Jack Faust [Paperback]

Of the several dozen people I've got to read this book, there has yet to be one who was dissapointed. Rewriting the classic Faustian story, Swanwick details the thinking and attitudes of medevile Europe saturated in dogma and superstition. Dr. Jack Faust, tired of the prevailing ignorance wishes he could usher in a new age of enlightment. He wish comes true, partly. And we see the consequences of modern technology in the hands of 16th century mankind. This book is truly worth buying, reading, owning, lending, and re-reading.

This book is very well written and quite fast paced. The storyline makes you want to read much faster, basically a man asks the devil for knowledge of everything in the universe and then has to watch how humanity use the knowledge to destroy the things around them. The ending wasn't as great as it could have been, hence the 4 crowns instead of 5 but I found this book to be quite enlightening to read.

If I were ever by a stroke of luck or good fortune to come into sufficient riches as to make it possible that I could stand on a street corner and give away books this would be one of the books I would be distributing. In truth I cant say that of many books but there are a few that truly deserve to be read by everyone, either because they were particularly entertaining or thought provoking, this book scores on both accounts.

Before considering the content and themes of the novel, I really need to say just how easy and enjoyable a read it is. Its the sort of book were the pace, style and characterisation are so brilliantly done that you could cancel dates or change evening plans in order to spend the time reading. The dialogue between the characters and characterisation itself is brilliant, the author uses multiple narrators which really helps and its clear that a lot of research and thought has gone into setting the scene, establishing context, historical reference etc.

Its hard to bring to life or do justice in a single review to just how amazing an eye the author has for humanity, good, bad or mad. The book is totally littered with excellent quotable observations, anecdotes and asides which I found myself noting down for instance when the author has Mephistopheles, the devil, say "What need I for lies? The truth is ugly enough to serve my purpose" or the observation that "sorrow, loss, anger - these were as good as a bottle of the very worst gin". Sometimes these really border upon great psychological insights paraphrased or rephrased into plain spoken exchanges, such as "The unconscious mind is a tricky thing, it wants what the conscious mind cannot admit to. A man who is obsessive about his wife's fidelity, for example, might actually be acting out his desire to see her proved unfaithful".

Themeatically it is a novelisation of the Faust myth or storyline as envisaged by Goethe, in which the insatiable desire of a scholar for greater knowledge drives him into a pact with the devil. However, Swanwick succeeds in ranging across a lot of topics, including revolution, innovation, intergenerational conflict, family obligation, love and the hearts desire. The character of Faust in some ways matures before the readers very eyes, only to remain trapped within his original script again, the humanity of the characters is played out to full effect. Faust reveals being enthralled by women, Mephistopheles proceeds to use this in the demons grand design to destroy humanity which they bitterly and jealously despise, but the micro tale of Faust's growth through disillusionment is a tale indeed, rousing the sentiments of the reader. There are other stories within the story too, Faust versus the plague, inventors dreams versus worldly reality, a tale of a sailor and the devil.

It is genre hopping in some ways perhaps but I consider it to fit most neatly into either horror or sci-fi/steam punk, there are least two episodes which I thought were harrowing and horrific, one involving the devil Mephistopheles and another Faust himself, in each there is a sharp depiction of terror and pain. I literally was loath to read ahead at these points in case my worst fears would be realised, the second episode featuring Faust himself, makes him responsible some pretty nasty psychological torment and torture. In this moment he truly is the Devil himself.

The book has none of the original religious or theological trappings of the concept or literary frame of a deal with the devil, in this respect it is a little like Matheson's I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) which so successfully reframed the vampire mythos. I commend this to you whole heartedly, entertaining, illuminating, thought provoking and even better the second time around.