The Gargoyle

Ok. So.

Here I went from Magical Whimsical Childhood Happy Fun Time Book to this.

The Gargoyle. 

BAH BAH BUM BUM!

First off, lets talk about the cover. It’s pretty radical. My edition, I’m, unclear as to whether there may be any other cover art of it, which I’m sure there is, but frankly I’m too lazy to look it up.

Ok fine, I looked it up.

Mine is the best… besides maybe the angel wing tattoo one, but anyway. MY cover has a faded gothic looking statue engraving thingy (eloquent, yes?) but what I love about it is that the book’s edges look as though they have been burned – the cover is doing that cool curly burned raveled page thing.

I really should think about my descriptions before I go writing them out.

When people say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, I usually roll my eyes. Yeah, it’s true… but hell, if a book cover is rad, you’d better be damn sure someone’s gonna grab it off the shelf before a drab, dull cover.

So, in a lot of ways this book kind of reminds me of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, I’m sure I’m the only one to try and make THAT connection, but oh well. I think it’s probably the story within a story aspect that made me think that. In T.B.A. the regular plot is frequently interrupted by the story within a story, not much unlike The Gargoyle. This book is intermittently intersected with stories of love, love lost, and sacrifice. It’s really quite a great technique that he uses, just like Atwood, to keep the reader involved in everything that is going on. 

This novel is about a guy, which we NEVER learn his name, who was once an attractive male Pornstar – successful but careless. His drug and alcohol problem ultimately lead to him getting in a car wreck and the majority of his entire body is mutilated and burned.

In the hospital burn unit he meets a woman who insists that 700 years ago they were lovers in medieval Germany.

Pornstar Guy, Burney Dude, “The Gargoyle”… Let’s make him a Porn Star Nickname… Richard "Dick" Danger. So, Dick Danger listens in his hospital bed as this lady tells him the story of their past together - and basically can’t decide if the broad is crazy of not. 

Interestingly enough, the reader has to try and figure that all out as a well.

There seems to have been a lot of research put into this, and as a reader I really appreciate it. The explicit descriptions of burn victim treatments, I mean, I’m not an overly queasy person, but Davidson did such a graphic job of describing certain aspects WHAM, right off the bat, that I was a little skin crawly. 

The protagonist is a great character. Great as in you just keep reading because you feel for the guy. You connect to him. You want to know where his story will eventually end up. He is funny and dark and heartbreaking. 

I read this book in basically a day and a half. It was one that, try as I might, I couldn’t put down. I didn’t WANT to put down. 

On to Reading!