<![CDATA[The Gargoyle]]>

false <![CDATA[The Gargoyle]]> 2595138 28 An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he 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 suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul. A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished. Already an international literary sensation, the Gargoyle is an Inferno for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible. 3149511 book 5 8 2008 The Gargoyle total:3669|5:1326|4:1303|3:689|2:246|1:105| 3669 14506 7093 1295 2 48 false false Wed Dec 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jun 20 16:54:56 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 10 14:51:03 -0800 2008
It's easy to take the low road whenever a subpar book with tremendous hype comes out, to c...more...]]> 5 19 false false Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 13:36:26 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 20:50:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 17 false false Wed Jun 18 06:28:10 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 17:01:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 17 false false Sat Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 08:27:34 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 16:16:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 10 false false Tue Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 14:30:11 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 19:14:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 10 false false Sat Dec 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 27 06:23:31 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 03 15:33:11 -0800 2009 1
A short way into the story, the narrator’s mom dies, his grandmother dies, he gets severely burned in a car accident, and his aunt and uncle die. I felt beat over the head with all the su...more...]]> 5 8 false false Sat Aug 09 22:41:04 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 11:24:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 9 false false Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 05:14:33 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 08:02:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 6 false false Sat Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 14:30:55 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 04:15:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 8 false false Thu Oct 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 04:28:31 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 03 16:08:34 -0700 2008
What I loved most about the Gargoyle is that it is so hard to categorise. It is a love story, an adventure story, a supernatural thriller, a horror...more...]]> 5 7 false false Wed Oct 08 05:21:56 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 11:53:26 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 05:21:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 5 false false Sun Oct 19 14:23:01 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 14:58:50 -0700 2008
Things I loved about this book: the writing! the imagery! the story! the plotline! the fact that everytime someone asked me what I was reading about I could say a porn star!

But mostly it was the writing. Finally, a male author who can show, not tel...more...]]> 5 5 false false Mon Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 06:35:28 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 08:06:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 5 false false Sat Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 05:39:23 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 05:53:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 5 false false Tue Mar 11 20:42:49 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 20:42:49 -0700 2008
The first line got me...Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love. At that moment, I was pulled off the cliff along with the happless narrator...feeling the explosion and the flames...more...]]> 5 4 false false Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 12 18:42:09 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 29 08:27:51 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 4 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 21:08:47 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 16 11:31:43 -0800 2008
From the book:
"Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love."

"...more...]]> 4 4 false false Fri Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 17 19:44:35 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 18:52:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 5 false false Sun Nov 09 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Sep 17 09:29:46 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 12 06:51:19 -0800 2008
The writing was great. I enjoyed the writer's ability to construct different worlds, bu...more...]]> 1 6 false false Tue Sep 02 10:46:21 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 11:09:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3118185