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The Gargoyle
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The Gargoyle (2008) (edit title/settings)

by Andrew Davidson (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

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,... read more

Summary edit see section history

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... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

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.

Characters edit see section history

  • Marianne Engel: A feral-looking, beautiful sculptor suspected to be schizophrenic or manic depressive. Claims that she and the Narrator had been lovers in medieval Germany while she was a nun and he a mercenary.
  • The Narrator: Unnamed former pornography actor, writer and director who, while in a paranoid cocaine-induced high, drove his car off a ravine. Covered in devastating burns.
  • Connie, Maddie, & Beth: Nurses
  • Dr. Nan Edwards: Main Physician and Head of the Burn Ward
  • Gregor Hnatiuk: Psychiatrist
  • Sayuri Mizumoto: Physical Therapist
  • Heisaku: the farm boy Yakichi is in love with
  • Lance Whitmore: A former burn ward patient.
  • Agletrudis: Gertrude's apprentice amarius at Engelthal's scriptorium
  • Herwald: the original commander of the condotta
  • Kuonrat: a ruthless member of the condotta, who becomes the commander
  • Brother Heinrich: Priest living just outside of Engelthal. Served as confessor for the nuns there.
  • Graziana: Wife of Francesco
  • Jack Meredith: Marianne's Agent owns an art gallery where she sells Marianne's art
  • Yakichi: daughter of Sei, the Japanese glass blower
  • Brandeis: A mercenary archer from the same condotta as the narrator.
  • Bougatsa: Marianne's dog, named after a Greek pastry
  • Mother Christina Ebner: Mother Superior at Engelthal
  • Victoria D' Arbanville (aka Vicky Wennington): Woman from one of Marianne's stories.
  • Siguror: A gay viking from one of Marianne's stories of her past.
  • Sei: The Japanese glass-blower from one of Marianne's stories of her past.
  • Francesco: 14th century Italian metal-worker from one of Marianne's stories of her past.
  • Gertrud: The head amarius at Engelthal's scriptorium
Show all 23 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “You are mine, I am yours; you may be sure of this. You've been locked away inside my heart, the key has been thrown away; within it, you must always stay”
    Narrator
  • “I dislike most men as much as I dislike women. If anything, I am an equal opportunity misanthropist.”
    Narrator
  • “Skin is the dividing line between people, where you end and others begin. But in sex, all that changes. If skin is a fence that divides people, sex is the gate that opens your body to the other person.”
    Lance Whitmore
  • “It's not easy to look the way I do: in popular culture, one only sees a face like mine on the Phantom of the Opera, on Freddie Krueger from Elm Street, or on Leatherface from deep in the heart of Texas. Sure, a burn victim may "get the girl" - but usually only with a pickax.”
    Narrator
  • “Defeat itself is defeated by the embrace of defeat, and death is swallowed up in victory.”
  • “None are here by accident. Hell is a choice because salvation is available to anyone who seeks it. The damned choose their fates, by deliberately hardening their hearts.”
    Francesco
  • “And so we set off on our infernal quest. I was armed with a flaming arrow, a Buddhist robe tied around my waist, a Viking snowsuit, and an empty scabbard, and I had a fourteenth-century metalworker as my guide. I couldn't have been more prepared.”
    Narrator
  • “How do you dare to think you know my heart, when you don't even understand your own?”
    Siguror
  • “You are mine, I am yours: you may be sure of this. You've been locked inside my heart, the key has been thrown away; within it, you must always stay.”
  • “Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul.”
  • “I am not a hero in soul and never will be, but I am better than I was. Or so I tell myself; and for now, that is enough.”
    Narrator
  • “Love is an action you must repeat ceaselessly.”
    Narrator
  • “I am more than my scars.”
    Narrator
  • “It doesn’t matter how fast you move, I learned, if you never go anywhere.”
    Narrator
  • “"Almost impossible" is not the same as "impossible".”
  • “It's always easier to avoid the rules when they're encouraged by someone from above.”
  • “I spent my entire life waiting for you, Marianne, and I didn't even know it until you arrived. Being burned was the best thing that ever happened to me because it brought you. I wanted to die but you filled me with so much love that it overflowed and I couldn't help but love you back. It happened before I even knew it and now I can't imagine not loving you. You have said that it takes so much for me to believe anything, but I do believe. I believe in your love for me. I believe in my love for you. I believe that every remaining beat of my heart belongs to you, and I believe that when I finally leave this world, my last breath will carry your name. I believe that my final word - Marianne - will be all I need to know that my life was good and full and worthy, and I believe that our love will last forever.”
    Narrator
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Love is a delicate thing that needs to be cosseted and protected. Love is not robust and love is not unyielding. Love can crumble under a few harsh words, or be tossed away with a handful of careless actions. Love isn’t a steadfast dog at all; love is more like a pygmy mouse lemur.
    Highlighted by 77 Kindle customers
  • “All history is just one man trying to take something away from another man, and usually it doesn’t really belong to either of them.”
    Highlighted by 72 Kindle customers
  • “Any man who believes he can describe love,” I answered, “understands nothing about it.”
    Highlighted by 61 Kindle customers
  • Heaven is an idea constructed by man to help him cope with the fact that life on earth is both brutally short and, paradoxically, far too long.
    Highlighted by 60 Kindle customers
  • “You are mine, I am yours; you may be sure of this. You’ve been locked inside my heart, the key has been thrown away; within it, you must always stay.”
    Highlighted by 57 Kindle customers
  • As Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
    Highlighted by 53 Kindle customers
  • “None are here by accident. Hell is a choice because salvation is available to anyone who seeks it. The damned choose their fates, by deliberately hardening their hearts.”
    Highlighted by 47 Kindle customers
  • Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.
    Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers
  • Everyone’s past, I try to rationalize, is nothing more than the collection of memories they choose to remember.
    Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers
  • “Love is an action you must repeat ceaselessly.” In this moment, I was allowed to glance into the grand nothingness of her existence: she really would stand forever, awaiting Tom’s return.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
Show all 27 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Andrew Davidson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: USA
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-385-52494-0
Page Count: 480

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3604.A9457G37
  • Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

As a high school English teacher, I believe that the only thing that might be considered objectionable are the references to pornography. Still, having taught AP/IB English, and considering the level of maturity of the students I've had, I wouldn't let that keep me from recommending (or even teaching) the book to juniors or seniors. I believe the positive messages about love, sacrifice, and redemption far outweigh any negatives. This is an exceptional novel.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Harold and Maude
  • The Zookeeper's Wife

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history

   
  • The Inferno

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