The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (ISBN:0385524943)

English (US)

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		The Gargoyle
	
				(311 reviews)			
(1798 Readers)

			Andrew Davidson		
	
An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time.On a burn ward, a man lies between living...more
 An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time.On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic sculptress on the lam from the psych ward upstairs, who insists that she knows him – that she has known him, in fact, for seven hundred years. She remembers vividly when they met, in another hospital ward at a convent in medieval Germany, when she was a nun and he was a wounded mercenary left to die. If he has forgotten this, he is not to worry: she will prove it to him.And so Marianne Engel begins to tell him their story, carving away his disbelief and slowly drawing him into the orbit and power of a word he'd never uttered: love.   less

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Reviewed from Advanced Review Copy Provided by Publisher The narrator of this extraordinary love story is a drug-addicted, suicidal, burn victim that discovers love after a horrible car accident. Marianne Engel a beautiful eccentric sculptress, unexpectedly walks into the hospital burn unit and tells the narrator that they were lovers in medieval times. Although he believes she is suffering from...more
 Reviewed from Advanced Review Copy Provided by Publisher The narrator of this extraordinary love story is a drug-addicted, suicidal, burn victim that discovers love after a horrible car accident. Marianne Engel a beautiful eccentric sculptress, unexpectedly walks into the hospital burn unit and tells the narrator that they were lovers in medieval times. Although he believes she is suffering from schizophrenia, he falls in love with her as she cares for him while he recuperates. The story moves a bit slow in the first couple of chapters because the author spends a lot of time graphically describing the injuries the narrator sustains, but then the writing changes into an intriguing story that is hard to put down. You become mesmerized as you try to figure out whether the characters share a love that has lasted centuries or whether Marianne is simply in need of a good psychiatrist. This is a good book to put on your reading list.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
With all the pre-publicity  this book got, it had big shoes to fill. Luckily it was good. I thought it was a very unusual premise (person gets burnt, and then visited by a person who thinks he was once burnt back in the 1300's). THe story first focuses on the treatment of burns - sounds gruesome, but the author makes in interesting - then starts to bring in all the 14th century stuff....more
 With all the pre-publicity  this book got, it had big shoes to fill. Luckily it was good. I thought it was a very unusual premise (person gets burnt, and then visited by a person who thinks he was once burnt back in the 1300's). THe story first focuses on the treatment of burns - sounds gruesome, but the author makes in interesting - then starts to bring in all the 14th century stuff. Strangely they work well together. Then we reach the third phase, where the patient is released and the sculptor (from the 14th century) reveals her motivations. Well written, unusual, good stuff.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Andrew Davidson has a love affair with words and images in this book - so just the read was a pleasure.  The novel, overall is engaging and keeps one reading, however, I found the end to be a disappointment.  Still, would gravitate towards any other novel Andrew Davidson.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
one of the best books I've read in years!

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Fascinating... There was a LOT of hype in the book world over this debut novel, so I admit that I was something of a skeptic.  Let me tell you, it deserved all of the hype.  Of all the books I have read, I can only think of a handful that actually brought me to tears.  The Gargoyle was one of them.  The book is about a man who is terribly disfigured in an automobile accident.  While he is...more
 Fascinating... There was a LOT of hype in the book world over this debut novel, so I admit that I was something of a skeptic.  Let me tell you, it deserved all of the hype.  Of all the books I have read, I can only think of a handful that actually brought me to tears.  The Gargoyle was one of them.  The book is about a man who is terribly disfigured in an automobile accident.  While he is recovering in the burn unit of a hospital, he is visited by a woman who claims that they were lovers 700 years before.  She is a sculptor of gargoyles, and more than a little quirky.  They fall in love, and along the way she tells him their story from 14th century Germany, along with several other moving tales of tragic love.  (I particularly liked Sei's story.)  This is a pretty long book, and I was torn between desperately wanting to know how it ended, and not wanting it to end at all.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Fantastic book. Weaves history into present day turmoil in an intricate manner. Will keep you riveted.

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							Jennivie
						
							few weeks ago						
Simply EPIC! The most horrifyingly amazing book I have ever read. I think this review I found sums it up nicely 
((Read this book. Read it. Just shut up and read it, already. Are you reading it? Why not? I told you to read it!

"But it's yucky!" you complain. "The narrator gets all burned and gross, and he's mean, and what's up with the crazy lady?" ))
Take my advice too. read this book. at least...more
 Simply EPIC! The most horrifyingly amazing book I have ever read. I think this review I found sums it up nicely 
((Read this book. Read it. Just shut up and read it, already. Are you reading it? Why not? I told you to read it!

"But it's yucky!" you complain. "The narrator gets all burned and gross, and he's mean, and what's up with the crazy lady?" ))
Take my advice too. read this book. at least try it.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
What a refreshing, captivating, and compelling book.  Very much enjoyed it and it's uniqueness!!

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Wonderful, wonderful book, which thoroughly deserves its rave reviews. But...and it's a big but...the opening chapters explain in graphic detail what happens when the narrator is involved in a car crash and receives horrific burns. Take a deep breath and persevere, because the story of his recovery and redemption are worth having your stomach turned. My favourite of this year's Richard...more
 Wonderful, wonderful book, which thoroughly deserves its rave reviews. But...and it's a big but...the opening chapters explain in graphic detail what happens when the narrator is involved in a car crash and receives horrific burns. Take a deep breath and persevere, because the story of his recovery and redemption are worth having your stomach turned. My favourite of this year's Richard & Judy Book Club reads (so far!).   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
A very fast read.  This book demands a couple rereads and brings up a lot of interesting subjects and areas of literature.  I know that this book has definitely made me curious about an array of subjects.  This quite possibly one of the darkest love stories that I have ever read and full of just as dark shorter love stories that piece together to make a whole. Never has love been portrayed as...more
 A very fast read.  This book demands a couple rereads and brings up a lot of interesting subjects and areas of literature.  I know that this book has definitely made me curious about an array of subjects.  This quite possibly one of the darkest love stories that I have ever read and full of just as dark shorter love stories that piece together to make a whole. Never has love been portrayed as such a beautifully miserable force, but at the same time never has love been portrayed with so much hope.  I like how the author leaves it up to you to decide what is real and what is the musings of a schizophrenic manic depressive.   hide

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