The Gargoyle
December 14th, 2010 01:15 PM
It is a truism that “the bigger the hype, the bigger the letdown,” and given the frenzy over this book I was prepared to hate it. In spite of my expectations, I loved it.
On page one, the narrator drives over a cliff as he suffers a drug-induced hallucination in which he sees a barrage of flaming arrows converging on him from a wood on the right. He veers left, plummets over the edge into a ravine and is severely burned in the ensuing crash.
You don’t know it then, but you are at the entrance of hell and our would-be Dante has begun his commedia. Canting his tale of sin and woe, our guide take us through the horrific circles of his daily burn treatments and the suicidal despair he continually faces. He looks forward to the day when he will heal enough to kill himself. He has abandoned all hope.
Then, Marianne Engle, a beautiful and apparently mad sculptress of gargoyles, befriends him. She visits his bedside often and tells him a series of medieval tales involving dragons, mercenaries and undying love.
She insists our narrator was her lover in medieval times. Marianne’s fable-like stories have mythic dimensions and mirror the burned man’s life, altering and dulling his despair. He slowly falls in love with her and begins to believe that the tales she spins are true. He is released into Marianne’s care as the interlocked events of the lovers’ lives unfold.
Reality and myth converge on multiple levels as Marianne receives word from God that her time on earth is coming to an end, and our newly redeemed narrator must pass a final test of love.
The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson’s first book and already an international literary sensation, is sure to please any reader.
John Fisher is manager of 32 Books Company in Edgemont Village.
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Oct - Nov 08
On page one, the narrator drives over a cliff as he suffers a drug-induced hallucination in which he sees a barrage of flaming arrows converging on him from a wood on the right. He veers left, plummets over the edge into a ravine and is severely burned in the ensuing crash.
You don’t know it then, but you are at the entrance of hell and our would-be Dante has begun his commedia. Canting his tale of sin and woe, our guide take us through the horrific circles of his daily burn treatments and the suicidal despair he continually faces. He looks forward to the day when he will heal enough to kill himself. He has abandoned all hope.
Then, Marianne Engle, a beautiful and apparently mad sculptress of gargoyles, befriends him. She visits his bedside often and tells him a series of medieval tales involving dragons, mercenaries and undying love.
She insists our narrator was her lover in medieval times. Marianne’s fable-like stories have mythic dimensions and mirror the burned man’s life, altering and dulling his despair. He slowly falls in love with her and begins to believe that the tales she spins are true. He is released into Marianne’s care as the interlocked events of the lovers’ lives unfold.
Reality and myth converge on multiple levels as Marianne receives word from God that her time on earth is coming to an end, and our newly redeemed narrator must pass a final test of love.
The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson’s first book and already an international literary sensation, is sure to please any reader.
John Fisher is manager of 32 Books Company in Edgemont Village.
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Oct - Nov 08
