All That Is

Disappointing and hard to read. The book is like a series of brief vignettes and each of them works as such, with good and powerful prose. Salter can create a vivid image or an intimate sense of a person with so few words. .

But, but, but .... No plot. And an ego centric and selfish main character I just plain didn't like, plodding through his life. Nor are there themes or ideas in this book that I could discern. Just a recitation of events. Ultimately, a bit boring.

By comparison, Hilary Mantel tells the stories of Henry, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn through a series of short vignettes and is masterful at weaving in ideas of the times and how they were changing, people you come to know and care about, and the events that changed western civilization ....

I wish I had better things to say about thus book .....