38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You are the agent of the Devil himself.", May 9, 2007
The year is 1718. Blinded by the excessive passion of first love, Eliza Tally finds herself pregnant at sixteen, her titled young seducer willing to pay to have the fallen girl placed in service to an apothecary in London. A calculating mother cosigns the bargain and Eliza is whisked to the domicile of her employer, Mr. Black, who hides his face under a black veil and performs questionable research to gain the attention of the London Royal Society. This is a desolate place, consisting of Grayson Black's office, the apothecary shop and the living quarters, ruthlessly attended by the severe Mrs. Black and an apothecary's assistant, Edgar Pettigrew. The only other resident is the mentally and physically defective servant, Mary. The nature of Black's experiments cloaked in secrecy, an oppressive gloom pervades every day of Eliza's service, the girl increasingly burdened by the hopelessness of her predicament.
For all his detachment, like some otherworldly Jekyll and Hyde, Black's intentions are unquestionably evil. The house is dark, shadowed, Eliza performing her chores as the baby grows within her, her fears exacerbated in this monstrous place, her only companion the dim-witted, disfigured Mary. Yet Mary is strangely kind, with her clumsy attempts to communicate. There is something unhealthy in this home, the sense of menace growing with the child in her belly. Trapped in a web of confusion, Eliza casts about for a means of escape, her natural instinct to survive her circumstances. As her original antipathy toward Mary morphs slowly into a grudging affection, Eliza realizes that there are more dangers afoot in Black's household, her innate intelligence whispering in her ear, "run".
What are Mr. Black's intentions? What will happen when her baby is born? And how can Eliza escape the grasping aggression of Edgar Pettigrew?
Murky and atmospheric, Clark's London is dingy, dirty and filled with the contradictions of class and circumstance, the future as obscure as the so-called scientific treatise Black pens to rationalize his experiments. There is little cause for hope in Eliza's dank corner of London, save the notice of a French bookseller who offers the promise of a better future. Clark's powerful novel reeks with indefinable menace, the two women victims of conditions they struggle to define, imagination fueled by fear. Black personifies the ultimate victimizer, the unfettered ego of a man fascinated by the very qualities of the women who so baffle him, ascribing his own twisted lusts to what he fails to comprehend, but manipulates for profit. Monsters come in many guises. To scientific pretenders like Black, the marrying of those of low class to his research may bear the promise of a reputation before others of his ilk. To those who endure such overweening pride and unconscionable cruelty, he is the monster. In this acute study of human nature, pride and greed, Clark once again mines the underbelly of London for her treasure: innocence, men and monsters. Luan Gaines/2007.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I hate to judge my content alone but this book disturbed me so much I can't say I enjoyed it at all, June 18, 2008
This review is from: The Nature of Monsters (Paperback)
This book is without a doubt one of the most disturbing and horrifying things I have ever read. I don't mean in style or plot, but in subject matter and character. If you can't stand reading about evil beyond belief and the conceit of a man that believes himself allowed to do anything to further his glory, then stay away from this book. It gave me nightmares for weeks and I needed a month long break in the middle to allow me to finish it.
This is the story of Eliza, who is being paid by the wealthy parents of her unborn child's father to disappear to London to work as maid in an apothecary's household. But Eliza has no idea of the true nature of the mysteriously veiled Dr. Black's work, or the effect he is hoping it will have on her unborn child. But when the Eliza experiment fails and the master goes after Mary, the half witted maidservant next, Eliza knows they must escape and save the child now growing in Mary's belly.
The writing in this book is really very good and Eliza is a very well written character but (though I hate to judge a book on content alone) there are parts of this novel I wish I could erase from my mind. It's not horror novel horrifying, but more what man is capable of horrifying. In spite of the ending, reading this book was a trial for me and I can't say I recommend it (unless you are much less prone to fictional tragedy than me.)
Two stars
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Monsters come in many forms .., June 20, 2007
Ms Clark did such a great job of depicting monsters and monstrous behaviour in this novel that it took me while to find redeeming qualities in any character. Except, of course, for Mary.
Set in early 18th century London, this novel focusses on aspects of life that are really confronting and uncomfortable. In many ways, this is an Hogarthian London - perhaps just around the corner from Gin Lane. It won't appeal to everyone but it should appeal to those who enjoyed Ms Clark's first novel 'The Great Stink'.
We meet both the best and worst of humanity in these pages but underpinning it all is the depiction of London herself.
Highly recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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