This book is awesome! I love the time period and had already read numerous books about it but I had never read one that told the story from a man's perspective. I had read fictional accounts by Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn, Mary Tudor, and Katherine of Aragon, but never an account from Henry or any of his advisors or courtiers. This book did not disappoint. It was just as exciting as the others but it showing a whole new level of intrigue. Like everyone else at court, Cromwell is busy manipulating the king for his own purposes. Unlike everyone else, Cromwell doesn't limit his focus to the king and the nobility. He's influencing everyone from the king to his local jailers who are naming their children after him. And he does it flawlessly. Eventually, he always gets what he wants, all the while making it all look so easy.
Mantel's writing style is a study in minimalist writing. I kind of had a love-hate relationship with it. On the one hand I marveled at her ability to clearly convey something to the reader without outright saying it. A perfect example is Cromwell's affair with his sister-in-law. She never directly tells us that they're sleeping together but, with just a handful of careful phrases, she makes it undoubtedly clear that that is exactly what is happening. It was truly marvelous.
My real problem was with her refusal to refer to Cromwell by name. It was always "he". This got to be frustrating during dialogue when I had to re-read scenes to try to decipher who said what. Eventually I learned that "he said" almost always referred to Cromwell speaking. Almost always.
On the other hand, Mantel's refusal to use his name gave him an air of mystery. This was another masterful accomplishment on Mantel's part because the story is basically told from Cromwell's first person limited POV. Her minimalist writing though, and a certain amount of amnesia on Cromwell's part, leave him largely a mysterious character, even to himself and, by extension, the reader.
One recurring question in the novel is whether Cromwell has killed a man. He seems to have a fuzzy memory of a man and a knife but that's about all he can remember. Yet there is a reference to him teaching the boys that work for him how to silently kill a man with one swift stab. Again, it's just one sentence but, in a roundabout way, Mantel tells the reader everything they want to know.
One of my favorite things about the book was the few times Cromwell realizes (or has someone point out to him) that people are afraid of him. This baffles him and I think both the fact that it is a recurring issue with the people in his life (including his own son) and his unfailing surprise, say volumes about Cromwell as a character. However, true to form, Mantel shows us all this with just a few sentences, leaving the rest of the book to discuss all the exciting things happening in and around the court of King Henry VIII.
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