Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When I first heard about Wolf Hall I thought it sounded right up my alley: historical, Tudor period, political intrigue, a new take on a previously maligned figure from history. Before purchasing it, I read through some reviews to get a variety of opinions on the novel from readers. The only consistently negative comment I saw was that the writing was "confusing" because Mantel calls everyone only by the pronoun "he." I bought the book and eagerly began reading, assuming (rather hubristically) that this would not be a problem for me, and probably would be easy to figure out quickly. I was SO WRONG. Here's an example of how this annoying choice of Mantel's plays out in a chapter: There is a conversation between THOMAS Cromwell, Cardinal THOMAS Wolsey, Sir THOMAS Boleyn, and they reference THOMAS Moore. AND SHE REFERS TO ALL THE MEN AS ONLY "HE" OR "THOMAS"! Sure, you might be thinking, "Oh, well I have a general understanding of these historical figures and their actions/positions in history, so I would probably know who was speaking" You might think that...and you would be wrong! Since the novel is truly fiction, nothing the men say could be obviously attributed to a specific historical figure; there is no way to use history as a context. Not only was this a consistent irritation, but I found Mantels use of third person present tense to be somehow more wearing. I felt like her writing was constantly telling, telling, telling, about individual encounters between characters. But I didn't feel particularly engaged or attached to any of them. Her writing, to me, felt almost sterile, foggy, and dry as a Tudor-period piece of parchment, all at the same time. I put this book down 26% of the way through (according to my Kindle) and I NEVER put books down. If you are thinking of reading this book: my suggestion would be to read part of it in a store, or borrow it from a friend, to see if you are/are not irritated by her writing style. Bafflingly, others seem to love this book very much, and I respect that. However, I just wanted to give my two cents, as a voracious, curious, and experienced reader that I quite literally couldn't stand reading this book.