Customer Reviews

Edward, Edward: A Part of His Story And Of History 1795-1816 Set Out In Three Parts In This Form Of A New-Old Picaresque Romance That Is Also A Stud

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This book came recommended me by way of my interest in angsty slash fiction. When I was a preteen I read V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic and still remember parts of it vividly. To use a completely inadequate metaphor, Edward, Edward is Flowers in the Attic for adults.
I was not prepared for the unmitigated intensity of drama and emotion contained in this book-- "angst" doesn't even begin to describe. Thirty pages in I was crying over the tragedy unfolding, and I could not stop reading until the end (p.690).
I want to stress that this book is not for the faint of heart. It is unrelentingly dark; Edward endures trials and misery until the last pages of the novel. It is a love story, after a fashion, but a story of a love more than half hatred, love displayed through cruelty more than caresses.
A summary is useless. Let me merely say that despite the slight heaviness of the reading, and dialogue and thoughts sometimes not easily followed, the characters (all of them) are believable from the first pages. Edward develops absolutely convincingly as a character. His resistance, despair, hope, capitulations, and recovering of himself are all very real.
Don't read this book for some quick angsty/slashy love story, for good sex scenes, or for detailed, engrossing historical fiction. The history is an afterthought and dealt with as such in the narrative (as long, rather dry asides a reader could skip over with no harm to the story done). Instead read this book for a story that will stay with you for a long time to come, for believable human characters undergoing and inflicting inhuman ordeals, for a philosophical, thought-provoking, incredible novel.

Edward, Edward (subtitled, A Part of His Story and of History 1795-1816, Set out in three parts in this form of a new-old picaresque romance that is also a study in grace) is a very disturbing Gothic-style tale, originally published in 1973, from the wife of poet William Burford. The writing is quite good, very delicate yet direct but occasionally prone to overflowing, but the story itself is quite disturbing.

The Earl of Tyne seduces a young innocent woman because of a bet, and six years later, she returns to him with a son who might or might not be his because she married another man a week after being with the Earl. The woman dies and her son, Edward, becomes the ward of the Earl. Unfortunately for Edward, he is very beautiful and looks uncannily like his dead mother, so the Earl develops an unnatural fascination with the boy. As Edward grows up, he tries to escape the Earl's influence, but he himself loves his father, so it's all very heavy-going. There is some pretty brutal stuff like whipping, incest, rape, torture, hanging, sodomy etc. etc. in the book but it's not presented as sensationalist fiction.

I'm just amazed that such topics could be contained in a book that was so enthusiastically lauded by the contemporary mainstream press ("One of the best novels of the year" - L.A. Times; "One of the best books you will ever read" - Houston Chronicle, and so on). The cover blurbs are very melodramatic though: "Into this world is born a golden youth - destined to know the famous and brilliant people of his day, the luxuries of great wealth, the scholarship of Oxford and the European capitals, - and the violence, brutality and outrageous passions of a lusty and demented father."

In general though, the book is a bit overlong, with many wordy descriptions of Napoleon's Europe, the politics and social situations of the time, and some long, extremely articulate debates between the characters and soliloquies, which is kind of unrealistic but the whole story is rather unbelievable in the first place.

It is, however, beautifully and memorably written, and you truly feel for both the Earl and Edward. Not for the faint of heart, but this is worth seeking out.

You know when if there is love, that is considered as white and hate may be black? Well, this is neither. Hence, the gray.

THis book is beautifully written and the poetical insertions are very appropiate to its theme. I enjoyed them, being a lover of poetry.

The Earl does not LOVE Edward as it says practically everywhere this book is explained. It is said that because he loves him he is so cruel. If you read the book carefully, you can tell that his love is not real love. The Earl's reasons for keeping Edward are selfish, one of them being lust. And also, he made a promise to Anne, and he wants to keep it because he enjoys imprisoning people against their will, escpecially someone who looks exactly like Anne. Another reason as to why the Earl detains him is for the fact that Edward has been in his "care" for so long that it seems foolish to waste all the money and effort he has spent and have it all to waste. That and the Earl is ocassionally entertained by Edward in general, like conversating with him or making him suffer, making him angry.

His "love" for Edward compares to the love a heartless master might have for a dog. No matter how he abuses and mutilates him, the dog will continue to come back with love at the first kind word his master utters.

What is really frustrating is that Edward does indeed come back whenever his father is nice to him. He seems almost masochistic in his love for the Earl, because he knows his father will only hurt him again, but nevertheless he continues to forgive him. AS a result to this, Edward is suicidal and extremely depressed, but who wouldn't be?

If you do read this book throughlly you will see that Edward suffers everything for NOTHING in the end, just because. He would have turned out into a kind, respectful, generous man towards the end anyway, he didn't need to be tortured in order to come to the final realizations. But then we wouldn't have the story...

I'm sorry, but anyone who had to suffer like the Earl did, should know not to do the same things to his own son, or to anyone for that matter. I would have thought that was the lesson, but the Earl doensn't learn it, so poor Edward has to have his turn.

The proper ending would be that Edward finally murders his father, and learns not to do the same satanic things he endured to his children. Anyone who reads this novel will have to agree that the Earl needs something drastic to happen to him in order to comprehend his evil deeds.

The previous reviews touch on the jist of the plot. I will only add that human nature being what it is, the plot seems quite in the realm of possibility. As much as we want the villian to suffer and wrongs set right, life isn't like that. The book manages to be hopeful in the fact that the main character survives and seems to find happiness. But we all know that wounds like these will affect him for the rest of his life.

As for the historic detail, I was stunned by the reflection of our own present that can be seen in the Napoleanic period, the draconian clamp down on disidents, and the dreadful prison experience. I'm not an historian so I don't know how accurate these details are. Since the book was written in the early '70's, the historic detail may reflect the authors opinion of the Cold War.

Aside from that, it is also interesting that the book is so racy. I guess even then some writers felt free to delve into the dark side of sex.

I knew from the first few pages that I would not be able to put this book down! We follow the lives of The Earl who becomes the guardian of a six year old boy who may or may not be his son.The Earl has 'unusual'tastes in the 1700's.Cruelty, an inability to love and as he hints at: 'he wants what he cannot have, and then despises that which he has captured.
He submits this innocent boy to kindness coupled with cruelty,physical abuse,kindness,sexual abuse, isolation,beatings and humiliation in an attempt to break the will of Edward. Over the years their passion increases. He tells Edward to resist him; but especially when Edward resists, the sexual lust increases.
He finally breaks Edward of his will,his spirit and his health. Edward is incapable of forming any other relationship except with The Earl. They love each other.

Edward relates a childhood nightmare. He told the Earl about a beautiful angel that was caught by a man in his black net. The man broke the angels wings off in order to keep the beautiful angel for himself. The Earl knew he was that man.

The writing is so sublime, so complete,so rich..it is what Ms. Burford leaves out in describing the sexual passions between these two men that is so erotic and sensual.
domination,submission,sad-masochism, cruelty,love,hate,lust,rape