CRITICISM

Barron, James. A review of A Change of Climate, by Hilary Mantel. New Statesman & Society 7, No. 294 (18 March 1994): 56–7.

Negative review.

Bell, Millicent. “Fiction Chronicle.” Partisan Review 64, No. 1 (Winter 1997): 43-45.

In this excerpt, Bell considers Mantel's narrative technique in An Experiment in Love.

Cohen, Bertram. A review of The Giant, O'Brien, by Hilary Mantel. British Medical Journal 317, No. 7171 (28 November 1998): 1533.

Asserts that “this book has to be classed as an unusually disappointing potboiler depending, it would seem, on the outlandish and the macabre to attract a readership.”

Craig, Patricia. “Belfast Book.” London Review of Books 8, No. 10 (5 June 1986): 19.

Favorable assessment of Vacant Possessions.

Cunningham, Valentine. “The Burdens of Eve.” Observer (4 May 1986): 23.

Describes Vacant Possession as “a zippy satire of current Welfare State ills and nonsenses felicitously joins forces with the old-fashioned horrors of a well-arranged spine-chiller.”

Greenwell, Bill. “Laugh?” New Statesman 111 (30 May 1986): 27–30.

Praises the satirical qualities of Vacant Possession.

Kaiser, Mary. A review of The Giant, O'Brien, by Hilary Mantel. World Literature Today 73, No. 4 (Autumn 1999): 737.

Mixed assessment.

Pollen, Clare. “Amid the Circling Gloom.” Spectator 263, No. 8410 (16 September 1989): 44.

Contends that “this is a book which in its light touch and pointed wit, its rapid pace and deliberately mannered style, rivals Muriel Spark at her best.”

Rubin, Merle. “Tales of a Dark World.” Wall Street Journal (31 March 2000): W10.

In this essay, Rubin traces Mantel's fictional development.

Additional coverage of Mantel's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Contemporary Authors, Vol. 125; and Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 54.