Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

This is a book of historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell.

During the reign of King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell began working for Bishop Woolsey.  After Woolsey's fall from favor and then his death, Cromwell began to work for the King.  He was a man of extremely low birth who had become educated depsite his upbringing.  He was a soldier, a baker, a book keeper, an attorney, an importer and a finder of things, people and information.  He spoke many languages and his past was a mystery.  The mystery of his life was something that Cromwell used to his advantage.  Others made assumptions and he made no effort to correct them.  Because of this, he was a much feared man.  He was able to melt into a background and be virtually invisible while he gleaned information from what he heard and especially what he saw.  Cromwell was a great reader of people and used the information from watching to his advantage and the advantage of those he worked for.

This book takes us through King Henry's battle to annul his marriage to Katherine of Arragon, his courtship of Anne Boleyn and a bit past the birth of his daughter Elizabeth.  At the end of the book, relations between Henry and Anne are strained.  She had had several miscarriages and failed to produce the male heir that she promised. We meet Jane Seymour and find that her family estate is titled Wolf Hall.  Her presence in the life of Anne Boleyn and the random meetings with Thomas Cromwell are intriguing teases.  I'm not sure that it made sense to name the book Wolf Hall though.

I really enjoyed this book.  It seems well researched with regards to the King, the Boleyns as well as Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Woolsey.  As always, I enjoy the results of research done with regards to how people lived.  The day to day lives of people and what they ate, wore, did for work and how their houses were laid out.  This book is medium sized at 672 pages.  I felt like the author used her time wisely.  The story really didn't drag on other than the fact that an inordinately long time was spent with Anne dragging her feet and Henry wrestling with the whole religious community but that really did take a long time so it was historically accurate.

Mantel continues the saga with her next book Bring Up the Bodies.

The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

I did not finish this book.  I  got 41% through it and I had to stop.

The book seems an endless loop of questioning religion, questioning God, questioning the existence of God, questioning the need for religion, and so on through the voices and experiences of many different people from many walks of life although all of them are Muslim.

Now we know why there was a fatwa put on Rushdie's head.  The higher religious authorities of Iran don't stike me as people who are okay with anyone suggesting that we should question God and religion.

One day I might finish the book but, then again I might not.

Rushdie has an enormous vocabulary and he uses it.  His usage of an extremely erudite prose slows down my rate of reading just a bit.

Casual Vacancy

Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

This is Rowling's first book written for adults.  I had received reports from others who were in the middle of reading it when I first picked up the book.  Some reports were positive and some were negative so I was eager to see for myself.

This is a story of the people who live in a small village that is next to a town.  The "casual vacancy" is a formal term to describe a situation when someone on the community council of the village dies.  In the first chapter, a man dies.  As the story progresses we learn more about what kind of man he was and why his death is so pivotal in this community.

During the course of the story we get to hear the thoughts of most of the characters.  This gives us an interesting perspective in what seems to be a study of human nature.  In many ways we get to see that those people who think they are the backbone of the community are really the ones with the least to offer.  Those that think they are but a small, and even worthless, part of the community actually have the most to give.

There is another plot line within the book that follows the goals of the dead man.  This thread follows the reality of a 16 year old girl who lives in a run-down neighborhood, "The Fields", on the edge of the village boundaries.  Many people within the village believe that The Fields should be part of the town rather than the village so that the poor and disadvantaged that live there can stop polluting the quiet peaceful atmosphere of the village.  Others believe that the people of the village should be of help to those in The Fields so that they can change the circumstances of their lives.

I liked this book.  I disagree with my friends who said they felt like Rowling just stuck in swear words and vulgar scenes just to make it an adult book.  I felt that these all seemed appropriate for the characters.  I feel like it was an adult book from beginning to end because it was so much a study of human nature and not entertainment like the young-adult cross over books are.  This was not a page turner for me but I did become more engaged in the characters and wonder what would happen next and would so and so redeem their worth as a human being.  It took until almost half-way through the book to get engaged so if you are trying to read it and find it slow, keep at it.  It is worth the read.