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Maureen

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  • Birthday October 27

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  1. Happy Happy Happy Birthday Mau. Big Hugs XXXXX

  2. You were here! You were here! How wonderful. Big huggles to you K & P. XXX

  3. Hey Kell, lots of love and Congrats to you all XXX
  4. Thanks Pontalba - however it is you guys who take part, who deserve most of the credit.
  5. I would like to thank everyone who took part in this month's circle, it was an enjoyable discussion. Please note that this thread remains open for anyone who would like to share their thoughts about this book.
  6. I do think this is not a book to start if you are going through a hectic/busy/emotional time in your life. It needs full attention and a calm state of mind to be enjoyed in my opinion.
  7. 9. In your opinion, did this book deserve the Man Booker Prize? Was it an enjoyable read? Will you be reading the sequel - Bring up the bodies? I enjoyed reading the book - this period of British History really fascinates me, and I find the lives of these characters to be so interesting and dynamic. I do think that Mantel's fresh portrayal of Cromwell is suberb, so rich and alive, it is as if she were living in the same period. I do think her book deserving of the Man Booker Prize - although I did not find it easy to read in the beginning, as soon as I got used to her writing style, I enjoyed it tremendously. I think I will be reading the sequel very soon - and according to comments in this tread, it should be just as good as this one.
  8. 8. What are your feelings about Cromwell after having read this book? Overall, Cromwell is shown to be a nice person. I loved the way he took care of his family, how much he loved his wife and children, and how he made it a point to be as different to his father as regards to his family as possible. I also admired him for helping Mary Boleyn when she wanted to start over a new life, and helping her get an annuity, which as he said, she deserved, as she worked for it 'on her back'. He also showed compassion to various other people, for example he took in Helen Barre and her children, and the boy Christophe from Calais, he was always kind to people in need. Notwitstanding his generous nature, he also had a hard streak in him as well - he never forgave Henry Percy for his treatment of the cardinal and he made sure that when the time was right, Percy was made to pay for his deeds.
  9. True....however, more than selfish or selfless, I felt that he would sacrifice his principles to do his job without hesitation - in some instances I felt that he had twinges of regrets as regards Queen Caterine and her daughter Mary. Perhaps, after all, this shows that he was the best man for the job he was chosen for.
  10. 7. Why does Cromwell dislike the Catholic clergy? What are his motives for helping Henry marry Anne Boleyn and sever ties to the Pope? What larger goals does he hope to achieve in helping? Are they selfless...or selfish? (from litlovers.com) I picked this question because I really want to know what other people think about this. While reading the book, I did not really think that Cromwell disliked the Catholic clergy so much – he loved to lock horns with any person who stood in the way of what he wanted to achieve, be it a catholic priest, a queen, a princess or a pauper. In my opinion he transformed England from a Catholic state to a Protestant State so that he would get what he really wanted – an annulment for the King, which would give him such a boost in the King’s esteem. I do not really believe that he wanted to help the King get a male heir for the good of the country – although he worked hard to make that happen.
  11. 6. In terms of the writing, a number of reviewers felt the difficulty of too many Thomases and too many he's - that Mantel didn't make the effort to help readers through the confusion. Do you agree? Did you find other difficulties in reading the work...or did you find her prose clear... and engaging? How else might you describe Mantel's writing? Q6 from cambridgelibraries.ca I found this to be true - I filled the book with notes and bookmarks so that I could make head or tails of the he in the particular passage - but what Pontalba says is true, usually 'he ' refers to Cromwell - irrespective of who the sentence started about. I believe Mantel could have made it easier on the reader - there were times where I had to read particular pages more than once so that I could sort everything out in my head. I loved her dark humour thoroughout the book though, it made for an interesting slant on a very important period in history.
  12. 5. What do you think about the title - 'Wolf Hall'? According to Wikipedia, I must admit that although this is a clever play on words, it's significance did not strike me as particularly important....
  13. Ooshie, that's true - children were a currency - the way the Bolyen's family treated Mary was shocking beyond belief.
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