| “Mantel Pieces” by Hilary Mantel. Seven of us gathered to discuss this book articles from the London Review of books. Some of us had selected a piece to review. “In bed with Madonna” – This purported to be a review of a book called “Madonna Unauthorised” by Christopher Anderson but turned out to be a tirade against Madonna and everything she did. This was done with skill and wit but in the end just became tedious. Christopher Anderson earned a few words of praise but mostly was subjected to caustic remarks. One was left wondering why Mantel undertook the assignment. “Meeting the Devil” – This was very different, a personal account of Mantel’s spell in hospital during which she had surgery. This unfortunately went wrong, and she was in great pain. She describes her suffering and details of her wound in gruesome detail. As a result of the medication, she was frequently hallucinating. We were impressed by the way she was always viewed things as a writer and recorded her experiences – real and imaginary – in her diary. This was a difficult read because of the subject matter and some gave up before the end. “Hair shirt sisterhood” – This piece focused on two young girls who were trying to become nuns and, ultimately, hoped to become saints. Mantel gave us lurid details of the unpleasant acts which these young girls undertook in order to be worthy of beatification. We thought that there were far too many examples of this and, rather surprisingly, the account became boring. Mantel seemed to be ridiculing both the whole idea of becoming a saint, and the Catholic Church as an organisation. The latter was a recurring theme in the articles. Anorexia was mentioned a lot which caused quite a lot of discussion. Finally, we discussed the account of the murder of James Bulger which again led to an interesting discussion. Mantel seemed quite certain that by the age of ten children are aware of the difference between right and wrong. We tended to agree but wondered if exposure to violence on television and films and poor up-bringing might have an impact on children’s perceptions. Overall we thought that Mantel writes well but perhaps in too much detail making the articles overlong and sometimes boring. We wondered if she was required to write a set number of words or just likes the sound of her own voice. If she doesn’t like something or somebody, she can be so viciously critical that she comes across as maybe not a very nice person. It was suggested that her years of ill health had made her bad tempered and intolerant. Several people commented that the book was a depressing read and they didn’t finish it. We wondered if reading one article every couple of weeks would be a better way to tackle the book. |
