882 reviews for:

The Gargoyle

Andrew Davidson

3.92 AVERAGE


From the very first line, "Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love," I was hooked. But, just in case I changed my mind, the author addresses the reader directly on page six and vividly, painstakingly, makes the reader feel what he felt as he burned in his car. This ability only gets better throughout the book. Each turn of a page was like opening a new present at Christmas.

A porn star and a schizophrenic coupled with love, historical, and religious imagery made for an unlikely yet fascinating tale of psychological and physical suffering. The theme of redemption, while seemingly not attainable for the narrator, drives the story through all of Marianne Engel's reincarnations and in spite of the narrator's self-loathing.

Of all of the tales Marianne told, my favorite was The Glassblower's Apprentice, but the most tragic was that of Siguror's Gift. In this story, the concept of homophobia was introduced in such a way that felt completely realistic for the time period it was set in. The tragedy comes in Einarr's admitting to his wife that he loved him too, after Siguror is buried. (What can I say? *sniff*)

In the beginning, as he falls over the side of the cliff, the unnamed protagonist writes:

-There was a brief momnt of weighlessness: a balancing point between air and earth, dirt and heaven. How strange, I thought, how like the moment between sleeping and falling when everything is beautifully surreal and nothing is corporeal. How like floating towards completion.-

I love that towards the end of the book, as he jumps off of Vicky's cliff at the end of his trip through Dante's circles of hell, again he writes the same words before coming to in bed three days after Marianne has made him go into morphine withdrawal.

The author obviously did his research which gained him my respect with regard to the medical content and made me want to go researching some of the historical content. Not since tackling War and Peace have I felt that way.

Kudos Mr. Davidson. Here's hoping you have a long career of writing excellent books such as this one.

raymo_reads_good's review

4.0

Got this from santa, loving it so far

rhyatt's review

4.5
adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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lindsaybox87's review

4.0
dark mysterious

tammy303sv's review

4.75
adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

4.5 stars. I was really pulled in by this book, which I read on my trip to and from Germany. Davidson is exceptional at making you feel every emotion - love (I found myself enamored when certain characters were in love), pain (I felt everything during the main character's accident), dread (I hated the Hell chapter), and fear (during the chase by the trackers). It's rare for me to say that a book was an experience, but this one certainly was. I eagerly await his next book.

textualorientation's review

5.0

The thought of reviewing this book intimidates me. I'm afraid I won't be able to capture how much I loved this book, how each word touched me in a way I won't forget. I have not read anything this profound in a long time, something so layered and symbolic of life, love, being... I feel like Andrew Davidson reached out and wrote the perfect book for me, and it just so happens he received the largest advance in Canadian publishing history for doing it. Well deserved, my friend, well deserved indeed.

The story gripped me from the very beginning, with the description of the crash and burning of The Narrator (nice touch that we never discover his name, even when Marianne carves it on her chest). The description of The Narrator's disfigurement and subsequent recovery was almost too disturbingly vivid to read, yet I was also way too invested and enthralled to turn away. After this, I was absolutely fascinated by the story of these two people, two outcasts of society, finding each other once again after 700 years of separation. This is a story of rebirth, and how a kind of renewed sense of life is sometimes required to be able to love completely. The language used to tell this wholly unique story was crisper than crisp, and I was left wanting to devour the words like I would a favourite dish.

I'm afraid this is really all I can say, as I'm left lacking the words to describe this masterpiece of a book despite being exposed to such stellar composition. I'll just say this one last thing: this morning I had 130 pages left to read, and I considered calling in sick to work so I could finish. I unfortunately couldn't, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't pull the book out at the office to sneak a few pages in while no one was looking.
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bibliocat4's review

4.0

Different book - I think the writing is excellent and very descriptive. The story didn't go where I thought it would, which is good. And I liked how the stories told in the book wove with the book narrative.

amothes's review

5.0

Beautifully written, mysterious and unique book. Thanks Tiffany for recommending it to me. Really special, and probably one of my all time favorites. Andrew Davidson needs to write another masterpiece!