Still -- can't get around the Cromwell family in Mantel's writing ... even when she's writing about France! :)

I suppose this is appropriate today -- Bonne Fête Nationale, la France!

Thanks, Themis. What a gorgoues picture of Paris and what a coincidence, that we are reading this book this month.

I´m about 60% into the book. The tension between Danton and Robespierre is buildung up and I´m really curious what is going to happen next.

Reply to post #22 (show post):
Wow, you've really caught up! Where are you timewise -- late 1792, early 1793?

Reply to post #23 (show post):
Late 1792. Along the way I did get used to Mantels writing style and by now I do know more or less who is who. Althoug I´m still glad there is "cast of character"-list in the beginning of the book :).
And I did quite some additional reading on the french revolution. For me it is easier to follow the story, knowing what happened during the french revolution (sadly a topic, which has been neglected in my history lessons at school).

Reply to post #24 (show post):
We're almost exactly at the same point then!

I've taken a look at the Wikipedia entries for the French Revolution, and they're actually not bad at all for purposes of background -- they also include biographies (of varying length and degree of detail) of almost every person who made it into Mantel's book.

I just about remember that my high school history class at some point did get around to the French Revolution -- we were more concerned with the politics / underlying political philosophy, and with the social conditions of the time, though, and less with the actual sequence of events, at least once we'd gotten past July 14, 1789. Which isn't to say that the chronology wasn't mentioned at all, it just wasn't drummed into our heads, for which on the one hand I was glad (having to memorize historical dates would probably have turned me off history pretty fast and much earlier than by the time we'd gotten this far anyway); on the other hand, it really took my reading a few additional books on my own to sort of at least get a handle on the basic chronology without having to look up even major events like Louis XVI's death time and again.

Reply to post #26 (show post):
Yes, because he's gotten rid of his debt -- but to a certain extent, I think he used it as a pretext before, anyway. He realized that being identified with any position or movement just short of an all-out republican government might materially damage him in the weeks and months to come, so he found reasons to stay out of the limelight until the time was right. The others didn't have that sort of dilemma, at least not in Paris -- Desmoulins never had the standing as a barrister that Danton had, so they would hardly have offered any position of note to him in the first place, and Robespierre was stuck in Arras up until he was nominated as a deputy. Once in Paris, he didn't hesitate to make his opinions known -- nor incidentally, at that time, did Danton.

And, very appropriate of course to reach the events of July 14, 1789 on July 14 of this year! (I reached them on July 4, which was sort of the next best thing, I thought. ;) )

Reply to post #28 (show post):
Stylistically it's very similar to her Cromwell books, of course, but I take it that's not what you mean?

Scarlet Pimpernel? (It's actually a lot less lighthanded than the movie adaptations make it appear ...)

Rafael Sabatini (Scaramouche)?

Dumas père?

Btw, you'll learn more about Danton's thought processes as the book progresses.

Mantel glosses over most of the big events after July 14, 1789, incidentally, which at times I actually find a bit annoying; particularly as our three guys are less and less private citizens as of now and are, as a matter of fact, very much in the limelight of public attention. Except for the Massacre of the Champs de Mars and August 10, 1792 (where we do see them, and Danton in particular, putting themselves at the head of events), sometimes you'd think that nothing else of much consequence had happened -- yes, OK, so we learn that Danton is made minister and Desmoulins and Fabre are his secretaries (I hope this isn't a spoiler for anybody ;) ), and we get about a three-second snippet of Robespierre's speech at the king's trial (or rather, Desmoulins's comments on that speech!), but that's pretty much it ... hmm. I wonder where she's going to take this narrative approach once we're further down the road in 1793.

Reply to post #31 (show post):
True. It is one of my favorite books about the era, too, though, so right now I'm actually having a bit of a facepalm moment not to have mentioned it myself.

Speaking of Stefan Zweig, not only his bio of Marie Antoinette, but also that of Joseph Fouché makes for an excellent companion book to Mantel's novel. I started his Fouché biography a few days ago, on the recommendation of a friend, and I can highly recommend it. (Fouché was, after all, the person who brought down Robespierre, so in part it also tells the continuation of the story -- right into the Napoleonic empire and beyond.) I'm at work right now, but will post excerpts later when I get home.

And Teresa, you're right, initially the focus is very much on Desmoulins.

Does anyone else feel, too, btw, that Mantel's attitude is different with regard to each of the three main characters? Desmoulins she's simply fond of -- and she very much wants the reader to be fond of him as well. (Hence, I suspect, also the initial focus on him in particular.) Robespierre fascinates her, though I'm beginning to see gradually less sympathy for him in her portrayal of his character. Danton's bull(y) side she finds problematic, but she's OK with his fundamentally pragmatic attitude, and she begins to warm towards him as he emerges as more forgiving than some of their associates ...

Reply to post #32 (show post):
Yes, Hilary Mantel does like Desmoulins the best. But I don´t think, that is the reason, why she focused on him in the beginning. To understand, why Desmoulins is part of the revolution, you have to know something about his personality. And this is something, which for example doesn´t apply to Danton (anyway not to that extent).

Desmoulins, Robespierre and Danton have different reasons for participating in the revolution, which for me are:

Desmoulins: Basically all his life he has been treated like a lesser person, has been belittled by everyone and even his father doesn´t have anything good to say about him and treats him accordingly. Desmoulins wants to redeem himself through his success in the revolution and this makes him the most likeable of the three. I really did feel sorry for him in the beginning.

Robespierre: He has a clear mind and he does know, what is wrong with the country. He is perfect at rationalizing and he doesn´t let feelings get in his way (I do think, that the death of his mother must have had a huge impact on Robespierres emotional state). Even though he in the beginning condemns violence, he sees it as a necessary evil and as something, he has to do to achive his goal (which in his opinion is the salvation of the country, not some personal benefits). He certainly is the most dangerous one.

Danton: He wants money, fame and a good life for his family. He only does something, when it gives him some kind of advantage and he clearly knows, what should be done and what not. He intimidates people by being a brute (or a bully ;) ). This makes him the least likeable character in this novel, but also in some way the most human.

In the beginning I did struggle with Danton as well. That changed, when Mantel did give him a voice of his own. I´m expecting, that Dantons personality is going to change throughout the last year of his life and I´m really looking forward to read about it.

Reply to post #35 (show post):
Love Lucile and Annette.

Reply to post #33 (show post):
I really like your description.
it is funny that in today's French society Danton seems to be more liked than Robespierre. The latter is infamous because of his communist penchant even though he was not driven by money but revolutionary ideas, While Desmoulins is still (unfortunately) belong to that marginalized position he longed to break free from.

Well, I've finally gotten started at least. It is interesting to read Mantel's style in a much less familiar story. Just made it through part one with the introduction of each of the Big 3 and I'm happy to see everyone seems to be enjoying it.

I finished the book this morning. Thank you for bringing this novel to my attention. I absolutely loved it.

They come rattling over the cobbles
they sit on their coffins of black
Some are struck dumb, some gabble
top-heavy on brandy or sack
The pews are all full of fine fellows
and the hawker has set up her shop
As they’re turning them off at the gallows
she’ll be selling right under the drop, boys
selling right under the drop

Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’s
keeping the demons at bay
There’s nothing like gin for drowning them in
but they’ll always be back on a hanging day

Mark Knopfler: Madame Geneva's
(from the album Kill to Get Crimson)

I finished the book this morning as well. Now have to get my thoughts sorted out and write a review ...

Lillelara has already written hers, and it'll be a hard act to follow!