The Mirror and the Light - has anyone else read this in lockdown?

[Coronapip]

Finished this, the third book in Hilary Mantel's trilogy- finally! Thanks to lockdown, I've had the chance to resurrect my reading habit (which sadly got lost during a prolonged family health crisis a couple of years ago .. thankfully resolved now).

Has anyone else read this impressive (and hefty) tome and if so, what did you think? I don't have anyone to chat to about it but would love to swap reactions! It was a real experience. I now feel steeped in Tudor atmosphere...

I read it

Thought it good but not on a par with the first two. A lot of repetition going on, and the ending felt oddly rushed

Oh I do agree... It was a bit repetitive, I thought Mantel spent perhaps a little too long allowing Cromwell to inhabit his memories and flashbacks to the past, his awful childhood... And yes, the ending did seem rather rushed, but perhaps the book had simply got too lengthy by that time and just had to be finished!
Having said all that, it's easy to be critical and I do feel the novel is a huge achievement. Now I feel so much more connected to that period of history, through her descriptions, the tastes, colours, sounds and scents of that time and place. And how utterly loathsome is Henry VIII! Certainly a psychopath. Vain, callous, cold, beyond self centred... And so interesting to explore some of the other characters of that time. Wyatt, I'd only been vaguely acquainted with before through his poetry, now I see that he was actually a leading diplomat who was extremely lucky to have escaped with his life. Stephen Gardiner, so unpleasant and scheming. And not being a historian, I found it fascinating to learn more about the obsession at that time with heresy. I'm still aghast at how easiy they chose to burn 'heretics' alive and the beyond-gruesome sufferings inflicted upon prisoners to try to get them to recant. All of course to please horrible Henry and his expediencies!! So interested also to read how the monasteries were taken and destroyed or simply appropriated as prizes for the powerful. Reminds me of some of the corrupt dictatorships of our own day

I cannot wait to read this! Unfortunately for me, lockdown has taken away much chance of that! One to save for my commute.

Desperate to read this; i gobbled up the first two in the trilogy. Kindle price is £9.99 though.

HMMM! Birthday coming up next month - might put it on my list of suggestions!

I listened to the r4 Anton Lesser reading. I loved it but I assume it was abridged.

That version is free on BBC Sounds btw

Aha! I’ve just re-read the other two in preparation but was unwilling to spend £12-50 on it. Bought it now at £9-99, so thank you @rosegoldwatcher!

Really looking forward to it

@ITonyah - It isn't there anymore sadly!

Oh no! Sorry. He did it really well.

Yes! Lots of Mantel's favourite themes - ghosts, the legacy of the past etc etc - which are well done in themselves but slightly distract from the plot IMO. But really well written as always and some very funny and clever bits (I particularly liked the exotic animals which kept turning up at Cromwell's house).

I loved the part about Anne Of Cleves. Beautifully brought to life.

I finished it a couple of weeks ago now but I found i couldn’t really enjoy it with the knowledge that he was going to be executed. I kept picking it up and putting it down so it took me a very long time to get through it even for a book of that length!
It sounds a bit dramatic but I was dreading the end because I felt so invested in his character.
That I found it so difficult is really just a testament to the quality of her writing though so I would definitely say to read it if you haven’t and liked the earlier ones.

I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback!

The end was so moving! I was really sad even though I obviously knew.what was.going to happen

I enjoyed it, but the book was not as focused or concise as the first two. This partly because it's Cromwell's last days and you are going to spend time in reflection when your end is coming. She may have also felt pushed to backfill the story for people who could not remember/did not know the prequels.

I am about halfway through. I just reread WH and BUTB. Already feels strangely rushed and endless uprisings up North. I am also missing Anne Boleyn and all the women in the other books. Interesting to read between the lines and get an idea of where the betrayals lie and Cromwell's sense of his own mortality. Incidentally also rewatching Wolf Hall with Mark Rylance in the role - I didn't see it on iplayer but it is on Britbox which has a 30 day free trial.

Added this thread to my watch list OP....I've just started it on Friday. I'm obsessed - will probably reread WH & BUTB - so I will be needing to have more Crumb stuff the read when the book is finished (& will be in need of some emotional support too I reckon) I shall return when I'm done

I've just finished reading The Mirror and the Light and it's very beautifully written. It could have done with tighter editing to trim it down by a 100 pages or so. I started it at the beginning of lockdown & left it for a while before restarting it again.

Also, I felt HM wrote a sympathetic portrayal of Cromwell's character & the motives for his actions. She showed the reasonings behind his actions and although irl he wasn't as pleasant as he's portrayed in the book, the life of a courtier was perilous at that time.

I got so invested in it that I was stunned when I read that his two trusted advisers turned against him. It was inevitable with one of them but not about the deception of the second man. The ending was sad and expected but beautifully written.

It took me almost two months to read this, I could not concentrate due I think to the whole pandemic thing. I had read the first two avidly.
I think it was full of reflections and I thought something she did brilliantly ( obvs amongst others) was to give glimpses of what others thought of him.in WH and BUTB he was omnipotent. So interesting to get the views of Wolseys daughter and his own daughter Jennick and as mentioned further up those who he had supposedly nurtured, call-me and Richard riche.
The horror of the burnings was ever present.
Another thing that struck me was the constant references to plague and other disease - seemed so apt to be reading in lock down.
I must say I will struggle to find something as good to read again in all honesty

Well I've just finished it. I basically spent the whole of today reading to get it finished (but dreading finishing it at the same time). I loved it. But....I think I loved Wolf Hall more, and Bring up the bodies (although not as much as Wolf Hall)

Definitely agree with some other posters that the things I didn't like was the repetition of certain things that have already appeared in the first two books. Although (I'm going to contradict myself here) I enjoyed reading about his childhood & time spent in Italy and his reminiscing of the days and stories with Wolsey. I missed Gardiner. I really enjoyed the jousting between the two & missed Norferk! Feel they aren't there as much.

I do love Mantels writing though (even when I don't fully understand it!) There is so much humour in her writing too, some of the conversations between characters made me laugh out loud. I love Tudor history always have, it's fascinating. It boggles my brain the executions and burnings and how easily Henry could just dispose of whosever he pleased. And I'm sure Cromwell was far from a saint. But I have a very soft spot for him now. I definitely had a tear in my eye reading about his last days & Poor Rafe (boy or hedgehog! ☺️) and angry at call me & riche...but each for themselves for the times that were in it.

So now what next after that eh....I've just bought A place of greater safety...hoping it will the gap left by Crumb

Late to the party, I'm still on the 1st one. Really enjoying it.

@3kidsareenough a place of greater safety is a wonderful wonderful novel.

I loved it. Particularly the description of Thomas Cromwell riding.
‘He just gets on a horse and he goes somewhere.’

Brilliant writing.

I loved Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies - while The Mirror and the Light was really well written I just found it less pleasure, more of a chore. If I’m really enjoying something, a long book is great but this was more wading through thin treacle. I’d got very attached to the complexity of Cromwell over the 3 books (for example the death of his daughters in WH was very moving) but by the last 200 pages of MATL, I was waiting for his execution to get the book over with.

I enjoyed it but I didn’t feel there was enough of a build up to Cromwell falling out of the king’s favour. It seemed like one minute he was made an earl then the next he was thrown under a bus.

I’d have also liked some exploration of whether Henry ever regretted his actions.