The Gargoyle [Paperback]

Andrew Davidson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: Random House Inc. 2008-01-01 (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847673090
• ISBN-13: 978-1847673091
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (352 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,889,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Davidson was born in Manitoba, and graduated in 1995 with a BA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. He has worked as a teacher of English in Japan, where he has lived on and off, and as a writer of English lessons for Japanese websites. The Gargoyle is his first book. He lives in Manitoba, Canada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

218 of 251 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grotesque and lovely, July 24, 2008

By 

Ashley Megan "amazonfox" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Gargoyle (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Read this book. Read it. Just shut up and read it, already. Are you reading it? Why not? I told you to read it!

"But it's yucky!" you complain. "The narrator gets all burned and gross, and he's mean, and what's up with the crazy lady?"

All right, yes, I will grant you, the first few chapters are incredibly difficult to get through, particularly if you have a delicate stomach. The unnamed narrator does, indeed, get in a horrific car crash where he is terribly, almost fatally, burnt. What follows is a stomach-turningly graphic depiction of what goes on in a burn ward. Stephen King would probably turn green at some of these scenes. You will be tempted to set "The Gargoyle" down and walk away. But I'm begging you to come back. Your suffering will be rewarded.

This is what Marianne claims, as she enters the narrator's life in the gown of a psychiatric patient at the hospital. She is jealous of his pain, as she believes that it means God has not forgotten him. Marianne is 700 years old, born in the year 1300 and raised in a convent. She is overjoyed when she meets the scarred narrator, as she believes that he is her long-dead lover returned to her. She then must set about convincing him of her story: of how the two fell in love all those years ago and how they were separated, about her divine mission to set her hearts free by carving huge gargoyles out of stone, and about the redemptive powers of love, suffering, and sacrifice.

So much happens in this book I don't even know how to start describing it. Marianne takes the narrator in and begins telling him stories. Interspersed with the tale of her own past are four other short love stories, set in eras and locations as varied as feudal Japan, medieval Italy, Victorian England, and Viking Iceland. These stories weave in and out of the main one, forming tentative connections and complementing its themes. Literary classics are alluded to as well, most notably Dante's Inferno. People suffer and die (or not), they sacrifice everything they have for love, they create powerful art and watch it destroyed, they journey to the underworld, and they approach God. And through it all are the two lynchpins of this book, love and pain, forever entwined, each intensifying the other, unwanted and unlooked for but present in every page.

This is quite simply one of the most powerful, intense, gripping, and captivating books I have read in a long time. Maybe it's too intense for some readers; I can tell already from the reviews that many are put off by this love story between the disfigured misanthrope and the schizophrenic artist. But if you have the strength to shoulder the burdens Andrew Davidson places on the reader, I promise, your suffering will be rewarded.

73 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite. Poignant. Beautiful., August 11, 2008

By 

Harkius "harkius" (Laramie, WY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Gargoyle (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

As ever, the plot is adequately summarized in other reviews, so I will not go in detail here. Instead, I will tell you why you should read this novel.

I can understand why many people didn't like this book. I personally loved it, but that is not the point, yet. Many people will not like the details that the author describes about burn recovery and/or will be displeased with the other physical descriptions.

One reviewer goes so far as to mention the eponymous character a "male fantaasy". Which is amusing to no end, if you have read this novel. The male lead is not a fantasy for most men. It would simply be awful. It is clear in his description that he loathes his life, even before his accident.

One of the refreshing things about the book is that the narrator never asks for forgiveness from the reader. He doesn't ask for understanding. He is unrelentingly self-interested for the beginning of the book and then interested only in Marianne Engel for the remainder. This, to me, was beautiful. It was a description of the healing moment for a soul in agony. The narrator, whose name we never learn, spends the beginning of his life hating himself and those around him. He doesn't feel anything, ever. It's only after he has lost everything that he valued and is stripped of the empty shell of his life that he begins to gain an understanding of beauty and compassion.

His growth is charming, including his involvement in the relationship of other characters. The author has done a wonderful job of creating two individuals, tied to one another: The Narrator and Marianne Engel. The remainder of the characters do indeed lack detail, with few exceptions (and the ones that are present are awkward enough to seem a heavy-handed redaction at the behest of an editor - thankfully, they are brief). The point is never that these people are supposed to be detailed. The point is that they are vignettes, stories of a love in another time and in another place.

The backstory of Marianne Engel and the Narrator are also beautiful and tragic. Both stories interweave in the fashion of an experienced storyteller. Normally I find the maintenance of stories in two timelines to be quite tedious. The efforts to reintegrate them is always awkward and predictable. In this case, however, Marianne Engel is a constant. And she is not merely telling a story of a different time and place. She is reminding her love who he is.

One final comment. The portrayal of the characters in this novel is what gives it its beauty. Some reviewers have mentioned that there is little conflict in the present story (although there is plenty in the vignettes and in the backstory). This is untrue. There is conflict between the Narrator and himself. In reality, there are really only two characters in this tale, and even Marianne Engel is secondary. The character that is of interest has no name - he is our narrator. The detailing of Marianne Engel is quite accurate for a person with a mental disorder (or a person who has lived 700 years on a divine mission), the detailing of the dog, the nurses, and the other characters is also spot on, the point is the main character. The point is that he has learned to love. The point is that he has learned to accept his heart, and to release it.

Within the last forty pages lie the most beautiful description of love that I have ever read. Also here is the most exquisite description of faith that I have ever experienced.

It is a tale of love. And of loss. And it should be read by anyone who has ever loved or ever lost. Or both. Rent it, buy it, steal it. Just read it. Then pass it to someone you love.

A

Harkius

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The crucible, August 10, 2008

By 

BrianB (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Gargoyle (Hardcover)

This is an amazing book. Rarely you come across a novel that opens up a whole new world. Davidson has earned my eternal gratitude. The writing is beautiful, the characters realistic, and the story kept me riveted. I began to care about the characters very quickly, and then I had to know what would happen to them. I love that in a novel.

One of the subplots concerns the lives and mystical writings of an obscure group of medieval Dominican nuns. That hardly seems like a spellbinding topic, but by page thirty I was searching the internet to find all I could about them. Davidson makes them come alive. The historical elements are accurate, as are some of the historical characters. There was no embellishing of the past here.

There is a gruesome crash at the beginning of the book, and a realistic medical description of burn treatments that may be too graphic for some readers. The main character begins as a very unlikeable character, and there is some description of his career as a pornographer. Nevertheless, the narrative does not descend into prurience.

The power of love suffuses this work, even though hate has its day. The protagonist must learn much about the cleansing power of penance. As he hears someone say to him in a dream, the world is nothing but a crucible. This is an amazing book.