeable smile haunted me all through the book. Anne Boleyn, as portrayed by Mantel, is not a particularly sympathetic character, so it's difficult to feel sorry for her. On the other hand, where would she get compassion? She is envied by nearly every woman in the land, constantly berated by royalty and subjects alike, and deserted by everyone close to her, including her own family. She sees life as a fight for survival, and sadly, she turns out to be right. Apparently it is good to be king because Henry has everything on his side, including Cromwell. He's a person you'd want rooting for you too--right up until the moment he turns on you. This is a rich accounting, filled with history and details galore. Mantel brings Elizabethan England to life, from clothing and food to transportation, architecture, politics, religion, superstition, government, everyday life--and torture. It's a robust, unflinching novel filled with fascinating characters. But as intriguing as Henry is, he cannot hold a candle to Cromwell. I read--and loved--Wolf Hall. This is even better. I'm hoping for a sequel. No one writes historic fiction like Mantel. Her research is impressive and her writing is unrivaled. Don't miss this book.

Der zweite Teil der Trilogie über Thomas Cromwell schildert vorwiegend den Untergang von Anne Boleyn, der zweiten Frau von Heinrich VIII. und welche Rolle Cromwell dabei spielte. Der Höhepunkt ist die Beschreibung Hilary Mantels auf 10 Seiten von der Hinrichtung Boleyns - der Scharfrichter kam eigens aus Calais. - Des Weiteren lernt mal viel über wichtige Persönlichkeiten des damaligen Englands und Heinrichs VIII. Bruch mit Rom kennen. Die Hinrichtung von Thomas More spiegelt den Höhepunkt diesen Bruchs wider. - Historischer, epischer Roman at its best!

Hilary Mantel sa scrivere e sa appassionare. Per quanto riguarda la consegna ed il materiale tutto perfetto

Muy interesante, una nueva manera de narrar la historia.

This is a book I have been trying to get hold of for a while. I am happy that finally I managed to get it through Amazon. The book arrived on the date promised. This book is one of a series of three books authored by HIlary Mantel on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell who from obscurity became the most trusted courtier of Henry VIII to be finally beheaded by him, as happened to many who were either his wives or close courtiers!

A autora conferiu profunda dimensão humana a figuras históricas, que tão frequentemente são retratadas de forma estereotipada.Este livro e Wolf Hall, que o antecedeu, são ambos perfeitos tanto para os que amam história, quanto para quem busca boa literatura.