Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. The nameless and beautiful narrator of The Gargoyle 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 wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned. His life is over - he is now a monster. But in fact it is only just beginning. One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he ...
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Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. The nameless and beautiful narrator of The Gargoyle 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 wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned. His life is over - he is now a monster. But in fact it is only just beginning. One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and a scribe who nursed him back to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal. As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life - and, finally, to love.
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Add this copy of The Gargoyle to cart. $49.53, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Canongate Books.
This book is stunning! I could not put it down from the first page.
Andrew Davidson's writing hooks you in with graphic details about sex, drugs, and the illicit lifestyle the narrator lives until a fiery accident takes it all from him.
Very few people know about the world in which he lives, and that is what makes this book so enthralling. It's the curiousity that drives the reader to continue.
I recommend this book to everyone and no one has been disappointed so far.
Libby
Sep 10, 2009
Gargoyle
Very graphic, some of the bookclub had a hard time with the burn description. It showed the contrast between good and evil. The fantasy of Marianne was entertaining. I am usually turned off by bad language and sex but this had content to the story and I suffered through it. I would only recommend it to mature adults. Surprised this detailed book was writen from a first timer.
Shelbycat
Oct 27, 2008
Amazing first novel ...
Now i must admit that reading the blurb for this book i was a little put off and i probably wouldn't have picked it up and bought it full price in a shop. However, having read it i can't recommend it highly enough, it really was amazing especially since it's a first novel.
Firstly i have to say i really liked the little stories told throughout the book, they were like little short stories within the larger book. Every time we started a new short story i settled down and knew i was going to enjoy it as a story on its own and as part of the larger book. Some of the stories made me cry and some of them made me a little angry, but not one would i have missed.
I have to say i didn't really appreciate the latter section of the book when we went through a Dante-esque moment, i felt this was highly contrived. However, i got through it and made it to the end of the book, which was very poignant as would be expected by anyone reading the rest of the book.
Anyway, i really loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone else, in fact i might very well loan it to my neighbour.
italiagirl
Oct 19, 2008
Bravo!
This is the first book I've read in a very long time that I have been unable to put down. It grabs you from the first chapter and doesn't disappoint. I was astonished to find this was a debut novel! Bravo Mr. Davidson!
