Note: Both of these books are from last year, so I won’t review them in-depth. Most people who will read them probably already have, BUT don’t worry, I’ll have reviews for several newer titles throughout the day…
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie…Nearly perfect. It follows “the African-American experience” through Hattie and her children and (eventually) some of her grandchildren. It’s a novel that reads more like a short-story collection as we follow different characters in different time periods and (most crucially) different locations, from the Bible-thumping-but-segregated South to the only slightly more sophisticated North. Grade: A-
Bringing Up the Bodies…This is the second installment of Hillary Mantell’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, and the part that people are probably the most familiar with: the fall of Anne Boleyn. [The first book, Wolf Hall, was superior for covering Cromwell’s mysterious rise from “commoner” to the king’s top advisor.] This is a terrifically constructed novel, and the skillful prose is obvious, but I began wondering what the point of it was. This is arguably the best known portion of England’s history (in only the last five years, pop culture has brought us The Tudors, The Other Boleyn Girl, etc.), and I just couldn’t help but wonder why the same story told in the same way won The Man Booker Prize and was named on countless Best Books of the Year lists. Grade: B