Off With Her... Gallbladder???

“The things you think are the disasters in your life are not disasters really. Almost anything can be turned around: out of every ditch, a path, if you can only see it.” Truth.

32.12 Bringing Up The Bodies

I could not wait for this book to come out.  I pre-ordered it in January and spent a few days last week rereading the last chapters of Wolf Hall to prepare.  I actually found the rereading wasn’t needed as the intensity of this new look at Thomas Cromwell really stayed with me. I loved the slight ways that his true character slipped through, and the way he seemed prepared for Jane Seymour even before Henry was.  I simply couldn’t wait to read more even though the facts of the history are well known. In anticipation of starting, I set aside all of Tuesday morning to read, then I woke up in the worst pain of my life.  A trip to the ER, two hospitals, and 24-hours later, my gallbladder was gone and I was doped up on pain pills.  So doped up that I couldn’t stay awake, let alone read.  UGH!!! Back off real life drama! Luckily, I could stare at the television endlessly as BBC America was airing a marathon of The Tudors, so I was all caught up on the drama by the time the haze lifted and I finally got to reading.

Damn... Thank god for Divorce Court right?  I used to think the people on that show were crazy, but I think the Tudors have them beat. Henry thinks everyone is out to get him - can you imagine if there had been tapes a-lá-Nixon? - but all that really matters is if Henry is out to get you. As Bringing Up the Bodies opens Henry is already over Anne. Already wondering what SHE did to make him marry her. Already decided to marry Jane next. Feeling he is the only one who is ever wronged.  Making it clear he wants Cromwell to get ‘er done.  And our Cromwell does love a little project!

Mantel still  uses the oddly placed pronoun he, and even though I was prepared for it since reading Wolf Hall I still found it jarring and noticed myself stopping to look back and make sure I was clear about which “he” he was.  This time Mantel added things like, “He, Cromwell, …” to make things more clear but I found the additions also kind of clunky. I do think overall the pronoun use has the effect of making the writing feel more personal without being privy to every one of his thoughts and actions, but I really hate that it takes me out of the story.

This book is shorter and a bit more tight than Wolf Hall, but it also much more historical than personal and so feels a bit more stale, but Cromwell’s final interrogation of the four “bodies” is magnificent. So awful really. So clearly set on course for some time as a way to honor his mentor Cardinal Wolsey. It is one of my greatest fears to be accused of something in such a way that no matter what you do or say you are doomed, and you feel the walls closing in on these characters in a taught and horrifying way. The sheer power of accusation to ruin a life is terrifying, and because of this obvious targeting Cromwell is not as sympathetic a character as he was in Wolf Hall, this time it is Anne’s turn.  We see very little of her, but we hear a lot, and there is absolutely no one on her side.  This book is much less about religion and much more about politics and power, and when that power shifts people see it coming and will do anything they can to save themselves. It seems rather timely actually.