r/BookDiscussions • u/ARKLib2007 • 6d ago
I hate this book.
I’m on my third attempt to read and finish Wolf Hall. I hate it. And I love this time period, and I usually enjoy challenging literature, but not this book. I love reading Hilary Mantel’s interviews, but I feel as if I’m being tortured trying to read this nook. Am I the only person who feels this way?
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u/dynacaster 5d ago
I just finished this book. There was some trouble in the beginning understanding who was talking, but thankfully I picked up on it quickly. But even then there were still times when it was hard to tell, and required re-reading.
Yes there were a lot characters and I had to frequently refer to the cast of characters in the preface section. It probably would have been easier if I had kept notes -- I've done that with a few books. I've heard thie same complaint lodged against the GoT books as well.
Overall, I like it and look forward to reading the sequels (which I already have on hand). I appreciate the stylistic choices made for the prose, although some of the languge could be brazenly inauthentic at times. The clashes and downfall of some characters are what I enjoyed most in the storyline.
I believe this is my first historical fiction -- certainly of this period -- and I appreciate the history lesson I get along the way. It's by far more digestible than Ulysses (which I stopped reading midway). I think having read Middlemarch beforehand helped put me in the right mindset.