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mahovina's review against another edition
4.0
I fell deeply in love with this book. Marianne's excentric stories, her life, the terrible accident of the main character... it just amazing!
novabird's review against another edition
4.0
Saint Tinkerbelle f’ed with my mind with all that damn metaphysical/religious/cultish fairy dust, similar to how the bitch snake inhabited the unnamed burned man’s mind and spine. Religion is the opium of the people. Yet for some reason, I found that I became quickly addicted to, “The Gargoyle,” and I was able for the most part to just go with the flow with this fantasy by simply enjoying the excellent visceral writing style of Davidson. I know that if I start to analyze this book, it will lose its some of its magic for me, but I have to do so and go cold turkey.
I have only four moderate misgivings about, “The Gargoyle:”
First of all, was Marianne Engel ever incarnated as Marquis de Sade? Engel takes the Christian ethics behind pain too far, “I came to see your suffering. ... I envy all suffering, because suffering is necessary to become spiritually beautiful. It brings one closer to Christ. Those who suffer are the elect of God.” And, “That which is painful sharpens one's love.” Don’t get me wrong, I understand the necessity of pain in order to prevent injury, to instill health and to deter from wrong choices and even to better appreciate when one is pain-free. However, I do separate the boundaries between pain and pleasure quite clearly. Unlike Marianne who says, “If I get sick, I will rejoice because God has remembered me.” Like the burned man, I am “glad to be removed from this conversation.”
The most unbelievable part of the novel is the
Not too sure how some of Engel’s 1,000 hearts were redeemed previously in her 700 year history and I am even less certain how one can expend one’s heart in sculpting, even if “monsters are divine portents.”
The ending with Marianne
What remains is an amazing tale of combined belief systems that has a permanent sprinkling of gold dust that will remain long in memory, like a myth, a legend. It makes me want to read Marquis de Sade and the Inferno and any book that gently pushes me towards that which I am uncomfortable with is a winner with me.
I have only four moderate misgivings about, “The Gargoyle:”
First of all, was Marianne Engel ever incarnated as Marquis de Sade? Engel takes the Christian ethics behind pain too far, “I came to see your suffering. ... I envy all suffering, because suffering is necessary to become spiritually beautiful. It brings one closer to Christ. Those who suffer are the elect of God.” And, “That which is painful sharpens one's love.” Don’t get me wrong, I understand the necessity of pain in order to prevent injury, to instill health and to deter from wrong choices and even to better appreciate when one is pain-free. However, I do separate the boundaries between pain and pleasure quite clearly. Unlike Marianne who says, “If I get sick, I will rejoice because God has remembered me.” Like the burned man, I am “glad to be removed from this conversation.”
The most unbelievable part of the novel is the
Spoiler
divine anti-pregnancy that Marianne experiences. Once pregnant one cannot be made un-pregnant, even if a woman miscarries or has an abortion, she was once pregnant, and this is one idea that should have been edited out.Not too sure how some of Engel’s 1,000 hearts were redeemed previously in her 700 year history and I am even less certain how one can expend one’s heart in sculpting, even if “monsters are divine portents.”
The ending with Marianne
Spoiler
committing suicide runs contrary to the burned man’s experience of hell. As well he does not choose this as option to foreshorten his life in order to be with Marianne all that more sooner.What remains is an amazing tale of combined belief systems that has a permanent sprinkling of gold dust that will remain long in memory, like a myth, a legend. It makes me want to read Marquis de Sade and the Inferno and any book that gently pushes me towards that which I am uncomfortable with is a winner with me.
abbywebb's review against another edition
3.0
I know many people will be disappointed with the lack of stars in which I attribute to this book.
It's not that Davidson's first novel was bad or anything. I just don't think I had a lot of the background knowledge that would be useful when reading this book. If you plan on reading this book in the near future, I would suggest either first reading or at least researching Dante's Inferno as this plays a major role in The Gargoyle. Also, there are a lot of biblical references, to which I have no knowledge whatsoever.
It remains evident to the reader that Davidson did a ton of research to write this book, and on a wide variety of topics. I commend him with his dedication to not only research all these unknown areas, but to also sit down and write a book about it.
He did a good job of bouncing back between the past and present stories, although I am not entirely sure of why some of the stories were included. Like many books that I have read of late, this one did not capture me until the end, and even then, I wouldn't necessarily say that I was "captured." I feel bad to say that as Davidson currently lives in my hometown and what if I run into him at Safeway or Chapters one day when I am visiting? How awkward.
Anyway, I recommend this book to bookish readers who do not mind devouring some heavy literature. When reading this book, I was reminded of several other books, including [b:The English Patient|11713|The English Patient|Michael Ondaatje|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166485607s/11713.jpg|3009869] and [b:Outlander|10964|Outlander (Outlander, #1)|Diana Gabaldon|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PXCSX5AKL._SL75_.jpg|2489796]. Although this book is completely different from those two, you may enjoy this one if you liked those ones.
It's not that Davidson's first novel was bad or anything. I just don't think I had a lot of the background knowledge that would be useful when reading this book. If you plan on reading this book in the near future, I would suggest either first reading or at least researching Dante's Inferno as this plays a major role in The Gargoyle. Also, there are a lot of biblical references, to which I have no knowledge whatsoever.
It remains evident to the reader that Davidson did a ton of research to write this book, and on a wide variety of topics. I commend him with his dedication to not only research all these unknown areas, but to also sit down and write a book about it.
He did a good job of bouncing back between the past and present stories, although I am not entirely sure of why some of the stories were included. Like many books that I have read of late, this one did not capture me until the end, and even then, I wouldn't necessarily say that I was "captured." I feel bad to say that as Davidson currently lives in my hometown and what if I run into him at Safeway or Chapters one day when I am visiting? How awkward.
Anyway, I recommend this book to bookish readers who do not mind devouring some heavy literature. When reading this book, I was reminded of several other books, including [b:The English Patient|11713|The English Patient|Michael Ondaatje|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166485607s/11713.jpg|3009869] and [b:Outlander|10964|Outlander (Outlander, #1)|Diana Gabaldon|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PXCSX5AKL._SL75_.jpg|2489796]. Although this book is completely different from those two, you may enjoy this one if you liked those ones.
susandelgado's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
brn's review against another edition
5.0
Very very interesting. I recommended this book to a few male friends and they could not even get into it. Yet any of the women I have spoken with who have read it loved it. The book grabbed me right away. And not just because it was talking about a man's penis.
goodem9199's review against another edition
4.0
Oy. This is a tough book to talk about. The writing was amazing, but the story was so...weird. REALLY weird. Think former druggie-porn-star-turned-burn victim/mentally ill nude sculptress/reincarnation/religion/love/pain/gothic/historicalfiction...whew. Told ya it was hard to talk about! I think I'm going to go binge on Clifford books to recoup.
robynedexter's review against another edition
4.0
This book was such an emotional roller coaster and I loved it so much.
takumo_n's review against another edition
3.0
I'm totally not jealous that this is a very decent debut novel and made the author a millionaire, no sir! The book is about a guy with a horrible childhood filled with abuse of every kind, he becomes a porn actor in his young adulthood and while high and drunk gets into a car accident that burns him alive. In the hospital he meets Marianne Engel, a mental patient who tells him stories about herself 700 years ago, she being a baby found at the steps of a monastery in Germany and with incredible talent for leguages starts helping with translations of different parts of the Bible. Until in this story of the past she mets with our protagonist who is a mercenary carrying Dante's inferno which saves him from an arrow to his heart (very sutil), and Marianne does a personal translation to the German of the Inferno. While at the hospital she also tells him others stories of Japanese, Scandinavian, and Germanic folklore that bleed in with reality, even Dante's Inferno, all about lost love, death, and physical pain. It's pretty interesting. The problem is the main character not really behaving like an abused person getting out of drugs, or Marianne really conducting herself as a crazy person without her meds. So except for Marianne's tales, the main story is not that interesting. But it has a killer beginning and ending, and it is a debut after all, they all have the problem of not trusting their audience, because they don't have one. But it's good, I promise.
mrsbear's review against another edition
5.0
Ok, this book is right up there in my top ten favorites. It's a love story, a life changing story, a story within a story. It make me laugh, cry and rethink a lot of things. I can't say enough good things about this book, just read it.