Wish I could give it negative stars! A total waste of money and paper!!

discussion questions at: http://www.litlovers.com/guide_wolf_hall.html

Fabulous read, which draws the reader in by using the present tense story telling. The author makes the setting of Tudor England fresh and exciting, by taking Thomas Cromwell's perspective, even though most readers would already know something about this historic period. Glorious language, great character development, and lo, it's just the first part of a planned trilogy. Great! 2 more books like this to look forward to!

Whoopfftah - 3 page character list, very long, too many characters, difficult to stay on task. It COULD be a good book but it was too difficult to have to wade through. Book on Tape, though, was pleasant drone in the background.

The first page was horrible, and I didn't want to go on. Jessie said it got better,and it did. But it was not an easy read, and so long that I didn't want to invest the time to wade through it. Some of the characterizations were engaging and beautifully drawn, but the plot required a history book reference to keep up with the royal families.

I don't understand why this won the Man Booker prize. I'm familiar with the period and many of the characters because of my Ph.D. work in English literature of that time period, but this seemed designed to confuse those who aren't so familiar. I love "meaty" novels--War and Peace is my favorite--but this was just annoying. The writing was adequate but not exceptional. Character development was minimal. The plotting and dialog were only sometimes engaging.

I'm one of only two in my club who bothered to finish it. I'm glad I checked it out of the library and didn't buy it. I certainly wouldn't read it again or recommend it to anyone else.

Very interesting study of the life of Cromwell. I found the descriptions of 16th-century life very interesting. The writing style can be confusing until you realize that "he" always refers to Cromwell.

Immerse yourself in 16th century England. The witty dialogue and different perspective on Thomas Cromwell, advisor to King Henry VIII, are fascinating. It makes today's political machinations seem almost juvenile by comparison. Some may have trouble with how Ms. Mantel writes Thomas Cromwell's "voice", but I found I got comfortable with her style as the story went along. It is not a quick read, but it kept my interest.

This book covers an interesting part of History, but was bogged down with too much detail. The over use of the pronoun "he" to refer to Cromwell made the prose difficult to follow. The sheer number of characters in the story, and the fact that many of them had the same names added to the confusion. If you are deeply interested in Thomas Cromwell, I'm sure there is some interesting insight in this book, but for the average reader, the detail is overwhelming.

Although I was very interested in the subject of this book, I found the writing style slow and difficult to read. The portrayals of the key characters would have been good, if I could get past the writing style

Wolf Hall is a long book and sometimes hard to keep all the names straight, but it is a great read about the story of Henry VIII and Anne Bolyn. Very addictive and as I got further into the book hard to put down. I am not typically a fan of historical fiction, by Hilary Mantel writes so beautifully that I can't wait to read her follow up book, Bringing up the Bodies.

This book had potential and could have perhaps been a decent read if it was cut in half. Where was the editor? Out on a coffee break? The overuse of pronouns instead of identifying the person speaking was maddening! Too bad. This would have been fun to compare to The Other Boleyn Girl, but no one in our book club could manage to finish it in 3 months time. Dull, dull, dull!

I can\\\'t give much of a review, as I gave up trying to read this confusing mess at 7% (on kindle.) This is not normally my type of book, but I expected the rest of the club to like it. I was shocked when I arrived at BC that month & it turned out not one person had made it past the first 10% of the book.

I've read quite a number of books based on English history and I think this was the most brilliantly written! I also loved Bring Up the bodies & am anxiously awaiting the third in the trilogy.