Even more problematic, in Mantel's effort to rely on writings of these figures in order to put words in their mouths, she forgot that a novel needs a plot. I'm a professional historian myself and yet I had difficulty wading through the didactic exchanges of these revolutionaries in order to piece out where we were in the evolution of the Revolution. The problem is that most of this book is just dialogue and precious little explanation as to what the hell is going on.
Mantel should be commended for attempting to be true to history in her copious use of letters and documents of key figures in order to give them an authentic voice when it comes to dialogue. The French Revolution is a great backdrop for a novel, just ask Mr Dickens. "Historical" diatribes posing as a novel. If you decide to buy it, you have ample warning. I am going to be seeking a refund on this one. Added to that is the narrator's complete inability to give any of the three main characters (Des Moulin, Robespierre, and Danton) really individual characterization, and you have a disaster. After five hours of this, I gave up, opened the text, and began reading (which I also do) a really good novel, that is quite easily approachable if you have the common sense to respect the author's intent. The result is that detail becomes impossible to separate or recollect. Thus, the listener has dialog and action from one scene melded onto the one before, without any idea of whether he is still in the same scene, or another, or hearing a larger comment. Evidently, empty air is so frightening it's intolerable. He reads the text seamlessly without pause or break, disregarding these endstops.
Keeble has chosen to ignore these grammatical indicators. For reasons best known to himself or his director, Mr. In the printed text, these are separated by a few end-stops, sufficient white space for the reader to know when one episode ends, another begins. Hilary Mantel develops her narration in the form of vignettes, switching from character to character abruptly, and also interspersing commentary and anecdote about other historicual figures. The reason is the narrator's performance, in particular, his indifference to the basic 'grammar' of the author. This is the first book I have experienced (out of several dozeb, possibly a hundred or more) that failed completely.
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