![]() Unnecessarily so, I thought.Īfter the first couple of flashbacks, I understood that Mantel wanted us to see how Cromwell’s views about his childhood and early adult years changed and evolved as he matured. We get LOTS of Cromwell remembering his childhood in Putney and his time in Italy. ![]() Everything moves at a snail’s pace as it feels like Mantel crammed in every single thought and idea she has ever had about Cromwell into this chunkster of a book. It could be said that he was suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.īut then the action slows right down. Last conversations, decisions made when and by whom, their last moments on the scaffold. ![]() He goes over and over the conniving and plotting in the days leading up to their deaths. The story is bookended by bloody deaths.įor the first third of the book, Cromwell is haunted by his involvement in Anne Boleyn’s death and the five men who went down with her. Once the queen’s head is severed, he walks away.ĭidn’t Anne die in the previous book? And didn’t we deal with the time immediately after her death already? Is this opening line a signal that a big recap is coming?Īs it turns out The Mirror and the Light is an overlong meander to Cromwell’s own meeting with the executioner. ![]()
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