Midday, 13th May, 1784: An earthquake in Peru tears up the white streets of Arequipa. As the dust settles, a young girl with fanaticism already branded on her face arrives at the devastated convent of Santa Catalina. At the same moment, oceans away in Venice, the infant Minguillo Fasan tears his way out of his mother's womb. The great Palazzo Espagnol, built on Peruvian silver and New World drugs, has an heir. Twelve years later, Venice is in Napoleon's sights and Minguillo, who has already contrived to lose one sibling, is listening to the birth-cries of his new sister Marcella, a delicate, soft-skinned threat to his inheritance. Meanwhile, at Santa Catalina, the scarred young girl has become Sor Loreta, whose craving for sainthood is taking a decidedly sinister turn. Minguillo's livid jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But Marcella Fasan is not quite the soft target Minguillo imagines. Aided by a loyal servant, an irascible portrait-painter, a young doctor obsessed with skin, a warhorse of a Scottish merchant and a cigar-smoking pornographer nun, Marcella pits her sense of humour, her clever pencil and her fierce heart against Minguillo's pitiless machinations. Her journey takes her from Napoleon's shamed Venice to the last picaresque days of colonial Peru - where the fanatical Sor Loreta has plans of her own for the young girl from Venice. Bewitching, daring, darkly humorous and alive with historical detail, "The Book of Human Skin" is a breathtaking story of unmitigated villainy, Holy Anorexia, quack medicine, murder, love and a very unusual form of bibliomania.
Book of Human Skin
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'This book is fabulous - funny, horrific, subversive - in short a wholly addictive read. I don't think I have enjoyed anything as much since Perfume' Joanne Harris 'If it doesn't scoop all the prizes, we live in an unjust world. It's an absolute corker ... It's years since I enjoyed a novel this much - or felt such strong envy of an author for having the breadth and richness of imagination to create such a world' A.N. Wilson 'This is, essentially, a love story told by a delightfully riotous collection of characters and voices ... Fantastically gripping' Marie Claire 'A witty, exciting, over-the-top page-turner which becomes increasingly addictive... Quite unlike anything else around - and all the better for that' Daily Mail
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 59 people found the following review helpful
By Jenny Wren
Format:Paperback
If you've never read a book by Michelle Lovric before, read this one. Read it first for the story, a heart-stopping journey of innocence and resilience struggling for survival against the kind of evil that makes Hannibal Lecter look cuddly. You'll need to keep putting it down to recover (especially when you get to the convent in Peru!) but you'll also have to keep picking it up again just to see what happens. I don't want to give away too much, but the ending is thoroughly satisfying and ultimately cleansing - and I would have wanted to strangle the author had it been any other way.
But I'd recommend reading it again anyway, just for the joy of the verbal pyrotechnics and the artistry that creates such evocative atmosphere. Lovric is already renowned for her powerful sense of place, but in this book personality breathes from the locations as tangibly as sweat oozes from the pores of the skin. Phantasmagoria worthy of Gormenghast but based firmly in a very real historical world, characters that speak in voices you'll hear in your head (and in your dreams afterwards), this book is a dazzling multi-media of a painting that combines the vision of 'The Old Curiosity Shop' (without the sentimentality of Little Nell) with the darkness of 'Justine'(without de Sade's salaciousness)and tosses the reader between light and dark, good and evil with the irritating effortlessness of a master.
This isn't a book for the emotionally squeamish, or anyone who doesn't enjoy digging below the skin of human experience. For anyone else it's simply unmissable. I will never forget it.
But I'd recommend reading it again anyway, just for the joy of the verbal pyrotechnics and the artistry that creates such evocative atmosphere. Lovric is already renowned for her powerful sense of place, but in this book personality breathes from the locations as tangibly as sweat oozes from the pores of the skin. Phantasmagoria worthy of Gormenghast but based firmly in a very real historical world, characters that speak in voices you'll hear in your head (and in your dreams afterwards), this book is a dazzling multi-media of a painting that combines the vision of 'The Old Curiosity Shop' (without the sentimentality of Little Nell) with the darkness of 'Justine'(without de Sade's salaciousness)and tosses the reader between light and dark, good and evil with the irritating effortlessness of a master.
This isn't a book for the emotionally squeamish, or anyone who doesn't enjoy digging below the skin of human experience. For anyone else it's simply unmissable. I will never forget it.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Mysay
Format:Paperback
This isn't a full review just my thoughts having just finished this book.
I really got into it and was enjoying it greatly. There were strong and interesting characters and the structure of the storytelling through a number of characters and short passages was a good device for making the book difficult to put down.
All was well until I guess about 2/3 of the way through when it seemed that the publisher or author had deccided that the book needed to be finished and it rushed to what I thought was a predictable and very implausible conclusion given the actions and characters developed so well in the rest of the book. Once I lost belief in the action it made me look back and question the rest of the book. Would character x really have done y, wouldn't they have done z? The disbelief I had suspended came to the fore.
The writer clearly loves research. The detail of a surgeon's life, or a nun's, or a woman's in Venice, really added to the enjoyment. Sometimes though it seemed a bit forced and things shoe-horned in. The characters, the wicked one, the surgeon and the faithful servant were well drawn, the heroine rather less so.
Perhaps the point it failed for me was when the romance came to the fore, or was it just when strong characters started to behave oddly, or rather random plot devices were thrown in - the lost will?
Anyway - worth a read but not a 4.
I really got into it and was enjoying it greatly. There were strong and interesting characters and the structure of the storytelling through a number of characters and short passages was a good device for making the book difficult to put down.
All was well until I guess about 2/3 of the way through when it seemed that the publisher or author had deccided that the book needed to be finished and it rushed to what I thought was a predictable and very implausible conclusion given the actions and characters developed so well in the rest of the book. Once I lost belief in the action it made me look back and question the rest of the book. Would character x really have done y, wouldn't they have done z? The disbelief I had suspended came to the fore.
The writer clearly loves research. The detail of a surgeon's life, or a nun's, or a woman's in Venice, really added to the enjoyment. Sometimes though it seemed a bit forced and things shoe-horned in. The characters, the wicked one, the surgeon and the faithful servant were well drawn, the heroine rather less so.
Perhaps the point it failed for me was when the romance came to the fore, or was it just when strong characters started to behave oddly, or rather random plot devices were thrown in - the lost will?
Anyway - worth a read but not a 4.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By E. Jones
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the first book that I have read by Michelle Lovric and I'm so glad I picked it up! Lovric's style of writing flows beautifully, and her language and descriptions are so vibrant and colourful - you are truly transported to Venice and Peru when you read it.
When you first start reading the book you are confronted with five characters introducing themselves in diary-style sections highlighted through changes in font. I was initially skeptical - other books I have read using this style have been jumbled and chaotic but Lovric mastered it! All of the characters had interesting sections and as much as I personally preferred those by Gianni and Sor Loreta there were none that dragged or failed to intrigue.
I did find the book uncomfortable, Minguillo's sections are truly sadistic and Sor Loreta's are positively frightful (to put it simply she is a beyond deranged nun) but at the same time they are strangely engrossing - I did have to put the book down in places to recover but I couldnt help but pick it up again five minutes later!
Cecilia Cornaro is a delightful character adding a dose of much needed wit - I only wish she was given her own voice in the story.
The only place I thought the book fell down was with Marcella's character. I didn't find her convincing and she didn't seem to portray the 'ferocious determination' outlined in the books blurb - throughout the story I wanted her to put up more of a fight. Realistically, I think anyone who has endured what she has would have shown more emotional development and a stronger resilience - I didnt find her wishing for Minguillo's survival after all of his tortures beliavable at all.
All in all it is a delightful read that will not fail to disgust and ensnare!
When you first start reading the book you are confronted with five characters introducing themselves in diary-style sections highlighted through changes in font. I was initially skeptical - other books I have read using this style have been jumbled and chaotic but Lovric mastered it! All of the characters had interesting sections and as much as I personally preferred those by Gianni and Sor Loreta there were none that dragged or failed to intrigue.
I did find the book uncomfortable, Minguillo's sections are truly sadistic and Sor Loreta's are positively frightful (to put it simply she is a beyond deranged nun) but at the same time they are strangely engrossing - I did have to put the book down in places to recover but I couldnt help but pick it up again five minutes later!
Cecilia Cornaro is a delightful character adding a dose of much needed wit - I only wish she was given her own voice in the story.
The only place I thought the book fell down was with Marcella's character. I didn't find her convincing and she didn't seem to portray the 'ferocious determination' outlined in the books blurb - throughout the story I wanted her to put up more of a fight. Realistically, I think anyone who has endured what she has would have shown more emotional development and a stronger resilience - I didnt find her wishing for Minguillo's survival after all of his tortures beliavable at all.
All in all it is a delightful read that will not fail to disgust and ensnare!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read
This was a book chosen by the book club I belong to. It's not the normal sort of book I like to read but I found it all very enjoyable. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Rachel Osnowska-Evans
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not My typicall sort of read.
I thought long and hard about giving this book the rating that I did, but felt that saying I hated it was going too far. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Arosfa
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reading!
This is a very interesting and unusual book, a very good plot, with the theme of skin running through it. It sounds creepy, but it is not at all. Read more
Published 17 days ago by LMH
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
This is still one of my favourite books and I still have it on my shelf! At first, it seemed hard to get into as there are many sections in the book from the point of view of the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Red
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb read
This book really draws you into the era and characters, you are rooting for the girl from the start, great read, great conclusion
Published 4 months ago by Caitlinhappymeal
5.0 out of 5 stars
unputdownable
At first I didn't think I was going to like this book with the fact it's written in first person narrative but using the voices of 5 very different characters. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Becstar
2.0 out of 5 stars
Negative Read
I read the first 90 pages of this novel and could find precious little to commend it. Vile behaviour of a least three of the protagonists - dismal Burkian view of human nature. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Bob S
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oooh... *shudder* Brilliant!
I don't usually much like historically set novels, but I'm glad I picked this book up as it was incredibly readable. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Lynn Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, intriguing, disgusting - superb!
Great story - well written with wonderful detail and masterful evocations of each person's daily life and innermost thoughts. Read more
Published 9 months ago by snowqueen01
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enthralling and engaing read
Finding and reading this book on a terrible holiday made it all worthwhile! The story is narrated by several characters which at first, is a little confusing but stick with it and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by CateMidds
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