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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf (view source)
Revision as of 14:28, 1 January 2013
, 14:28, 1 January 2013no edit summary
The world of ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones'' is immersive, and that’s partly because of the style it’s written in. Wolf’s commitment to the eighteenth century is absolute, down to the authentic spelling and capitalisation of his prose. But the content itself is just as rich and mad as its packaging. The eighteenth century of ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones'' is drawn with bold, believable strokes – warts, dirt, bawdy songs and all.
There’s a current fad for putting filth back into historical fiction. Andrew Miller’s ''Pure'', Michel Faber’s ''The Crimson Petal and the White'', and Sarah Waters’s ''Tipping the Velvet'' have all pastiched the fiction of their chosen era with added naughty bits. Jack Wolf is the latest example of this trend, but in ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones'' he goes further than any of them. As we follow Tristan in his pursuit of pain we’re treated to the kind of elaborately-described BDSM scenes that will have the average reader of [[Fifty Shades of Grey by E L EL James|Fifty Shades of Grey]] running for the hills in panic. This isn’t just people messing about with whips made out of ties. Blood flows, bones crack and some readers will (with good reason) find it all deeply upsetting. However, like his take on the concept of Gothic double, I felt that Wolf dealt with his questionable themes with admirable thoughtfulness. Tristan’s actions are heavily morally dubious, and they’re always treated that way. To really experience the ride ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones'' takes you on, you have to maintain a real sense of ambivalence about its contents. Are you enjoying it? And if you are (as I was), should you be?
At the end of ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones'', you’ll be left with a lot of questions about both the story you’ve just read and its morals. But if you’re like me, you’ll also be left with a profound desire to dive back in and do the whole thing again. It’s a rich concept, dark, twisty and fabulously well executed. True, it’s also extremely nasty, but there’s something gorgeous about ''Raw Head and Bloody Bones''’s particular brand of filth. Read this, and you’ll be troubled by how much you want more.
