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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
2.0
Anyone who has seen a Hindi movie from the late 80's would pick up this basic storyline. Two brothers who stick to each other through thick and thin, Orphans who battle insurmountable odds and survive unscathed in the end walking off into the sunset with the hands of two damsels. Except for the damsels part, this book has them all. Not an exciting read but reads like a screenplay of a gorefest.
Of all the things in the tale, I liked the backdrop and the setting the best. The 13th Century Europe with the battles between the Church and the Heretics and also of the Bubonic Plague forms probably the entire backstage curtain for the dramatic and violent lives of the Brothers Grossbart. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart are grave-robbers and ruffians par excellence. They are what would form the ideal picture of macho,chest-thumping, ultra violent manliness more in lines with Conan or Tarzan of Pulp Fiction. Brief romantic encounters and many fights later finds them on their way to Egypt to rob the tombs of the Pharaohs. It is on this travel from Germany to Egypt that they come across many an interesting character from men to demons to witches and other such creatures of myth.
There is a lot of gore in the tale, with every fight the author regales us with the gory details of the thrusts,jabs and punches and which sometimes acts as a deterrent. There is one interesting thing in the tale : When the brothers are drunk on wine, they are prone to debate theology which though profane at times proves to be fun at later points in the book.
Although not a great book, a fun read nonetheless...
Of all the things in the tale, I liked the backdrop and the setting the best. The 13th Century Europe with the battles between the Church and the Heretics and also of the Bubonic Plague forms probably the entire backstage curtain for the dramatic and violent lives of the Brothers Grossbart. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart are grave-robbers and ruffians par excellence. They are what would form the ideal picture of macho,chest-thumping, ultra violent manliness more in lines with Conan or Tarzan of Pulp Fiction. Brief romantic encounters and many fights later finds them on their way to Egypt to rob the tombs of the Pharaohs. It is on this travel from Germany to Egypt that they come across many an interesting character from men to demons to witches and other such creatures of myth.
There is a lot of gore in the tale, with every fight the author regales us with the gory details of the thrusts,jabs and punches and which sometimes acts as a deterrent. There is one interesting thing in the tale : When the brothers are drunk on wine, they are prone to debate theology which though profane at times proves to be fun at later points in the book.
Although not a great book, a fun read nonetheless...