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Andrew Davidson

The Gargoyle Hardcover – 4 Sept. 2008

by Andrew Davidson (Author)

1,018 ratings

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Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. The nameless and beautiful narrator of The Gargoyle is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned. His life is over - he is now a monster. But in fact it is only just beginning. One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and a scribe who nursed him back to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal. As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life - and, finally, to love.

Print length

480 pages
Language:

English
Publisher

Canongate Books Ltd
Publication date

4 Sept. 2008
Dimensions

16.2 x 3.9 x 24 cm
ISBN-10

1847671683
ISBN-13

978-1847671684
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Product details

Publisher : Canongate Books Ltd; Main edition (4 Sept. 2008)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 480 pages
ISBN-10 : 1847671683
ISBN-13 : 978-1847671684
Dimensions : 16.2 x 3.9 x 24 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 2,162,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 145,968 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 154,994 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews:
1,018 ratings

Product description

Review

'Davidson spins a world so expansive and magically realised that it is heart-rending to return to the real one.' -- Suzanne Black, The List

'It is serious and daft, quiet and exhuberant, a novel that makes you think and an exotic adventure.' -- Simon Baker, The Daily Telegraph

'Once launched into this intense tale of unconventional romance, few readers will want to put it down.' -- Publishers Weekly

'There's a palpable fizz to the prose.' -- Stuart Evers, Word Magazine

Compulsively readable . . . the pages almost turn themselves. -- Metro

Extraordinary . . . The Gargoyle has a big personality . . . An exotic adventure. -- Daily Telegraph

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

Reads like a thriller. -- Guardian

Very original and powerfully written -- Charles Palliser, author of THE QUINCUNX

Wildly imaginative . . . Bound to be an international bestseller. -- Observer

Review

'There's a palpable fizz to the prose.'

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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		12%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

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Amazon Customer

Beautiful and daunting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2017

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I first bought this when it was first released which is a long point time ago. Its not like anything I've read and I wanted to see if time and maturity had altered my opinion. The answers no. There's no other like out. Captivating, magical and intrigue. Its a story of love but of hope depending on how you view life. It has a sprinkling of magic when you know you've found something special. A rarity.

7 people found this helpful

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Shonaigh Mudie

Great Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 April 2013

Verified Purchase

This novel is the best book I have read in recent years. Just a fantastic, fantastic read and I really hope that Davidson pens another. Initially, I was quite uncertain of it from the blurb. But was so glad that I ignored my early misgivings. Incredibly well written, it is a book and story that just took my breath away. So many themes are explored in this novel from vanity, life lessons, mental illness, the medieval times, travel, history, love... endless really. The protagonist and narrator is a egotistical man, a porn star, selfish who has done very little good in his hollow, shallow life. His looks are ruined in an accident and upon leaving hospital he plans to commit suicide. Into his life steps, Marianne Engel, a sculptress of gargoyles. She has a mission to complete and will not settle til it is done. Engel is a schizophrenic, whom meets the narrator (he remains nameless throughout) in hospital. She is convinced that she knows him. She nurses and attempts to heal him, physically and emotionally. Engel's acquintance with him was as a lover, many, many years ago in Medieval Germany. She retells their story then, the travels they make across the globe, the depth of their love and sacrifices made. Her stories take you to Japan, England, Iceland and Italy. The question is, can a person as dark be cured and is he capable of loving someone beyond himself?

Found it quite difficut to put into words, a description that does this book justice and one which summarises all that it is about adequately. It is a deep book, with so many themes, stories and facets. Below is the opening line of the book, which in itself is more than enough to intice one to begin reading!

"Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love."

4 people found this helpful

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Bibliodysseus

Compulsive reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2013

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The novel opens with the narrator crashing his car which bursts into flames with horrific results, graphically described at a level of clinical detail that indicates both extensive research and morbid fascination. This continues in the description of the treatment and healing process of burn victims which sounds only marginally less painful than the original trauma but lasts a lot longer. Not for the overly squeamish.

In recovery the burn victim, curiously un-named throughout, reflects on his previous playboy life; contemplates the future as a hideous freak; and with cold-heart and cool head plans an elaborate and fool-proof suicide.

But while in hospital he is visited by the strange psychiatric patient Marianne Engel who insists they have history – ancient history as according to her they first met in 14th Century Germany. Then, as a nun, she nursed him back from a previous burning before quitting her order to go on the run with him to avoid him having to return to his mercenary troop. Having, in her apparently unsound mind, saved him once, she is determined to look after him in his current incarnation (or incineration).

Their developing current and former relationships, separated by 700 years, are related in parallel strands, the then by her and the now by him. The narrative is punctuated with four fables told by Marianne, each on the theme of love and sacrifice (which does not bode well); we also have a hallucinatory descent into hell as our burn victim goes cold turkey on his more-than-painkilling morphine habit.

It’s compulsive reading, even where extraneous detail bordering on the obsessive is included. The twin narration works well, with hers in particular breaking off at cliff-hanging moments that create tension and drama. Gradually the tone of the book shifts from horrific, through cathartic to tender, culminating in a moving, even poignant, ending. Around the tipping point it maybe loses a bit of momentum, but a little perseverance brings its due reward.

[See my weekly reviews each Friday on abibliodyssey.blogspot.com]

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Unusual but a great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2013

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"Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love."
An unusual and unconventional love story based on two people who knew each other in a past life. The Gargoyle is narrated by a former porn star and drug addict who, following a severe car accident, is left burnt beyond recognition. Whilst contemplating a creative suicide during a painful and morphine addled recovery, in walks Marrianne, a possible schizophrenic patient, who has an interesting tale about them loving each other in a past life. So follows his rehabilitation, under the care of Marianne, who is also a world renowned sculptor of grotesques.
I really loved this book. The narrator is such a flawed and cynical misanthropist who you end up begrudgingly loving and respecting. The book is full of wonderful imagery and metaphors that really strike a chord and leave you with a longing for more. The ending of the book is so beautifully tragic because when he finally learns to love someone for a beauty that is not skin deep, the only way he can prove it is by, in the end, doing nothing.
I cannot do this book justice by describing it here - it is a must read.

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