The newly-named Leaf Blowers met on Thursday night to review Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. I think it got 2 thumbs down and two quite enjoyables from our gang of four. On the positive side there was praise for the writing and some insights into the characterisation, including a very crafty suggestion that perhaps Colette and Alison were parts of a single personality being dramatised as two different people. I thought that was giving Hilary Mantel far more credit than she deserved and that it was pretty badly plotted, badly structured and not very engaging... but who am I to know anything about anything! If you fancy a bit of supernatural voyaging into someone's forgotten (and pretty grim) past, then grab this book. Otherwise, don't buy Beyond Black, go with A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel instead.
The newly-named Leaf Blowers met on Thursday night to review Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. I think it got 2 thumbs down and two quite enjoyables from our gang of four. On the positive side there was praise for the writing and some insights into the characterisation, including a very crafty suggestion that perhaps Colette and Alison were parts of a single personality being dramatised as two different people. I thought that was giving Hilary Mantel far more credit than she deserved and that it was pretty badly plotted, badly structured and not very engaging... but who am I to know anything about anything! If you fancy a bit of supernatural voyaging into someone's forgotten (and pretty grim) past, then grab this book. Otherwise, don't buy Beyond Black, go with A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel instead. 
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