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Product Description

Review

"'Mixing romance, classic allusion and reality, Davidson's debut is a bravura performance.' **** Marie Claire"

Publishers Weekly

'Once launched into this intense tale of unconventional romance, few readers will want to put it down.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

202 Reviews

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(6)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (202 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

180 of 201 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gargoyle, 28 Jan 2009

By	Mr. J. C. Hull (Hereford, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gargoyle (Hardcover)

After the slight disappointment earlier this year from Nick Harkaway's debut novel The Gone-Away World, I was a little skeptical about reading another new writer because I often find too many flaws ridden throughout the pages. However, The Gargoyle is another case entirely. In fact, the book is so well told that I just can't find a single fault. It really is quite possibly the most "perfect" of books I've ever read - and I'm not one to lavish praise on just anything. It's so rare that I will read and not try to change sections for my own personal endeavor, but reading The Gargoyle was refreshing - a strange word to use perhaps considering Davidson's knack for graphic description, particularly on his delineation of how the human body burns. It was refreshing because it was original, and even now a week after reading I am finding it hard to start another book because I am still emotionally involved with The Gargoyle. Our nameless narrator happens upon a vision while being high on drugs and booze where a swarm of burning arrows are heading towards his car as he drives along the cliff edge. He crashes down the gauge and eventually catches fire, leaving him a monster but alive albeit in the care of the burn ward at the hospital.

The story entails the once beautiful man during his hospital rehabilitation after the incredible survival of the burning wreck. Along the way he meets Marianne Engel - a woman who he initially believes to have come from the psychiatric ward. She is a carver of Gargoyles, tattooed, eccentric and scraggy and she comes to visit regularly telling him stories of long ago, from ancient Japan to medieval Germany, Italy and the vikings of Iceland. She also claims that the two of them were lovers in the 1300s - her being a nun at Engalthal Monastery and him a warrior wounded from battle (no wonder he thought she was crazy). As our narrator is brought back to life by his newly found friends at the hospital he is also brought to love and so his story goes much deeper than the tales he "believes" to have been weaved.

I've tried not to give too much away, so that you can read it for yourself because you really must. A truly remarkable piece of work; ambitious and taunting, yet so beautifully told. If you don't believe in love now you will after this, and you might even get the urge to buy a gargoyle... though I doubt it. A modern masterpiece.

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58 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A strong debut, 23 Oct 2008

By	R. E. Quinn (Great Britian) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gargoyle (Hardcover)

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This was a well written debut novel from a talented writer.

The interesting device of never revealing the identity of the narrator is a quirky plot point.

The Gargoyle of the title is the narrator, a handsome young man who while driving stoned and drunk one night crashes his car into a ravine and is burned in the resulting fire. He finally awakens in a burns unit to find his body has been ravaged by the flames and he has entered his own version of hell. It is during this period that he meets Marianne Engel, a renowned sculptor who stuns him by suddenly annoucing they were lovers seven hundred years ago in Germany and she has been searching for him since then.

The narrator is sure that Marianne is delusional and the fact that at their first meeting she is actually a patient in the physicatric ward does support that but after her release she continues to visit him and their relationship grows.

It is during these time that she begins to tell him the story of their first meeting and also occasionally seems to throw in seemingly random other stories as well. Even after his release from the unit when he goes to live with her the stories continue until finally they all come together and they both complete the journeys they have been on him to self redemption and her to final peace.

The author has chosen a large subject to tackle for his first novel, the question of what is love and how it endures and what one is prepared to do for it, mixed in with self realization and redemption, can one persons love be so strong as to drive them on through endless lifetimes for seven hundred years searhing for the one they lost?

Was this the best book I have ever read? Well no. Will it change my life for having read it? Again no. Is it a well written absorbing read with well drawn characters? Yes. Would I recommend it? A definite yes.

The measure of an author for me is whether they have engaged me enough to want to read other work by them and I can say that Andrew Davidson has done that with the Gargoyle.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An emotional rollercoaster, 24 Sep 2009

By	D. Murdoch - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a great book with such varying styles. From the horror of the car crash and the injuries to the historical romances all neatly intertwined. As I read it the images in my mind were almost like watching a film. Sometimes I had to squirm with horror and read the words with half closed eyes and at other times I had a lump in my throat while reading some of the romantic story lines. I felt emotionally drained and satisfied when I eventually put it down.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gargoyle
This book takes a little while to get into, but proves to be a fascinating ,haunting tale that stays with you. Readers of historical fiction will particularly enjoy this.

Published 9 days ago by Mrs. A. M. Daniels

3.0 out of 5 stars The Gargoyle - It starts off so well
After reading lots of reviews I was excited to really get into this book, and I did. The story was interesting and I enjoyed the pace and descriptions throughout. Read more

Published 9 days ago by A. Bland

4.0 out of 5 stars If it had said "True Story" at the start of this novel- I would believe it.
When I first got this book I started reading it immediately but I was a little dissapointed. The start of it just seemed to drag on-especially when it started backflashing to his... Read more

Published 11 days ago by R Lindsay

5.0 out of 5 stars Jawdroppingly fantastic
'Jawdroppingly fantastic' is not something i often say about a book but my god...if i could give 100 stars i would, i read it on holiday while we were driving through France to... Read more

Published 16 days ago by Ms. Susan Martin-daly

5.0 out of 5 stars Strangely fascinating.
An amazing first novel from Andrew Davidson, his descriptive writing is incredibly realistic and the opening scenes of the novel, where the protagonist survives (if you can call... Read more

Published 21 days ago by LindyLouMac

3.0 out of 5 stars Uncertain
I like the fact that this book is different, or the plot is. What I do find a little too laborious is the need for the author to go into great historical or informative detail... Read more

Published 23 days ago by kaz

2.0 out of 5 stars Mills and Boon for literate readers.
Am I missing something here? Andrew Davidson has somehow produced one of the most overrated novels of the year. Read more

Published 23 days ago by frisk-e-dog

5.0 out of 5 stars My mother made me read this and I'm glad I did
My mother made me read this book and that in itself made me very dubious as our tasts in fiction are very different so I was expecting not to enjoy this at all. Read more

Published 1 month ago by K. Gale

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gargoyle is amazing
This book was bought for me as a birthday present, I am now buying copies for everyone I know. A truely unusual book that will not be pigeon holed! Read more

Published 1 month ago by Mrs. J. K. Jacobs-roth

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
I have to say this is my first review for Amazon and I couldn't have picked a better tale to review.
This book completely blew me away. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Black and Yellow

› See all 202 customer reviews...

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The Gargoyle (Paperback)