Difference between revisions of "The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric"
| (5 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | {{ | + | {{infobox1 |
|title=The Book of Human Skin | |title=The Book of Human Skin | ||
|sort=Book of Human Skin, The | |sort=Book of Human Skin, The | ||
| Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
|buy=Yes | |buy=Yes | ||
|borrow=Yes | |borrow=Yes | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
|pages=512 | |pages=512 | ||
|publisher=Bloomsbury | |publisher=Bloomsbury | ||
| Line 16: | Line 14: | ||
|date=April 2010 | |date=April 2010 | ||
|isbn=140880588X | |isbn=140880588X | ||
| − | | | + | |cover=140880588X |
| − | | | + | |aznuk=140880588X |
| + | |aznus=140880588X | ||
}} | }} | ||
| Line 26: | Line 25: | ||
Minguillo's behaviour goes further and further beyond the pale and his chief target is his younger sister Marcella - the child for whom Minguillo has been disinherited. With only servants, an irascible artist and a lowly doctor to protect her, Marcella will need all the goodness in her soul to withstand her brother's onslaughts. Can she survive being crippled, declared insane, and sold into the clutches of the vicious Sor Loreta? | Minguillo's behaviour goes further and further beyond the pale and his chief target is his younger sister Marcella - the child for whom Minguillo has been disinherited. With only servants, an irascible artist and a lowly doctor to protect her, Marcella will need all the goodness in her soul to withstand her brother's onslaughts. Can she survive being crippled, declared insane, and sold into the clutches of the vicious Sor Loreta? | ||
| − | Could I just do a little dance? Would you mind? I loved ''The Book of Human Skin''. It's truly wonderful - vivid, immediate, clever, peopled with wonderful characters, the sweep of history and the power of landscape. When you finish it, you really do want to stand up, do a little jig, and say, hey, that was fantastic. Told through multiple narrators, it's about skin - how a person's life is written upon it, how other people get under it, how we use and abuse it. Minguillo collects skin. Doctor | + | Could I just do a little dance? Would you mind? I loved ''The Book of Human Skin''. It's truly wonderful - vivid, immediate, clever, peopled with wonderful characters, the sweep of history and the power of landscape. When you finish it, you really do want to stand up, do a little jig, and say, hey, that was fantastic. Told through multiple narrators, it's about skin - how a person's life is written upon it, how other people get under it, how we use and abuse it. Minguillo collects skin. Doctor Santo takes care of skin. Sor Loreta abuses hers in holy anorexia and scourging. And Marcella's skin is luminous enough to show her core of radiant inner beauty, no matter what horrors are perpetrated upon her. |
| − | It's a massive book in scope, strength and history and it took me a week to read it - not because it was dense or difficult, but because rushing would have felt like such a disservice. The research is absolutely awesome and there's such a powerful intelligence behind it, but these things don't interfere with the characters or narrative and there's never a feeling - as there is with some books - that you might not really be quite good enough to read it. Lovric bundles up her cleverness and her knowledge and uses it to delight, not confound. Fans will be glad to learn that the artist Cecilia Cornaro gets a great supporting role - and indeed there isn't a character that will leave you unmoved. My favourite | + | It's a massive book in scope, strength and history and it took me a week to read it - not because it was dense or difficult, but because rushing would have felt like such a disservice. The research is absolutely awesome and there's such a powerful intelligence behind it, but these things don't interfere with the characters or narrative and there's never a feeling - as there is with some books - that you might not really be quite good enough to read it. Lovric bundles up her cleverness and her knowledge and uses it to delight, not confound. Fans will be glad to learn that the artist Cecilia Cornaro from previous Lovric books gets a great supporting role - and indeed there isn't a character that will leave you unmoved. It has some of the clearest fictional voices that I've read in a very long time. My favourite was Gianni's - rough, goodhearted, self-deprecating, and the kind of friend we all wish we had. |
Highly, highly recommended. | Highly, highly recommended. | ||
| Line 36: | Line 35: | ||
It's a fantasy retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale, but [[Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan]] has much in common with ''The Book of Human Skin'' - equally absorbing, equally unflinching, and equally vivid. I think you might like it. [[The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff]] might also appeal - it's intended for teens, but it stands up perfectly to adults. | It's a fantasy retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale, but [[Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan]] has much in common with ''The Book of Human Skin'' - equally absorbing, equally unflinching, and equally vivid. I think you might like it. [[The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff]] might also appeal - it's intended for teens, but it stands up perfectly to adults. | ||
| − | {{amazontext|amazon=140880588X}} {{ | + | {{toptentext|list=Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2010}} |
| + | |||
| + | {{amazontext|amazon=140880588X}} | ||
| + | {{amazonUStext|amazon=140880588X}} | ||
{{interviewtext|author=Michelle Lovric}} | {{interviewtext|author=Michelle Lovric}} | ||
Latest revision as of 14:18, 22 February 2018
| The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric | |
|
| |
| Category: Historical Fiction | |
| |
Reviewer: Jill Murphy
 | |
| Summary: This wonderfully vivid novel set in eighteenth century Venice and Peru is both utterly addictive and utterly strange. It's witty and wise and horrific and clever. Awesomely researched and with some of the clearest fictional voices we've heard in a long time, this one is highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 512 | Date: April 2010 |
| Publisher: Bloomsbury | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 140880588X | |
|
Share on: | |
|
| |
Ye can't take the slither out ovva snake.
So says Gianni, valet in a wealthy eighteenth century Venetian household. The master, a merchant, divides his time between Italy and Peru, where he deals in silver. But the merchant isn't the serpent - his son Minguillo is. On the night an earthquake ripped through Peru and deposited fanatical nun Sor Loreta at the convent in Arequipa, Minguillo was born - a serpent in his family's midst. His own mother couldn't bear to nurse him and his father went into denial, making more and more frequent trips to a South American home free of sociopathic progeny.
Minguillo's behaviour goes further and further beyond the pale and his chief target is his younger sister Marcella - the child for whom Minguillo has been disinherited. With only servants, an irascible artist and a lowly doctor to protect her, Marcella will need all the goodness in her soul to withstand her brother's onslaughts. Can she survive being crippled, declared insane, and sold into the clutches of the vicious Sor Loreta?
Could I just do a little dance? Would you mind? I loved The Book of Human Skin. It's truly wonderful - vivid, immediate, clever, peopled with wonderful characters, the sweep of history and the power of landscape. When you finish it, you really do want to stand up, do a little jig, and say, hey, that was fantastic. Told through multiple narrators, it's about skin - how a person's life is written upon it, how other people get under it, how we use and abuse it. Minguillo collects skin. Doctor Santo takes care of skin. Sor Loreta abuses hers in holy anorexia and scourging. And Marcella's skin is luminous enough to show her core of radiant inner beauty, no matter what horrors are perpetrated upon her.
It's a massive book in scope, strength and history and it took me a week to read it - not because it was dense or difficult, but because rushing would have felt like such a disservice. The research is absolutely awesome and there's such a powerful intelligence behind it, but these things don't interfere with the characters or narrative and there's never a feeling - as there is with some books - that you might not really be quite good enough to read it. Lovric bundles up her cleverness and her knowledge and uses it to delight, not confound. Fans will be glad to learn that the artist Cecilia Cornaro from previous Lovric books gets a great supporting role - and indeed there isn't a character that will leave you unmoved. It has some of the clearest fictional voices that I've read in a very long time. My favourite was Gianni's - rough, goodhearted, self-deprecating, and the kind of friend we all wish we had.
Highly, highly recommended.
My thanks to the good people at Bloomsbury for sending the book.
It's a fantasy retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale, but Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan has much in common with The Book of Human Skin - equally absorbing, equally unflinching, and equally vivid. I think you might like it. The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff might also appeal - it's intended for teens, but it stands up perfectly to adults.
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric is in the Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2010.
Please share on: 
Facebook, 
Twitter and
Instagram
You can read more book reviews or buy The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric at Amazon.com.
Michelle Lovric was kind enough to be interviewed by Bookbag.
Comments
Like to comment on this review?
Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.
