Her classic wicked humor in each story—which range from a ghost story to a vampire story to near-memoir to mini-sagas of family and social fracture—brilliantly unsettles the reader in that unmistakably Mantel way.
Mantel brutally and acutely writes about gender, marriage, class, family, and sex, cutting to the core of human experience. Unpredictable, diverse, and even shockingly unexpected, each story grabs you by the throat within a couple of sentences. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher displays a magnificent writer at the peak of her powers.
Thoughts: This is our book group read for May. I'm not really sure what to think. I didn't particularly enjoy any of the stories, but have the distinct feeling I missed something. I'm looking forward to our discussion on it in the hope the other members of my book group can shed some light.
At the moment though, I kind of feel like Mantel was trying to be too clever for her own good. Many of the stories seemed to go nowhere and say very little. In fact, only days after finishing the book, the only stories I can recall in any detail are Winter Break and the title story - The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. The stories were short, which was just as well since by the time I got to the end of them, I was ready to give up on them. The book itself if not long - only running to 300 pages all up. Hmm, will wait and see what the others say.
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher gets 2 stars
* Did not like it
** It was OK
*** Liked it
**** Really liked it
***** It was amazing
* Did not like it
** It was OK
*** Liked it
**** Really liked it
***** It was amazing
