Totally forgot to mention one of my favourite lines: "I was just resting my eyes." How to make a king look like your dad, sinking into the sofa at the end of a long day. Such a human moment.
Still marvelling at how well constructed this first chapter is: the story of King Edgar is a hunting scene in a forest, where the king hunts his own servant (killing him with one blow). Rafe and Gregory hunt Francis Weston's ghost and catch him with a net.
The story made me think of the debacle surrounding another of Henry’s brides. Monarchs thinking their brides look differently to how they really do and a servant coming off worse.
Stories within stories is coming up a lot. Have you read The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson? It's a retelling of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale and in it a story is told about an angel trapped in a courtyard by the immensity of its wings. I read the book years ago but the angel story is on repeat in my head.
What a start into the second book! Great post, enjoy reading them so much.
I like how Mantel portrays Jane Seymour, not as a plain, dull woman as so many did, but as an interesting character right from the start,when we met her in the first book (looking at Mary and Anne as if they were cockroaches according to Cromwell).
The trinity god, cardinal and Lady Roachford made me laugh out loud 😂
What a post, Simon, I enjoyed it as much as the chapter! Really excellent, I highlighted and saved more than I ever have, it brought out so many important considerations, allusions, and meanings, that totally passed me by, wow! esp. Loved the falcons section, hadn't seen all the significance : 'If Wolf Hall was framed as a play, with theatrical epigraphs and plays-within-plays, a memory theatre at its heart, then Bring up the Bodies is set up as a game, a hunt: a bloodsport.' SPOT. ON.
I loved the falcon section, too. So many words! And pointing out that Bringing Up the Bodies is a game was so on point. I never would have thought of it myself, but when I read it, I though exactly. And what a way to lead into that.
At first, reading this chapter, I was irrationally impatient having just finished WH a week ago and thinking, "Yes, I already knew that!"
But then I remembered that it was about three years between books. So, I agree with Simon that Mantel does a marvelous job of reminding readers of who's who and what's what.
But I feel the absence of More. Who will be a worthy opponent for Cromwell as he works on Henry to remake England's religion? I guess we'll found out.
In a way More won't leave us. We can't escape the dead in these books. But you're also right, coming straight from Wolf Hall, we've got whiplash from the rain and the blood.
Glad I'm not alone on the impatience front. I think you can also really feel the change in style here. I believe there was a lot of talk at the time that Wolf Hall was too difficult to follow (pfft...) and as a result I think Bodies lacks some of the subtlety of the first volume.
I read BUTB (unfortunate acronym) when it first came out so i don't remember. But so far it seems to be requiring less of us. We're just a the start, though.
I think it is fair to say that all three books have their own style. We change again for Mirror, but this one is the closest to a political thriller. To some extent, we put in the work with Wolf Hall and then go for a ride in Bring Up The Bodies.
Off to a great start indeed! I love that young master Sadler is dissatisfied with Hans' portrait of him. Hans seems genuinely taken aback; "How am I supposed to fix your nose?!" Mantel portrays the master artist as a man of incomparable integrity bordering on arrogance (which causes me to like Hans all the more). It make me wonder if Hans ever did create flattering portraits...
And of course he will go on to paint the king! And a very controversial painting of Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife. In both cases, he has to flatter...
Rafe's poor nose. Cromwell looks like a murderer. Every time the response to one of Hans' paintings comes up, my brain jumps to Anne of Cleves. Yikes! What a job Holbein had.
I have commented elsewhere on the Long Read about this, but in my view Holbein is consummate at combining honesty and flattery: he does it by angles and poses.
love Jane in this chapter. All through the story in fact, I find her pragmatic with maybe a faintly sardonic view of things, especially when it comes to the Boleyns. Henry is stunned by her because presumably she is not fainting at his feet or falling over herself to impress him. She's just herself. I'd have sympathy for him falling in love with her if it weren't for his all-round megalomania.
I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I felt that there was a lot of background story woven through that distracted me from what was happening in the moment. I do understand why it's there but so many interesting things are happening already here I just wanted to get on with it. And, just to prove how deeply contrary I am, I wish this chapter was slower. The pace has really picked up from Wolf Hall.
Many thoughts summarised thus: I love clever Cromwell, I love unflappable Jane, poor sweet Gregory, watch out Weston, and oh Anne you've no idea.
This is certainly a feature of Bring Up The Bodies, the pace picks up and time slows down. I agree, like David said, that it is a bit jarring getting the recap but I suppose it is necessary and is deftly done.
Jane is a force in this chapter, and Anne never saw it coming.
What an amazing start to a book. The writing is sublime. The passage that describes the decay of old tombs and memorials is absolutely magical. I also enjoyed how those images of the ‘old families’ are breaking down whereas the images of Cromwell - the new man - are all in a state of making and coming into being.
Oh my goodness, what a way to start a book! I'd read Bring up the Bodies when it was first published but I hadn't remembered all of the characters and had completely forgotten the falcons. Those first paragraphs with Cromwell's birds, named for his beloved dead family yet soaring above 'a flittering, flinching universe filled with their dinner' were deeply unsettling. Then the reminder that Anne Boleyn's emblem was a falcon and that she seemed still to be flying high in the King's favour. And then, the politics of a world where everyone is manoeuvring for influence while watching 'from the tail of their eye'. So many layers of meaning and intrigue to unpick!
I debated continuing with Bring Up the Bodies, but I am glad that I did. I find it easier to read, and I have no idea if Mantel changed her style or if I am just accustomed to it at this point.
I had a hard time reading it at first. I actually downloaded it on my Kindle three or four years ago, and aborted many starts on it. The slow read helped me enormously! I actually read ahead and did the first two weeks of Bring Up the Bodies at once because it was all flowing so well.
This week felt so exciting, the fresh start of cracking open a whole new book, but one filled with the echoes of four months of close reading guided by Simon's great notes and insights. Just reading the cast of characters at the front had me squealing: "ferocious senior peer"! "a peer of limited intellect" ! "The dead" where you'd expect to see a second household! (Bit sad that Mary Boleyn is "offstage" though, I'll miss her...)
I was captivated by the opening section, from Grace flying as a gore-streaked falcon to Anne Boleyn's falcons being hastily painted over the smashed remains of Katherine's pomegranates. As well as the factual exposition (as always, very naturally done, slipped into passages that were doing multiple other jobs too) it felt like she was consciously reintroducing (so many!) themes in this chapter. I found myself making even more notes than usual, as so many of the topics I've been watching for were given lovely set-piece paragraphs, such as the debate about the education of women - and language learning! - that you highlighted.
I'm confused by the magic net/beating section. Is it real or a dream? What are we throwing out the window if not the actual guy? Explain what is happening like I'm 5?!
They are throwing out an invisible pretend Francis Weston, because they would get into serious trouble if they threw out the real Weston. Rafe and Gregory are just letting off some steam.
I totally agree with others that this is a great post Simon. As i read I had the impression that although the recap was for readers coming straight to BUTB, it was possibly Hilary Mantel writing her way in. Happy to be challenged on that thought.
Interesting thought! Although good writers know when to cut their writing practice from the finished book. Who knows what the early drafts looked like, but I think she's only left us with what readers need.
Totally forgot to mention one of my favourite lines: "I was just resting my eyes." How to make a king look like your dad, sinking into the sofa at the end of a long day. Such a human moment.
I love the echo of the question in WH: is one allowed to heft the king after a fall? Who may wake the king at the table?
It is proof that Jane is willing to get physical with the King despite his advancing years, I guess
Still marvelling at how well constructed this first chapter is: the story of King Edgar is a hunting scene in a forest, where the king hunts his own servant (killing him with one blow). Rafe and Gregory hunt Francis Weston's ghost and catch him with a net.
The story made me think of the debacle surrounding another of Henry’s brides. Monarchs thinking their brides look differently to how they really do and a servant coming off worse.
Stories within stories is coming up a lot. Have you read The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson? It's a retelling of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale and in it a story is told about an angel trapped in a courtyard by the immensity of its wings. I read the book years ago but the angel story is on repeat in my head.
What a start into the second book! Great post, enjoy reading them so much.
I like how Mantel portrays Jane Seymour, not as a plain, dull woman as so many did, but as an interesting character right from the start,when we met her in the first book (looking at Mary and Anne as if they were cockroaches according to Cromwell).
The trinity god, cardinal and Lady Roachford made me laugh out loud 😂
What does he call it, her art of silence? Everyone underestimate Jane.
Also laughed at that trinity 😂
What a post, Simon, I enjoyed it as much as the chapter! Really excellent, I highlighted and saved more than I ever have, it brought out so many important considerations, allusions, and meanings, that totally passed me by, wow! esp. Loved the falcons section, hadn't seen all the significance : 'If Wolf Hall was framed as a play, with theatrical epigraphs and plays-within-plays, a memory theatre at its heart, then Bring up the Bodies is set up as a game, a hunt: a bloodsport.' SPOT. ON.
Thanks! It's going to be an intense few weeks. I hope everyone's got all their hawking equipment and some sensible shoes.
All this running to come to the solid climb of Mirror 🙈
I loved the falcon section, too. So many words! And pointing out that Bringing Up the Bodies is a game was so on point. I never would have thought of it myself, but when I read it, I though exactly. And what a way to lead into that.
To be honest, I never thought of it before. It is this slow read that has revealed that and now it seems to simple and so clear!
At first, reading this chapter, I was irrationally impatient having just finished WH a week ago and thinking, "Yes, I already knew that!"
But then I remembered that it was about three years between books. So, I agree with Simon that Mantel does a marvelous job of reminding readers of who's who and what's what.
But I feel the absence of More. Who will be a worthy opponent for Cromwell as he works on Henry to remake England's religion? I guess we'll found out.
In a way More won't leave us. We can't escape the dead in these books. But you're also right, coming straight from Wolf Hall, we've got whiplash from the rain and the blood.
Glad I'm not alone on the impatience front. I think you can also really feel the change in style here. I believe there was a lot of talk at the time that Wolf Hall was too difficult to follow (pfft...) and as a result I think Bodies lacks some of the subtlety of the first volume.
I read BUTB (unfortunate acronym) when it first came out so i don't remember. But so far it seems to be requiring less of us. We're just a the start, though.
I think it is fair to say that all three books have their own style. We change again for Mirror, but this one is the closest to a political thriller. To some extent, we put in the work with Wolf Hall and then go for a ride in Bring Up The Bodies.
Yes, feeling the absence of More, totally
I was surprised at how big More's absence is here. How he seems to hover over it all.
Off to a great start indeed! I love that young master Sadler is dissatisfied with Hans' portrait of him. Hans seems genuinely taken aback; "How am I supposed to fix your nose?!" Mantel portrays the master artist as a man of incomparable integrity bordering on arrogance (which causes me to like Hans all the more). It make me wonder if Hans ever did create flattering portraits...
And of course he will go on to paint the king! And a very controversial painting of Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife. In both cases, he has to flatter...
Rafe's poor nose. Cromwell looks like a murderer. Every time the response to one of Hans' paintings comes up, my brain jumps to Anne of Cleves. Yikes! What a job Holbein had.
I have commented elsewhere on the Long Read about this, but in my view Holbein is consummate at combining honesty and flattery: he does it by angles and poses.
love Jane in this chapter. All through the story in fact, I find her pragmatic with maybe a faintly sardonic view of things, especially when it comes to the Boleyns. Henry is stunned by her because presumably she is not fainting at his feet or falling over herself to impress him. She's just herself. I'd have sympathy for him falling in love with her if it weren't for his all-round megalomania.
I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I felt that there was a lot of background story woven through that distracted me from what was happening in the moment. I do understand why it's there but so many interesting things are happening already here I just wanted to get on with it. And, just to prove how deeply contrary I am, I wish this chapter was slower. The pace has really picked up from Wolf Hall.
Many thoughts summarised thus: I love clever Cromwell, I love unflappable Jane, poor sweet Gregory, watch out Weston, and oh Anne you've no idea.
This is certainly a feature of Bring Up The Bodies, the pace picks up and time slows down. I agree, like David said, that it is a bit jarring getting the recap but I suppose it is necessary and is deftly done.
Jane is a force in this chapter, and Anne never saw it coming.
Weston really is asking for it 😂
I love that Jane’s a little weird. I wonder how Mantel came up with that, from such scanty inspiration.
What an amazing start to a book. The writing is sublime. The passage that describes the decay of old tombs and memorials is absolutely magical. I also enjoyed how those images of the ‘old families’ are breaking down whereas the images of Cromwell - the new man - are all in a state of making and coming into being.
And what a start it was! I’m so into it I’m already past this weeks read 😂 but such a delight to come back to it with your weekly update
What a start indeed! Hope you are enjoying it, it has quite a different pace to Wolf Hall.
Oh my goodness, what a way to start a book! I'd read Bring up the Bodies when it was first published but I hadn't remembered all of the characters and had completely forgotten the falcons. Those first paragraphs with Cromwell's birds, named for his beloved dead family yet soaring above 'a flittering, flinching universe filled with their dinner' were deeply unsettling. Then the reminder that Anne Boleyn's emblem was a falcon and that she seemed still to be flying high in the King's favour. And then, the politics of a world where everyone is manoeuvring for influence while watching 'from the tail of their eye'. So many layers of meaning and intrigue to unpick!
I debated continuing with Bring Up the Bodies, but I am glad that I did. I find it easier to read, and I have no idea if Mantel changed her style or if I am just accustomed to it at this point.
We're you struggling with Wolf Hall? I can't remember if you said. Bring Up The Bodies is a tighter more focused story which helps.
I had a hard time reading it at first. I actually downloaded it on my Kindle three or four years ago, and aborted many starts on it. The slow read helped me enormously! I actually read ahead and did the first two weeks of Bring Up the Bodies at once because it was all flowing so well.
This week felt so exciting, the fresh start of cracking open a whole new book, but one filled with the echoes of four months of close reading guided by Simon's great notes and insights. Just reading the cast of characters at the front had me squealing: "ferocious senior peer"! "a peer of limited intellect" ! "The dead" where you'd expect to see a second household! (Bit sad that Mary Boleyn is "offstage" though, I'll miss her...)
I was captivated by the opening section, from Grace flying as a gore-streaked falcon to Anne Boleyn's falcons being hastily painted over the smashed remains of Katherine's pomegranates. As well as the factual exposition (as always, very naturally done, slipped into passages that were doing multiple other jobs too) it felt like she was consciously reintroducing (so many!) themes in this chapter. I found myself making even more notes than usual, as so many of the topics I've been watching for were given lovely set-piece paragraphs, such as the debate about the education of women - and language learning! - that you highlighted.
Mary Boleyn will be back!
Possibly my favorite start to a book 🤩
I'm confused by the magic net/beating section. Is it real or a dream? What are we throwing out the window if not the actual guy? Explain what is happening like I'm 5?!
They are throwing out an invisible pretend Francis Weston, because they would get into serious trouble if they threw out the real Weston. Rafe and Gregory are just letting off some steam.
Thanks for explaining, I kind of wondered this but Cromwell sees so many ghosts I wasn't sure if he was just imagining it
I guess imagining ghosts is infectious... his whole household have caught the phantom bug.
I totally agree with others that this is a great post Simon. As i read I had the impression that although the recap was for readers coming straight to BUTB, it was possibly Hilary Mantel writing her way in. Happy to be challenged on that thought.
Interesting thought! Although good writers know when to cut their writing practice from the finished book. Who knows what the early drafts looked like, but I think she's only left us with what readers need.
This whole first chapter read to me like one big 'In last week's episode...'