Wolf Hall – Bad Book

Well I guess it’s not that bad a book because I finished it but I’m not sure why I did.  It went on forever, very slowly and whilst one of the most exciting and turbulent times in English history unfolded across the pages it was all  rather hum drum. Maybe that’s what Mantel wanted to show; that for the people who live through “history” it never seems that remarkable.  Although I’m fairly certain that the divorce of a queen, the dissoultion of the monasteries, the break from Rome and the creation of England as it’s own religious empire must have caught someone’s attention.

It was nicely written and some passages were beautifully crafted but they were few and far between; it was slow, vaguely interesting and definately the last time I read a Mann Booker winner. Why call it Wolf Hall – is there going to be a sequel? Seems so unlikely but why end the book there and then? I could rant about this book for ages, if only because I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with it.  Probably becase I sat down with such high expectations.