The Gargoyle Book Review

There is a quote I adore:

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

- Dorothy Parker

Based on the reviews I have read, some people have applied Dorothy Parker's quote to Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle (not all people - most can't put it down). To anyone who has read this book half-way and stopped, I implore you: take a break from it for a while if you need, but come back to it and carry on to the end.

The Gargoyle is the story of a man who survives a car accident but does not emerge the same person - physically or mentally. Left in a hospital with no family, friends (or funds), he is taciturn and miserable to everyone around him. One day, Marianne Engel, a psych patient in the same hospital pays him a visit, claiming to have known him in past lives.

Marianne Engel tells him stories of the past - all love story variants - including the story of when the two of them had known one another. I found myself looking forward to them as well, for Davidson's writing is quite strong and if a character feels pain, the reader will feel it. My favorite - the story of the glass blower.

While reading this novel, I know I commented a few times that I wasn't even sure what was going on all the time and wondered why Marianne Engel's stories were better than the man's. Why didn't Andrew Davidson just write a book for each of the stories and leave out the man's? I warn you - the man's misery is quite upsetting (there are a lot of references AND parallels to Dante's inferno). Why do they always refer to Marianne Engel by her first and last names when the narrator has no name? You will probably have similar questions.

But Keep Reading.

Everything slowly begins to weave together, culminating into what was simultaneously the most beautiful final chapter and final paragraph I have ever read. This won't happen if you skip to the final chapter, though. You will have to suffer along with the narrator first. It is the sort of ending that needs to be earned.

It will take a fair amount of strength to re-read this novel, but I know one day I will. Even now, every time I walk past it on a book shelf, I have to resist the urge to pat it. Its that good.