Giving Up The Ghost: Discussion Notes

Arrived late...very late. So this entry will be short...very short despite the fact that  members tried to catch me up on the discussion of this well-liked memoir.  There was a good discussion about  Mantel's vision of evil as a 7 year old.  Was she actually abused in some way that was too terrible for her to write about? Perhaps  she just witnessed abuse? a shocking act?  Or, did she hallucinate--a first migraine aura?  a vision brought on by her religious education? her new awareness of sin?  Most members agreed with the second group of  explanations. This blogger during the  initial reading felt that the author  had either experienced or witnessed an actual trauma.  But on second reading felt that it might have been a vision since Mantel experiences other encounters with ghosts...of the former living and the never living--her unborn, never even physically conceived children.  (I did a little research last night, and found two reviews...that seemed to line up on both sides of the argument.  But no definitive word from Mantel.)

Book talk was enriched by hearing passages read aloud...such as the piece on parents and why they shouldn't be judged by their children.  And a discussion of how the memoir felt honest due to1.  Mantel's structure...not linear but circular --reflecting the way that memories are actually remembered. 2. Mantel's use of  dialogue, sensory descriptions and  imagery that could  have been remembered by a child (Not impossibly complicated scenes that only an adult with a recorder could capture .) 3. By using a voice that mirrored the age of Mantel at each point in the memoir.

Members were interested in how and why Mantel included and excluded aspects of her life.  Where were her brothers? her husband?  (In my research last night, a reviewer said that she wrote about herself as a child and then her childless self--sounds logical.)  We concluded that Mantel wanted to tell the part of her life that she wanted to tell...and not let others including curious readers keep her from that mission.  After 60 years, she wanted no part of other people defining her life for her.

Highly recommended by all.

Many members seemed to think Hilary Mantel’s experience with the devil was psychological, brought on by something she had either repressed or suppressed, most likely sexual abuse—even though she raises and dismisses such a cause. I'm not so sure. HM describes seeing something evil and feeling it enter her, take possession and remain, a spiritual torment. Given how she views what occurred, it seems to me that any redress would also have to be spiritual, an exorcism perhaps. 


by B.B.