- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Sceptre; First Hodder Edition edition (20 Feb 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340682078
- ISBN-13: 978-0340682074
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 340,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Ingenious Pain
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
At the heart of Andrew Miller's first novel, Ingenious Pain lies the question "What does the world need most--a good, ordinary man, or one who is outstanding, albeit with a heart of ice?" The outstanding man in question is James Dyer, an English freak of nature who, since his birth during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, has been impervious to physical pain. Not only does he feel no pain, but he also recovers from all injuries in record time. By turns a foil for a quack doctor at county fairs and an object of study by a wealthy collector of human oddities, the protagonist, James Dyer, eventually becomes a surgeon. As such he gains exposure to a panoply of 18th-century philosophical thought, medical practice, historic events and larger-than-life rogues and heroes, both fictional and real.
As a surgeon, James Dyer excels, and his inability to feel--whether physical pain himself or empathy for others--seems only to enhance his skill with a knife. James slices and dices and cures without a scintilla of compassion while his reputation grows, until at last he arrives in Russia and the mystery of his unusual quality is resolved. Miller navigates his complicated story and exotic locales with unswerving confidence, bolstered no doubt by thorough research. James Dyer is not a character who invites love, but his adventures make for intelligent, deeply pleasurable reading. --Alex Freeman
Amazon.co.uk Review
"What does the world need most--a good, ordinary man, or one who is outstanding, albeit with a heart of ice?" This is the question at the heart of Andrew Miller's first novel, Ingenious Pain, a book set during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. The outstanding man in question is James Dyer, an English freak of nature who, since birth, has been impervious to physical pain. Not only does he feel no pain, but he recovers from all injuries in record time. By turns a shill for a quack pain- reliever at county fairs, an object of study by a wealthy collector of human oddities, and, eventually, a surgeon, James Dyer--and through him the reader--gains exposure to a panoply of 18th-century philosophical thought, medical practice, historic events, and larger-than-life rogues and heroes, both fictional and real.
As a surgeon, James Dyer excels, and his inability to feel--whether physical pain himself or empathy for others--seems only to enhance his skill with a knife. James slices and dices and cures without a scintilla of compassion while his reputation grows, until at last he arrives in Russia and the mystery of his unusual quality is resolved. Miller navigates his complicated story and exotic locales with unswerving confidence, bolstered, no doubt, by thorough research. James Dyer is not a character who invites love, but his adventures make for intelligent, deeply pleasurable reading. --Amazon.com --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
On a hot, cloud-hemmed afternoon in August, three men cross a stable yard near the village of Cow in Devon. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
On a hot, cloud-hemmed afternoon in August, three men cross a stable yard near the village of Cow in Devon. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This first time author so skilled and so committed to his subject that he has been able to reject all the conventions of novel writing and still get his surprising book published--receiving rave reviews on two continents in the process!
Miller sets the book in the eighteenth century and begins with a graphic autopsy of the main character. Here he recreates the philosophical and scientific attitudes of the period, attitudes which are alien to our own, and which he will explore as a subtext throughout the book. He summarizes the life of the main character--which he spends the rest of the book recounting--in the first chapter, eliminating any climactic excitement he might have created. His main character is a man with the inability to feel pain, someone with whom the reader cannot possibly identify, and his adventures are weirdly melodramatic, so unusual the reader's interest lies primarily in their curiosity.
Yet the book "works," and very often thrills. Somehow he does manage to make the reader care about James Dyer and his fate, and he does create excitement in a plot which skips from small town England to the court of Russia. Miller's masterful and controlled use of description is a primary factor in his ability to further the action of this unusual story and bring the characters and the period alive. This reader was awestruck by Miller's creative daring--and by his success. Mary Whipple
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book. Every detail was fresh with insight into the human condition. Suffering (both physical and mental), love, ambition, death - all were addressed with freshness, warmth and compassion. Even now, eight months after reading the book, I feel as if I have a film of the book's events running through my thoughts. Every detail had meaning. Every plot turn was the natural result of the character's personalities, flaws and desires. Nothing felt contrived. Amazing.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was an absolute page turner for me. A friend reflects back over the strange life of a man from early age to adult surgeon. The man in question, after several adventures becomes one of the most sought after surgeons in the whole of europe, only one thing...he cannot feel any emotions or physical pain. And this of course creates problems. Towards the end of the book there is a great climax of events and then ends as it began. (Nice closure!) Set circa 17-18th century ? (sorry dates were never my forte) when a good bleeding was a cure for what ails you and much experimentation was going on . The scenes are graphic, incredibly beautiful, sometimes mystical.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Intriguing theme
After reading 'Pure' by Andrew Miller I decided to read more of his books and found the theme of 'Ingenious Pain' intriguing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Amy Page
If you liked Perfume ...
... you will love this. Beautifully written, it's an engrossing tale. The ending jarred a little with me though
Published on 25 May 2010 by liveenl
Why isn't this novel better known?
This is a book that I'm puzzled isn't more well-known. It seems to have garnered good reviews when it first came out in the late nineties, but I'd never heard of it before. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by L. R. Richardson
As beautiful as a stark winter landscape
This was the first Andrew Miller book I read and although I've enjoyed all his others they all pale in comparison. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2008 by Ms. A. Aspin
Fascinating account of a man born a stranger to pain
This story didn't snare me from page one. It took some pages before the narrative seemed to come suddenly into a beauty all its own and captivate me. Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2008 by WobblyWellies
A Beautiful Book
I loved this book. It reminded me very much of Rose Tremain's Restoration in feel and genre. It is a fascinating study of a man out of his time who is both an alien and an... Read more
Published on 22 May 2008 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
A rare treat
A doctor that is uncapable of feeling physical pain, now there's an original starting point for a novel! Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2006 by Didier
Intricate but rather dull
I'm afraid this didn't really speak to me at all. I'm sure it's all very worthy, but I didn't find any of the characters interesting, and the prose is so dense it seems to stop you... Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2004
Recommended
I read this only after it was recommended in a guide to historical fact and fiction. I was hooked from the first chapter which describes the grotesque autopsy of James Dyer, a man... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2003 by "laura16571"
Brilliant
This is one of the best literary novels I have read in years. The prose is beautifully crafted, but (unlike many literary novels) the plot is also fast-moving and intriguing. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2000
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