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The Leper's Companions: A Novel
In this fascinatingly imaginative novel, Julia Blackburn has decimated all the rules, creating a magical tale that is part fable, part allegory, part present, part past, and wholly genuine and poetic.
The unnamed protagonist has recently lost someone she loved, and her solution is to abandon the present, and the overwhelming pain. The seamless narrative lands her in a medieval seaside village where mermaids wash ashore, devils haunt in packs, a child is born with the head of a fish, and where one day, quite out of nowhere, there emerges a sage and wandering leper. The leper leads a small group of the villagers, including the protagonist, on a journey to Jerusalem, a harrowing pilgrimage that compels all the travelers to confront their deepest selves.
Exquisite and lyrical, The Lepers Companions is a heart-rending tale by one of our most fiercely original storytellers.
The unnamed protagonist has recently lost someone she loved, and her solution is to abandon the present, and the overwhelming pain. The seamless narrative lands her in a medieval seaside village where mermaids wash ashore, devils haunt in packs, a child is born with the head of a fish, and where one day, quite out of nowhere, there emerges a sage and wandering leper. The leper leads a small group of the villagers, including the protagonist, on a journey to Jerusalem, a harrowing pilgrimage that compels all the travelers to confront their deepest selves.
Exquisite and lyrical, The Lepers Companions is a heart-rending tale by one of our most fiercely original storytellers.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
6 people are currently reading
286 people want to read
About the author
Julia Blackburn
44 books68 followersJulia Blackburn is the author of several other works of nonfiction, including Charles Waterton and The Emperor’s Last Island, and of two novels, The Book of Color and The Leper’s Companions, both of which were short-listed for the Orange Prize. Her most recent book, Old Man Goya, was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Blackburn lives in England and Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 7, 2025
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"Is it possible that I can seem to remember my father's childhood as if it was something I had experienced myself, and could this process be allowed to move back through the generations as far as a person wished to take it?"
I had high hopes for this book, mainly because it teased a mermaid character, and I'd love to read more upmarket fiction with mermaids, but alas, she's barely in the story.
Nonetheless, The Leper's Companions reads like a patchwork fairy tale. It follows an unnamed narrator who’s lost someone she loves. In her grief, she creates a past in a fifteenth century village filled with unusual people. That includes a leper, a mad woman, a beached mermaid, a shaggy-haired man who lives in the forest, and a woman who eats a map to sate her longing for faraway lands.
Much like Blackburn's novel The Book of Color, the characters in this book are unnamed, so I found it difficult to feel invested in the story. Even so, there’s something drowsy and dreamlike about Blackburn’s writing style that I really admire.
"Is it possible that I can seem to remember my father's childhood as if it was something I had experienced myself, and could this process be allowed to move back through the generations as far as a person wished to take it?"
I had high hopes for this book, mainly because it teased a mermaid character, and I'd love to read more upmarket fiction with mermaids, but alas, she's barely in the story.
Nonetheless, The Leper's Companions reads like a patchwork fairy tale. It follows an unnamed narrator who’s lost someone she loves. In her grief, she creates a past in a fifteenth century village filled with unusual people. That includes a leper, a mad woman, a beached mermaid, a shaggy-haired man who lives in the forest, and a woman who eats a map to sate her longing for faraway lands.
Much like Blackburn's novel The Book of Color, the characters in this book are unnamed, so I found it difficult to feel invested in the story. Even so, there’s something drowsy and dreamlike about Blackburn’s writing style that I really admire.
March 21, 2021
'The Leper's Companions' is a dreamlike narrative rather akin to a prose poem. In it a woman retreats from sadness into the year 1410, following the lives of people in a Suffolk village. The writing is intensely atmospheric, combining the fantastical and mundane. At first it feels episodic, as each chapter seems largely concerned with a single household in the village. Then a group of villagers decide to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the woman follows them there. Death's proximity to life is a major theme. In this 15th century world, death can take both literal and figurative forms:
Although the narrative follows many different characters, the reader learns most about the leper's life. He recalls episodes from his past in Venice, when he contracted leprosy, and how he miraculously recovered. There is an ambiguity about his memories and, as in the rest of the novel, a constant search for meaning in arbitrary events. Time is elastic and the past very close:
Blackburn's writing is beguiling and quietly beautiful. The book ends suddenly and arbitrarily, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of what had come before.
But after three days of flickering on the edge, Catherine slept peacefully and when she woke she was fully recovered. The priest was very shocked by the mistake he had made. He explained to her that she was now, as it were, dead to the world because of the prayers he has said over her. She must never again wear shoes or eat meat or be intimate with a man. She laughed when he told her this and didn't seem at all upset.
The priest was eager to know if she had any experience of dying that she could share with him, since people were always asking him what they might expect.
Although the narrative follows many different characters, the reader learns most about the leper's life. He recalls episodes from his past in Venice, when he contracted leprosy, and how he miraculously recovered. There is an ambiguity about his memories and, as in the rest of the novel, a constant search for meaning in arbitrary events. Time is elastic and the past very close:
He was given a lighted candle to hole and then he was swept along shoulder to shoulder with all the others, moving in a daze from one sacred site to the next. He saw where Christ's naked foot had stepped on a slab of marble, leaving a print that was streaked with blood. Here a dead man had been brought to life, and here the crown of thorns had been put on. And here, and here; every bit of space thick with the knowledge of the things it had witnessed long ago.
He walked up the eighteen steps to the summit of Mount Calvary, pausing to look at Adam's skull trapped within a narrow crack of the rock. He put his hand in the socket inlaid with lead which had held the wood of the cross. The coldness and slipperiness of it shocked him; it was like touching an open wound.
A man was kneeling on the floor with the heavy wings of his cloak spread out around him. He was murmuring a prayer but at the same time the leper could hear a gentle tapping and chiselling noise emanating from the secrecy of the cloak, as he carved his initials or perhaps even the intricacy of a family crest into the white side of the rock. It was such an odd thought to want to leave a memory behind rather than take it with you, to presume that this place which had seen so much would now never forget a man with a hammer and chisel.
Blackburn's writing is beguiling and quietly beautiful. The book ends suddenly and arbitrarily, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of what had come before.
February 16, 2023
Shortly after I left the United States, I found a review for this book, possibly in the back of some paperback (in the days when publishers put recommendations for other titles available by mail-order instead of readers’ guides or interviews with the author) and I thought it sounded interesting. There’s a mermaid washing ashore in a medieval English port, and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem led by a leper. Of course, this was before everything became available by internet so my chances of finding it were slim and none, with “slim” being very skinny indeed. Then came the internet and I could download it!
What a disappointment! The mermaid makes a brief and none-too-fortuitous early appearance, a lot of townspeople with almost no names to identify them, only references to where they fit in – wife of the fisherman, for example – and more loose ends than you’d find in a bunch of toddlers with sagging diapers. (For example, an unexplained rape which seems to have no relation to the story or later consequences.) the book is poetic, I’ll give it that, and reads as a sort of cobbled-together fairy tale, like a Chaucer outtake, but to quote the little old lady in that old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?” The sparsely-populated pilgrimage to Jerusalem was short but better than the rest of the book, which doesn’t say much, in my opinion.
I see that in Good Reads, I wasn’t alone in my disillusion with this book although there were some who found it lyrical and beautiful. I can see their point but that’s the sizzle; I prefer the steak.
What a disappointment! The mermaid makes a brief and none-too-fortuitous early appearance, a lot of townspeople with almost no names to identify them, only references to where they fit in – wife of the fisherman, for example – and more loose ends than you’d find in a bunch of toddlers with sagging diapers. (For example, an unexplained rape which seems to have no relation to the story or later consequences.) the book is poetic, I’ll give it that, and reads as a sort of cobbled-together fairy tale, like a Chaucer outtake, but to quote the little old lady in that old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?” The sparsely-populated pilgrimage to Jerusalem was short but better than the rest of the book, which doesn’t say much, in my opinion.
I see that in Good Reads, I wasn’t alone in my disillusion with this book although there were some who found it lyrical and beautiful. I can see their point but that’s the sizzle; I prefer the steak.
January 25, 2016
For me, The Leper’s Companion by Julia Blackburn had two things going for it: It is short and the print is large. I read it because it was book of the month for my book group. Under no other circumstances would this book have entered my consciousness, although it was shortlisted for an Orange Booker Prize.
So, Julia Blackburn is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction born in 1948. Her father was a poet, Thomas Blackburn. and her mother an artist, Rosalie de Meric. Apparently Blackburn had a bohemian and troubled upbringing. She has written about that in her memoir The Three of Us.
The Leper’s Companion falls into the category of speculative fiction. It is set in the 15th century and starts in 1410 when a woman tries to escape her own sadness in a past time. She watches the lives of the inhabitants unfold around her in a village by the sea. However, this is a world of devils and miracles, a world in which there are no clear boundaries between reality and the power of the imagination.
A man discovers a mermaid washed up on the sand and this starts a chain of events that leads three of the villagers to accompany the leper on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The sad woman joins them and sets out without the certainty of ever coming home again.
The Leper’s Companion has some lovely descriptions in it and some of the phrasing shows Blackburn can write. However, this book is every bit as boring as it sounds. Save your time: read something else.
Valerie Penny
So, Julia Blackburn is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction born in 1948. Her father was a poet, Thomas Blackburn. and her mother an artist, Rosalie de Meric. Apparently Blackburn had a bohemian and troubled upbringing. She has written about that in her memoir The Three of Us.
The Leper’s Companion falls into the category of speculative fiction. It is set in the 15th century and starts in 1410 when a woman tries to escape her own sadness in a past time. She watches the lives of the inhabitants unfold around her in a village by the sea. However, this is a world of devils and miracles, a world in which there are no clear boundaries between reality and the power of the imagination.
A man discovers a mermaid washed up on the sand and this starts a chain of events that leads three of the villagers to accompany the leper on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The sad woman joins them and sets out without the certainty of ever coming home again.
The Leper’s Companion has some lovely descriptions in it and some of the phrasing shows Blackburn can write. However, this book is every bit as boring as it sounds. Save your time: read something else.
Valerie Penny
March 29, 2009
I was surprised by how much I liked the book. I was actually looking for something to rant about and when I read the cover, I thought, "This sounds way too surreal and out-there." When I skimmed through it, it only seemed to confirm it.
But when I actually sat down to read it, I found an odd, sad world that had interesting and well-developed characters, making the fantastic events centered around them seem much more realistic and down-to-earth than I would have thought. Even when a woman births a baby with a fish's head, her grief is very real even if the story is not. It was a very emotional book for me and did suck me in with the loneliness, sorrow, and growing strength to accept loss of all kinds.
The book is well-written and full of description that pulled me along for the journey. The sea was a terrifying, isolating presence for me, as well - unpredictable, illusive, and angry as more misery welled up from its tides. When they traveled to Jerusalem (and all the nitty-gritty descriptions) and fought the storm, I couldn't put the book down.
The woman (who experiences loss and makes up the story) had an interesting role as more of an observer than as a central character, which I found refreshing. Only in the end, when she is with the leper and then finally alone to travel on, it all came together and I thought that was terrific. I'm sure that a lot of the symbolism was lost on me, but I felt it.
The only thing I didn't like was the time-line could be confusing at times.
It's a tale of allegory mixed with vengeful mermaids, motherhood, devils and saints, death, lepers, and the sea.
"The priest taught her how to write her own name, and the name of the holy city of Jerusalem. When she put the two words together side by side she felt she had written the story of a long journey."
But when I actually sat down to read it, I found an odd, sad world that had interesting and well-developed characters, making the fantastic events centered around them seem much more realistic and down-to-earth than I would have thought. Even when a woman births a baby with a fish's head, her grief is very real even if the story is not. It was a very emotional book for me and did suck me in with the loneliness, sorrow, and growing strength to accept loss of all kinds.
The book is well-written and full of description that pulled me along for the journey. The sea was a terrifying, isolating presence for me, as well - unpredictable, illusive, and angry as more misery welled up from its tides. When they traveled to Jerusalem (and all the nitty-gritty descriptions) and fought the storm, I couldn't put the book down.
The woman (who experiences loss and makes up the story) had an interesting role as more of an observer than as a central character, which I found refreshing. Only in the end, when she is with the leper and then finally alone to travel on, it all came together and I thought that was terrific. I'm sure that a lot of the symbolism was lost on me, but I felt it.
The only thing I didn't like was the time-line could be confusing at times.
It's a tale of allegory mixed with vengeful mermaids, motherhood, devils and saints, death, lepers, and the sea.
"The priest taught her how to write her own name, and the name of the holy city of Jerusalem. When she put the two words together side by side she felt she had written the story of a long journey."
November 26, 2016
Reading "The Leper’s Companions" is like falling down the rabbit hole — I found myself immersed in a medieval land where myth merges seamlessly with reality and metaphors run rampant. One critic likened the novel to a Hieronymus Bosch painting and I struggle to find a better comparison; the magical and brutal world Julia Blackburn describes brought me back to art history class when I first laid eyes on the beautiful monstrosity that is "The Garden of Earthly Delights," Bosch’s famous triptych.
Blackburn’s tale describes the journey of an unnamed protagonist, the story’s narrator, who recently lost a loved one. Burdened by grief and immense pain, she retreats to a seaside village set in the 1400s filled with mythical and religious figures such as mermaids, saints, and devils. Everyone in this little town, which I envisioned in my head like an elaborate diorama, seems to be on a spiritual journey, and there is no shortage of heartache, disease, and death. The narrator’s escape to this wacky, often horrific, place is steeped in themes of abandonment, loss, healing, and memory. As a passive viewer, she works through her own pain by seeing it manifested over and over again in the villagers’ surreal situations.
I enjoyed Blackburn’s poetic approach but also found the book to be pretentious and rigid in its severity. There are hints of humour sprinkled here and there, like a baby born with a fish head and a convent in which all the nuns suddenly start meowing like cats, but the overall tone is deeply serious. I didn’t expect a novel about death and grief to have me rolling on the floor, but a few more instances of lightness could have lifted the heavy fog I felt when reading it. I do think Blackburn was successful in illustrating the pain, disorientation, and uncertainty caused by losing a loved one.
This book is for poetry lovers, fans of spiritual fantasies, and those interested in the middle ages — undoubtedly an unhygienic, gross period in history (the number of times the word “excrement” is used can attest to this). If you’re not a fan of overarching metaphors or other-worldly tales, this one’s not for you.
Blackburn’s tale describes the journey of an unnamed protagonist, the story’s narrator, who recently lost a loved one. Burdened by grief and immense pain, she retreats to a seaside village set in the 1400s filled with mythical and religious figures such as mermaids, saints, and devils. Everyone in this little town, which I envisioned in my head like an elaborate diorama, seems to be on a spiritual journey, and there is no shortage of heartache, disease, and death. The narrator’s escape to this wacky, often horrific, place is steeped in themes of abandonment, loss, healing, and memory. As a passive viewer, she works through her own pain by seeing it manifested over and over again in the villagers’ surreal situations.
I enjoyed Blackburn’s poetic approach but also found the book to be pretentious and rigid in its severity. There are hints of humour sprinkled here and there, like a baby born with a fish head and a convent in which all the nuns suddenly start meowing like cats, but the overall tone is deeply serious. I didn’t expect a novel about death and grief to have me rolling on the floor, but a few more instances of lightness could have lifted the heavy fog I felt when reading it. I do think Blackburn was successful in illustrating the pain, disorientation, and uncertainty caused by losing a loved one.
This book is for poetry lovers, fans of spiritual fantasies, and those interested in the middle ages — undoubtedly an unhygienic, gross period in history (the number of times the word “excrement” is used can attest to this). If you’re not a fan of overarching metaphors or other-worldly tales, this one’s not for you.
November 8, 2020
This is a novel of the interior. I read it at one sitting. Julia Blackburn is a 'local author' and so close. We begin in a place and time that continues to haunt us hereabouts, Dunwich before it was drowned perhaps or a village nearby that predates that certain event . A Pilgrimage, we travel by land and sea, in dreams and waking, clothed and naked. All the usual narrative ropes are gently broken and recycled. The only names are Aziz and Sally, everyone else is a Priest, a Leper (who recovers, spoiler alert) or a Shoemaker. You don't have to read this but you might as well, especially if , like me you have never been to Venice and cannot travel presently..
July 3, 2019
Prachtig poëtisch boekje. De verteller zit voortdurend op enig afstand van de personen die zij beschrijft, maar er toch dicht genoeg op om wat zij waarneemt voldoende diepgang te geven.
Zij is, zoals vaker bij Blackburn, een vrouw die een groot verlies heeft te verwerken. Zij 'belandt' in een dorp aan de Noordzeekust dat zij goed kent, maar dan in 1410 en voegt zich bij enkele bewoners die om verschillende redenen een pelgrimstocht naar het Heilige Land ondernemen.
Prachtig beschreven aan de hand van een boek waarin de route uiteen wordt gezet en de herinneringen van een vrouw die de routekaart uit dit boek heeft opgegeten.
Smetje: aardappels schillen (en telen) in het Engeland van 1410! Deze werden volgens alle bronnen rond 1536 in Europa (Spanje) geïntroduceerd.
Voor het verhaal, noch voor de schoonheid daarvan, maakt het verder iets uit.
Zij is, zoals vaker bij Blackburn, een vrouw die een groot verlies heeft te verwerken. Zij 'belandt' in een dorp aan de Noordzeekust dat zij goed kent, maar dan in 1410 en voegt zich bij enkele bewoners die om verschillende redenen een pelgrimstocht naar het Heilige Land ondernemen.
Prachtig beschreven aan de hand van een boek waarin de route uiteen wordt gezet en de herinneringen van een vrouw die de routekaart uit dit boek heeft opgegeten.
Smetje: aardappels schillen (en telen) in het Engeland van 1410! Deze werden volgens alle bronnen rond 1536 in Europa (Spanje) geïntroduceerd.
Voor het verhaal, noch voor de schoonheid daarvan, maakt het verder iets uit.
January 4, 2018
A woman who has lost someone close to her comes to terms with that loss by taking a metaphorical journey.
She imagines life in her fishing village in the early fifteenth century, people who might have lived in the houses and things they might have seen and done. A group of the villagers go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, led by the leper (or former leper, since he has been cured) of the title.
This is a nicely written book, with plenty of good descriptions, but the characters are quite thin and we do not find out what they are thinking. They are fictional even within the narrative of the novel, so this is not poor writing, but I would have lost interest in them if the book had been any longer.
She imagines life in her fishing village in the early fifteenth century, people who might have lived in the houses and things they might have seen and done. A group of the villagers go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, led by the leper (or former leper, since he has been cured) of the title.
This is a nicely written book, with plenty of good descriptions, but the characters are quite thin and we do not find out what they are thinking. They are fictional even within the narrative of the novel, so this is not poor writing, but I would have lost interest in them if the book had been any longer.
November 28, 2022
Although beautifully and dreamily written, this short novel felt too episodic in structure. I found myself wishing the author had broken each townsperson's story into short, connected vignettes. Had this been a book of short stories I could have given it four stars. It read like a disjointed fairy tale.
August 26, 2010
Picked this one up from the recommendations on bookmooch.
It was a vaguely interesting read but quite depressing. Quite a few suicides and deaths whilst on a religious pilgrimage.
Putting this back on bookmooch to find a new owner.
It was a vaguely interesting read but quite depressing. Quite a few suicides and deaths whilst on a religious pilgrimage.
Putting this back on bookmooch to find a new owner.
December 14, 2008
The narration starts off as She...then two pages it becomes the first person so the reader sinks right into the sand of this story. It shifts back and forth between first and third person narration. I think that the first person really bring the reader into this dream world. A woman has experienced a lost and she creates an imaginary world to escape from it. It is the imagination that heals her wounds.
Fantastical things happen right away. I read the dust jacket and was so intrigued. I expected to find out about what happen in the dust jacket description near the end of the book but it all happened so quickly and was revealed at the beginning of the book. Though nothing is revealed yet of the Leper.
So far there are plenty of symbols of water, birth, motherhood.
Fantastical things happen right away. I read the dust jacket and was so intrigued. I expected to find out about what happen in the dust jacket description near the end of the book but it all happened so quickly and was revealed at the beginning of the book. Though nothing is revealed yet of the Leper.
So far there are plenty of symbols of water, birth, motherhood.
March 3, 2019
Was struggling to get in to the storyline initially, it was beyond anything I have ever read before. I found the symbolism and detail hard to make sense of. Although I gradually found myself getting more in to the flow, and in the end found it intriguing.
December 9, 2008
An amazing slim book. A woman who is grieving a recent loss invents a world, a past she escapes to forget and also to find herself. It show the power of imagination to heal.
January 17, 2017
An interesting evocation of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
May 20, 2017
Bizarre and otherworldly trip into medieval England, told though a sort of dream-like imagining. Nicely put together, but a bit trippy.
March 29, 2025
The Leper's Companion is a work of speculative fiction set in the 15th century. It begins in 1410, when a woman attempts to escape her own sadness by traveling to a past time.
She observes the lives of the villagers unfold around her in a seaside village. However, this is a world of devils and miracles, where no apparent boundaries exist between reality and the power of imagination.
A man finds a mermaid washed up on the shore, which triggers a series of events that lead three villagers to accompany a leper on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The sorrowful woman decides to join them, embarking on the journey without knowing if she will ever return home.
For some reason, I lost track of the story. I am unsure if it was due to the meaning of the content or the direction I should take.
I believe Blackburn is an excellent and engaging writer who creates vivid scenes. However, this book is not for me.
She observes the lives of the villagers unfold around her in a seaside village. However, this is a world of devils and miracles, where no apparent boundaries exist between reality and the power of imagination.
A man finds a mermaid washed up on the shore, which triggers a series of events that lead three villagers to accompany a leper on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The sorrowful woman decides to join them, embarking on the journey without knowing if she will ever return home.
For some reason, I lost track of the story. I am unsure if it was due to the meaning of the content or the direction I should take.
I believe Blackburn is an excellent and engaging writer who creates vivid scenes. However, this book is not for me.
February 9, 2023
You know when you’re reading a book, and even though you aren’t even halfway through, you already know you will be reading it again because there will be more you can get out of it? This is definitely one of those. I will be rereading it, hopefully after I get through my current “round” of books, but here is my initial view of the book:
I’ll be honest. The lovely cover and the fact that the authors name was Julia, may have been strong reasons for me buying this book. However, after reading just the first page in the store, I was intrigued. I absolutely adored the writing style. So matter-of-fact and yet layered and meaningful. The style of writing was definitely my favorite aspect of this book. The characters were, too, very intriguing. I loved the diversity of characters presented from the get-go, and the way that each of their storylines resolved was very interesting to follow. Again, I definitely know that I only held a glimpse or, at best, explored the top layer of this story, and am looking forward to digging deeper in the future.
*There we’re some *scenes* but they were brief and stated bluntly, not graphic at all, so it was definitely not as bad as many books. But they were still there, so discretion is advised.
I’ll be honest. The lovely cover and the fact that the authors name was Julia, may have been strong reasons for me buying this book. However, after reading just the first page in the store, I was intrigued. I absolutely adored the writing style. So matter-of-fact and yet layered and meaningful. The style of writing was definitely my favorite aspect of this book. The characters were, too, very intriguing. I loved the diversity of characters presented from the get-go, and the way that each of their storylines resolved was very interesting to follow. Again, I definitely know that I only held a glimpse or, at best, explored the top layer of this story, and am looking forward to digging deeper in the future.
*There we’re some *scenes* but they were brief and stated bluntly, not graphic at all, so it was definitely not as bad as many books. But they were still there, so discretion is advised.
May 1, 2021
If you enjoyed One Hundred Years of Solitude this book will be right up your street. A strange story of time travel as an escape from grief. I loved the descriptions of time and place and felt the mystical blended so easily into the story, which seems so apt as in medieval times the mystical was part of every day life.
November 19, 2021
A hauntingly beautiful book. The prose, somehow spare and lush at the same time, moves along gracefully. The surreal quality of the narrative sometimes involves curious bumps but it pulled me along to the end. I didn't quite grasp the emotional core of the book till the last couple of pages...at which point I wanted to start over a reread it with that light.
September 15, 2025
A trompe-l'œil of a story: highly detailed, vivid, and incredibly flat. I can sense that there is supposed to be deep emotionality, but the delivery manages to be verbose and deadpan at the same time. Skimmed the last 40 pages when it refused to pull itself out of being a loosely strung garland of magical realist imagery. In this way it does succeed in being very dream-like.
November 16, 2021
If there were a "0" rating. That would be it.
April 3, 2022
Beyond me, I’m afraid. Liked the description of the journey to Jerusalem though.
March 8, 2017
Bah, yet another unsatisfactory foray into the realm of "literary" fiction.
1410. A relative lull in the Hundred Years' War, a temporary reprieve from the famines of the Little Ice Age and Black Death. Not a bad time period to choose for a woman who is hallucinating after suffering a loss. That's about as much as I can come up with.
Gone are the days when writers will actually tackle high-stake scenes, like the death of a loved one (e.g. the death scene of Levin's brother in Anna Karenina) or a first meeting (e.g. the opening scene of Bouvard and Pecuchet). Gone are the days when symbols are carefully curated (e.g. Independent People) or when dreams still have an impeccable logic (e.g. One Hundred Years of Solitude). Gone are the days when characters actually seem alive.
I don't dislike this book that much; I'm just ranting about the state of contemporary literature in general.
1410. A relative lull in the Hundred Years' War, a temporary reprieve from the famines of the Little Ice Age and Black Death. Not a bad time period to choose for a woman who is hallucinating after suffering a loss. That's about as much as I can come up with.
Gone are the days when writers will actually tackle high-stake scenes, like the death of a loved one (e.g. the death scene of Levin's brother in Anna Karenina) or a first meeting (e.g. the opening scene of Bouvard and Pecuchet). Gone are the days when symbols are carefully curated (e.g. Independent People) or when dreams still have an impeccable logic (e.g. One Hundred Years of Solitude). Gone are the days when characters actually seem alive.
I don't dislike this book that much; I'm just ranting about the state of contemporary literature in general.
January 13, 2012
3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 Stars. (GR really needs to allow half stars!)
Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Greek mythology. “The Canterbury Tales.” Echoes of each of these whisper through the pages of the mythopoeic “The Leper’s Companions.” A present-day woman, struggling with grief over a lost loved one, imagines herself into a medieval village. In the early chapters, she is an observer, watching the villagers as they struggle for daily survival against nature and each other. When some of the villagers - a leper, a priest, a shoemaker’s wife, and a widow - embark on a journey to Jerusalem, the woman joins them, though her role is still only the narrator and she never directly interacts with the characters. “The Leper’s Companions” is totally unique in styling, and the author has created an almost myth-like world filled with superstition, religion, and mortality. It wasn’t a book that I enjoyed to any great extent, but it certainly is a testimony to the author’s talent and creativity.
Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Greek mythology. “The Canterbury Tales.” Echoes of each of these whisper through the pages of the mythopoeic “The Leper’s Companions.” A present-day woman, struggling with grief over a lost loved one, imagines herself into a medieval village. In the early chapters, she is an observer, watching the villagers as they struggle for daily survival against nature and each other. When some of the villagers - a leper, a priest, a shoemaker’s wife, and a widow - embark on a journey to Jerusalem, the woman joins them, though her role is still only the narrator and she never directly interacts with the characters. “The Leper’s Companions” is totally unique in styling, and the author has created an almost myth-like world filled with superstition, religion, and mortality. It wasn’t a book that I enjoyed to any great extent, but it certainly is a testimony to the author’s talent and creativity.
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August 8, 2011this book was not very well written. she tried way too hard to make metaphors and they didnt always work.. it was interesting though i did have a good time reading it because there was so much weird things and i just never knew what she was going to make up next, i dotn think ill be reading this again or probably not even keeping it for that matter but i dotn think it was a waste of time. this was one of the strangest books ive ever read
August 12, 2009
An odd book. It's never clear who the first-person narrator is, but it's apparently a contemporary person imagining him/herself back into a medieval English coastal village that remembers the devastation of the Plague. It takes half the book just to introduce the cast of characters & their personal histories before they take off on the long, arduous pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
September 27, 2007
Concious an subconcious mix in a delightful way.
Those of you who dance will like the ambiguity and temporal quality of the book. It is full of truth, myth, mystery, and layers upon layers of meaning.
Those of you who dance will like the ambiguity and temporal quality of the book. It is full of truth, myth, mystery, and layers upon layers of meaning.
May 28, 2015
This is a very difficult book to categorize and shelve. At times I went from rating it a 3 star and at times rating it a 5 star, so settled on a 4. I do think it is one of those books that will keep climbing back into your brain at the oddest of moments especially when traveling.
September 24, 2008
This is a trip into an alternative reality. Blackburn has the ability to shift our senses and provide quiet surprises when we least expect them.
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