Difficult to put out of my mind

Michelle Lovric has obviously put a huge effort into the research that she weaves into a carpet upon which the story can walk and play. This story is shocking, yet, in places, amusing. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that any reader would agree that the conclusions are satisfying.

This story is so cleverly written, and the publishers have helped the author to present a unique style. There are five, very different narrators. The author gives them their i More...

"This is going to get a little uncomfortable." Thanks for the warning.
The phrase morbid fascination really comes to mind after this book, I'm not going to do a synopsis as they're ten a penny here, but what I can say is this. The book is horrific, triumphant, at times slightly soul crushing,(poor poor Marcella!) humorous, and addictive.
The fabric of this book is beautifully woven, by pulling all the right strings Lovric gives an entwined and detailed pattern of characters, some of whom we love t More...

It's a brilliantly written and conceived book - a story told by the various protagonists, from their points of view, in their voices. And the story is a wonderful yarn of old-fashioned evil pitted against old-fashioned good, but in such a way that it never deteriorates into bombastics or sentimentalities. Evil is truly evil and good isn't too squeaky clean either.

From 18th century Venice to Arequipa in Peru the narrative takes us back to a time we can't quite imagine, and on the way we learn qu More...

Wow! Amazing, unique story, with strong, colourful characters that are extremely well-written. It's testament to the quality of the writing that I was able to read even the parts written by characters I didn't really take to - purely because I was still dying to know what was going to happen next.

I'm sure when it first came out it was meant to be 'shocking' and 'controversial' in its subject matter - but we've had the likes of Fifty Shades of Grey since then, and in that sense it's pretty tame c More...

When I first saw a book of human skin I trembled with glee.

The librarian had fetched the book and held it in delicate wrappings in front of me. ‘What is this book made of?’ she asked, a smile and a glint in her eye.

I couldn’t guess.

‘It is made of human skin.’

I don’t think she gleaned from me the desired effect. Instead of acting repulsed, shying away from the thing, I shared her smile and peered closer, reaching out a hand.

‘Please don’t touch.’ She said, pulling the book away into its embrace o More...

While I didn't hate this book I wasn't particularly enamoured of it either. The reviews on the front of the book made it out to be some sort of scandalous tale that pushes the boundaries of acceptable narrative with a dark humour. Was this book dark, yes ... ironically humorous ... not at all. I think the largest problem I had with this book is that I really couldn't find a character with whom to place my sympathies. Many of the characters (Minguillo and Sor Loreta) were downright deplorable and More...

The Book of Human Skin is a funny one. I find it hard to make up my mind as to whether I've just read something quite brilliant or another run of the mill romance novel that tries to be something it's not. I'm leaning towards the latter.
Telling the tale of a young girl's persecution by her evil brother through five narratives, this novel is not short of exciting plot twists and lurid detail that appeals to the voyeuristic nature inside us all; Lovric has an appealing and delectiable writing s More...

I find it difficult to decide whether I like this book. I find the characters of Minguillo and Sor Loreta i.e. the 'bad guys' wonderfully twisted, fascinating and interesting: they both go down roads of psychotic deterioration and get lost in their own delusional little worlds.
The good characters on the other hand, while starting out with their own personalities and quirks ended up all being rather bland, Marcella for example begins as this incredibly strong little figure of optimism and indep More...

Excellent. I really got into her books when I happened to pickup The Remedy. If youve ever wanted to travel in time read a Michelle Lovric book. You can see the grand canal and smell the streets of Venice and the corruption on the backstreets of London. True escapism. I emerged from the Remedy in a daze and thought "oh yeah im a wife and mother living in england!" I quickly longed to wander through venice again and picked up this book from my library. I loved it from the first page its the kind More...

Just started reading this yesterday. At the moment, I'm very excited about it. It's in epistolary/first person form, which can be distracting when having three or four main characters' voices...however, right now I'm loving it. Next update when I've finished it (soon, very soon).

UPDATE
Finished it. I was really happy to have author's notes at the end of the book, pointing out which characters were fictional or fictionalized, which ones were real, tidbits about the locations mentioned and some of More...

The Book Of Human Skin is an epic, sensationalist and gripping tale of sibling rivalry taken to the extreme. Born in 18th century Venice, Minguillo Fasan has already dispatched of his older sister by the time his younger sister, Marcella, is born. What follows is the account of his attempts to ruin her life and disinherit her; involving lunatic asylums, nunneries in Peru and much physical and emotional torture. Told by five different narrators, The Book of Human Skin spans continents and decades More...

I have to admit, that at first I was bit like, eh about this book. The back of it sounded interesting, but not all that at all. At first it was somewhat slow moving and rather disengaging in many senses. It just seemed to be dragging on and there seemed to be far too many characters to pay attention to. I think the beginning of the book was just a little too heavy with too much going on and that of course almost disengaged me from it. But none the less I persevered with the book adn continued to More...

It was ok. I really liked it in the beginning, to the point I didn't want to put it down. I go to about the halfway mark when it started to get a bit tedious, maybe a little bit boring. In the end I was genuinely relieved to have finally finished it.

Marcella was too perfect. I was supposed to be on her side but she was completely devoid of pretty much everything that makes a character interesting, so I didn't care too much. She's too innocent, so vulnerable and everyone loves her and thanks she' More...

An easy read with an ending I found unfortunate and almost too perfect. I'd have liked to have seen the story focus less on the petite blonde victimized noblewoman whom everyone inexplicably loves and more on characters like Josefa and Gillfeather - who were not given their own voice in the book.

The structure of the novel made it a pleasure to read, as each chapter was short and told from the perspective of a different character (Mingullio, Marcella, Sor Loretta, Dr. Santo and Gianni), so not m More...

This book is one of the "Summer Reads" of the TV Book Club.

I thought it was a very good book, though at first it was a little difficult to get into. There are five narators and each have thier own font and very special way of writing/speaking. At first this takes a little extra effort to understand but it's well worth that effort. The story is set in Napoleonic Times and mostly in Venice though other sections are played out in Peru. It is the story of a very nasty son of a noble family and his s More...

No, people, this is not a dermatology textbook! And three stars is a tough mark; it's probably 3.5 but since we can't do that, I've rounded down. The story is told by 5 different narrators, not for so long each time that you get carried away with one person's version of the story, and easy to work out because they all have different fonts and language styles.
The narrators range from a mad nun who scourges her skin(she's really really bad), a sadistic Venetian nobleman who collects skin(even wor More...

‘Hic Liber Cute Compactus Est’ (p. 143)

‘Why are we all doing our best to become angels? It is perhaps because we shall always have something shadowy in our consciences ...’ ( p. 459)

Books with the cover made of human skin, and behind this Gothic library there is Minguillo Fasan. Against this project of books of human skin there is an obstacle: Marcella, Minguillo’s sister.

The Book of Human Skin is narrated from five main characters’ points of view: Minguillo and his sister Marcella Fasan (a nob More...

I find it hard to decide if I liked this book or not. I loved the setting and felt Venice was well brought to life - clearly the result of a lot of research and hard work. Despite being a period setting, my pet peeve of bringing in cameos from well known people of the time was (mostly) avoided and the one that did occur was both believeable and in context - others could take note.
The characters are where I had issues. The 'bad' characters were amusing and darkly comedic - as such characters ofte More...

Surprised this has received some fairly bad reviews - it is one of the best books I have read in months. The story is gripping until the last chapter and the way the author has used different fonts/style of writing for each character is very clever. Regarding those reviews thinking Marcella was passive, she simply had to be - to try and keep alive and to keep those she cherished safe. She was brought up knowing her brother had the money, the power and the sheer desire to do what he wanted to do More...

It's very rare that I can articulate the specific reasons why I dislike/ refuse to put up with, a book. Usually it's down to some vague comment, such as 'I didn't like the author's writing style', but in this case I had genuine reasons! (Most of which seem to revolve around style and so could be expressed succinctly with 'I didn't like the style, but where's the fun in that?). Firstly, the main character, Minguillo, when speaking, employs a style which I can remember trying when younger, a techn More...

While not as gruesome as the title would have you believe, The Book of Human Skin is definitely a good read.

It starts off a little slow, and the constant changing of narrator (one per chapter, with each chapter being very short) meant that it took a little while to develop into a cohesive narrative. But when it got going it really did get going!

Minguillo is a detestable creature, Marcella is a little too good to be true, Gianni is utterly loveable, Santo is determined and strong, and Sor Loreta More...

On the whole, I enjoyed reading The Book of Human Skin. The characters were well developed, especially Mingiullo, who at times makes you wish you could punch him for all the cruel and hateful things he does. The book is written from the perspectives of five different people, and although this adds a layer intrigue to view the story unfold from different angles, i felt that it disrupted the flow of the book. Most of the chapters are around a page and a half to two pages long from one character's More...

Didn't get on with this book at all, give it one star as I didn't know how to take it off!

The cover attracted me firstly, yes i am one of those people, and this time for me i couldnt read it by the cover, as I found when i started reading this, that i just didnt enjoy it at all.

The various prose of the many charectors and the different fonts that were used to differentiate them, i found interesting, but was really disappointed, especially, as one of the first pages states, in tiny font, " this More...

This was a strangely compelling book set in 18thC Venice and Peru with a cast of bizarre characters including the central character, a sadist who sets out to destroy his sister and a fanatical nun, both of which are two of the most unpleasant characters I have ever come across in a novel. Repulsion is an emotion strongly aroused in the first part of the novel, but stuck with the pages turn fast and I admire the scholarly research that has gone into the book which is well documented by the author More...

Don't let the title put you off! The story of Minguillo's quest to destroy his sister Marcella, and anyone else who he dislikes, takes many twist & turns. The title being Minguillo's obesession with human skin-bound books.

A bookclub choice I probably would not have picked out from the title, I found it a good read. The first 40 -50 pages of scene setting/character intro was rather hard going, and the different sytles/fonts of the five narrators took a little getting used to. However with the More...

The Book of Human Skin

I have very mixed feelings about this book - my reaction to most books is usually a visceral 'I like it' or 'I HATE IT.' I didn’t dislike it, and I didn’t hate it. I immensely enjoyed the rich setting and background and found the writing exquisitely crafted. It drew me along, but I grew resentful of its length; I got tired of so much non-stop YUCKINESS; and I was annoyed by the multitude of narrators.

Despite the anti-hero Minguillo’s glib aside to the Reader on the last pag More...

This is my first encounter with Michelle Lovric’s writing and it certainly whetted my appetite for more of her books. Set in late 18th century Venice and Peru, the story is narrated by five main characters whose different “voices” are highlighted by the use of different fonts. It’s a rollercoaster, romp of a novel in which the focus is on the fate of the young Venetian aristocrat, Marcella Fasan and her quest for survival faced with an extremely jealous, older brother Minguillo who will will lea More...

Lovric isn't having much truck with the conventional tyranny of "likeable characters" over fiction. I mean, there's some, but she also expects you to spend a lot of time listening to some real horrors. The real horrors are quite entertaining, so it's all good. A good "what will happen next?" read. It did the "the past is a foreign country, and these characters do things differently there" thing better than the distant educational tour frequently found in historical novels. I thought some of the More...