Thursday, November 06, 2008

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson


An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul. A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished. Already an international literary sensation, the Gargoyle is anInferno for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible.

I don't actually tend to take much notice of holidays, and that is even more true when it is a holiday that we don't actually celebrate here. It was therefore a bit of a surprise to find myself reading not one but two books that are perfect Halloween reads. The first is a short story collection called Many Bloody Returns featuring vampires and birthdays stories from lots of different writers, and the other was this book.

From the very early pages, it is clear that our main character is one that most people would not want to befriend. Ironically enough, prior to his accident he was, physically at least, someone that would be considered very attractive - young, wealthy, attractive. After a terrible childhood, he drifts into a world filled with pornography and drugs, until he is driven as opposed to drifting in this world. After his accident, his is no longer physically attractive because of his terrible scarring, an irony that is not lost on him or anyone else.

This isn't a book for the faint of heart. The first few pages are nothing but graphic, as our main character, who remains nameless throughout the whole novel, has a terrible car crash.
We meet him a few seconds before as he drives along a cliff top road, influenced by drugs and alcohol. We ride in the car as it rolls down the hillside, as the flames engulfs, as he is rescued and taken to hospital and as he realises the full extent of his terrible injuries. I started reading this book on the train, and I was actually wincing at some of the parts, particularly where he talked about what happened to one of his feet.

And yet despite the gruesomeness of the descriptions, the writing is multi layered with moments of macabre comedy, beautiful tenderness, and incredible depth. The writing is not perfect - there are moments when tenses slip - but it is definitely compelling.

When our burns victim meets Marianne Engel, he is caught up in the whirlwind of energy that she brings with her, almost manic at times. He does not know her, but she is insistent that they have known each other for hundreds of years and she proceeds throughout the rest of the book to tell him their story. She also tells other stories, of ultimate love stories set in Iceland, Japan and England through the years. The story she tells is completely fantastical, and whilst there is some evidence to suggest that people are right to question Marianne's mental stability, our main character finds himself becoming less suicidal, less emotionally restricted and more open to new friendships around him due to her influence.

This book has so many layers - it is definitely a love story, there are fantasy elements, particularly in the latter stages of the book, it is a historical essay on the production of books in medieval abbeys, and a tribute to Dante's Inferno with side trips into mysticism and other historical detail. In lesser hands this could have become tangled and we could have been left with an unsatisfactory mess. Luckily for the reader, Davidson is skilled, and instead we end up with an infinitely readable, complicated and beautiful novel. A strong love story bound in fascinating detail.


Love is an action you must repeat ceaselessly.

This is a very assured debut novel. I can't wait to see what Andrew Davidson comes up with next.

This is one of the novels that I have nominated to read as part of the Medieval Challenge.

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry


Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Raging Bibliomania
So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Bermudaonions Weblog
The Sleepy Reader
Back to Books
Devourer of Books
Book-a-Rama
Fantasy Book Reviews
Tip of the Iceberg
That's the Book

15 comments:

  1. I loved The Gargoyle.

    I took me a few chapters to get into it, mostly because of the graphic descriptions.

    My favorite part was the stories that Marianne told, they were so moving.

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  2. I wish I could read this one again for the first time, and not because I felt I read it too fast, but because I was so amazed by it. Still, rereading it in a few years, I think I'll still be very impressed.

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  3. This is definitely a book that would stand up to a reread in a couple of years time.

    Kait, the stories were great weren't they.

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  4. I really want to read this one!! Nice review!

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  5. I am looking forward to reading this one. Great review, Marg!

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  6. The premise reminds me of Flowers from the Storm. I'm intrigued, but I need to know if it's technically a Romance. If you don't want to post any spoilers, would you be able to tell me via e-mail? :-)

    And by the way, Marg, I can't remember if I've asked you recently ... are you going to the Readers' Convention in Feb?

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  7. I wouldn't call it a romance Kat.

    I am planning to attend something but not the whole thing.

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  8. I loved the Gargoyle too. I was especially pleased to read a book that seemed so original. After a lifetime of reading so many books seem to be a retelling of the same old story.
    Anne in Austin

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  9. I also read and reviewed this book. I loved this very unique story. I am looking forward to the next offering from Davidson as well. Great Review! Here is a link to my review:

    http://zibilee.figearo.net/2008/07/gargoyle-by-andrew-davidson-468-pgs.html

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  10. Thanks so much for linking my review to yours! I just added your link to my review.

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  11. I loved this book too, and I couldn't believe it when Entertainment Weekly slammed it. Thanks for the great review, Marg! It's nice to be reminded of great books and revisiting them in this way.

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  12. I am finding this really hard to resist as the reviews I have read are really intriguing. Yours is no exception. Thanks for the extra push!

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  13. I think you would really like it Rhinoa!

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  14. Nice review, Marj! I added a link to your review over at my place.

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