Skip to main content

Dissolution by C J Sansom

At last a book where I have noted the score! New Years resolution? check! And a good job I did as it was a high one.

I confess that I had already read this book and not being able to lay my hands on my copy decided not to re buy it and therefore not reread it.

I remembered I wasn't too fussed at the time about it. It took me a while to work out which brother was which and I felt at times the book dragged on with the author being overly keen to describe the weather, the marshes, the monastery etc.

What I, and a number of the group really liked was the fact that it was set in the Tudor Court where Henry 8th was King however it wasn't about Henry or his wives. Don't get me wrong I love those type of books (Phillipa Gregory anyone?) and have read several but to read about the dissolution without having to regurgitate the usual Anne Boleyn saga was refreshing.

The characters at times were quite stereotypical - a brother who was interested in boys now theres a surprise. However the main character was a hunch back which we found very unusual. We questioned as to whether a hunch back would have risen to the place Shardlake had to in society but knew very little about that time to as to whether this was unusual or not. In an interview with Sansom that I had found on the internet he commented on how the hunch represented how he carried the weight of finding the killer, the situation he found himself in with Cromwell and the effect of the dissolution on him (I seem to recall he was a catholic who was raised by monks??)

We talked about whether he was attracted/loved Alice or was it just the fact that he had had very little contact with women (wasn't he an orphan?) and Alice was the only woman around and she showed him a little kindness. We also talked about whether she was manipulating him with her kindness and how most of us didn't want Alice and Mark to have survived. Cold hearted that we are!

This was our first trilogy since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and a few of us have bought the Dark Fire which is the second book. Perhaps because we awarded the book an 8.3 with all scores either an 8 or a 9. Highest scorer in a while (yes I remember enough from past books to be able to say that).

Next book is Before I go to Sleep by S J
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you).  I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa
Post a Comment
Read more

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

I expected to be emotionally drained after reading this one and to be honest (in a weird kind of way) I didn’t mind the thought that I would be. This was backed up by the introduction describing a brilliant young man whose writing was breath taking and whose story was devastating. Emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions was surely in store. I didn’t mind the beginning of the book although I was slightly surprised when we delved so deeply into Kalanthi's past in what was only a slim book. I was willing to gloss over the large number of references to his search as a youth to finding the meaning of life and what makes us, us as after all this was written by someone forced to ponder that very question. I also found the medical training he did vaguely interesting, I appreciated the reverence he placed in relation to the cadaver he was required to cut open as part of his medical training. However when it became apparent the actual portion of the book to do with him receiving hi
2 comments
Read more

Mount by Jilly Cooper #inbetweeny

I'll start this blog with a warning, this post does contain spoilers. So if you haven't read the book then please don't read this blog, yet. Of course you should read this post just wait a little while until you've read the latest installment of Rupert Campbell Black (RCB). Warnings out of the way I'll begin. I was massively looking forward to reading this book having hugely enjoyed the previous ones. RCB is my (not so) secret trashy pleasure and has been for many years. This book had all the ingredients of a classic, pages of wonderfully named characters, a few tortured souls and of course RCB with all his horses, dogs and now grandchildren. The book got off to a good start full of characters from old but also plenty of new ones to mix it up a bit. The horse's really played a starring role in this book but I also really loved Gav and at first Gala. Yep only at first as she went strongly down hill and I bet you can guess why. RCB. Here is where I fell o
Post a Comment
Read more