“I actually put this book down twice, determined not to read anymore. But my curiosity got the better of me both times. And it was not appeased.
Andrew Davidson tried too hard, in my opinion. He strove for the great, sweeping tale that was heavily themed around Dante's Inferno. But he went too far.
As an avid reader, I've read many descriptions of gross and gory things - but the descriptions he wrote about the treatment of a burn victim were over the top and horrifying. Several times I had to take deep breaths and look away from the page, then move on skipping that section (sometimes with my hand over it to prevent from accidentally skimming it). The vivid details of life as a porn star were over the top as well.
All that aside, I understand why Davidson attempted to do what he did. He wanted to show us complete and total misery. A man sunk so far into the depths of Hell that his redemption would seem all the more powerful. However, his redemption felt empty to me by the time the book ended.
What was fascinating about the book, and the part that kept drawing me back, were the tales of narrator in his previous life, as told by Marianne Engle (Who's name was WAY too close to Madeleine L'Engle for me and I kept getting them confused, which makes for a whole other reason to dislike the story). These little mini-tales were fascinating and incredibly endearing - and the original story of the Narrators life was inspiring and heart-breaking all at once.
The modern tale of redemption was left lacking when compared to the other stories within the book, and in my opinion, if you were to start reading this book, I would merely skim the disgusting, horrifying modern tales and read the other stories taking place. They are the only reason this book got more than one star from me.”
Lydia P wrote this review Monday, November 2 2009.
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