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11
On listening to THE GARGOYLE
2009 at 12am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
It’s no secret that I loved this book. It was the very first book I reviewed here on The Book Lady’s Blog, and it became my favorite book to handsell to customers in 2008. I gave countless copies to friends and the English teachers and librarians I worked with, and I enjoyed the ripple effect of meeting customers who were looking for it and, in the process of our conversation, revealed to me that they heard about it from a friend (who heard about it from me) or that their English teacher recommended it.
You just have to love a high school English teacher who is ballsy enough to recommend a book like this to a classroom full of students. In her own words, “It’s hardcore, and I loved it.”
And I think that sums it up nicely. This isn’t a happy book or a light book or an easy-to-read book. It is pretty much the opposite of beach reading. The Gargoyle requires readers to work, to suffer, to feel pain, to endure unpleasantness, and to face occasionally gruesome truths.
But the great thing about a book that makes you work like this one does? The payoff is incredible.
Okay, I’ll stop gushing about the book and get along to the part about listening to it, since you already know what I thought about the story and the writing. (Did I mention how gorgeous the writing is?)
*If you haven’t read The Gargoyle, don’t go any further. I’m about to break down some of the differences between my reactions to the book and the audio book, and the means spoilers.*
So, if I’d already read the book, why did I listen to it? Because I’d been wanting to re-read it ever since the moment I closed the back cover last summer. It’s just one of those books you never really stop thinking about, and it demands to be read and examined and known more intimately than can be accomplished in a single reading.
I decided to revisit The Gargoyle now because my husband was about to begin his first reading of it, and I wanted to be able to discuss it with him, and I decided on audio because a friend mentioned recently how much she enjoyed being able to hear the characters’ names and voices, as Davidson works in elements from many other cultures throughout history.
And my friend was right. All of that was wonderful.
During my initial reading of this book, I recognized that some of the opening passages were rather graphic and disturbing, but I didn’t have a problem with them. I’m fine with graphic when it’s essential to making a book function, and in the case of The Gargoyle, you need the graphic descriptions in order to understand where the narrator has come from, what he’s going through, and what purpose it all serves. I remember shuddering a bit as I read descriptions of the painful treatments the narrator underwent to recover from his horrible burns, and the “bitch snake” feature was striking in the book.
I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to reading, but I must admit that I found it difficult to listen to those opening passages. Hearing a person’s voice read those words and fill them with his emotion and inflection made it feel much more real, and though it gave me pause, I ended up really appreciating that aspect as well.
Through the gritty passages and all, I loved listening to The Gargoyle just as much as I loved reading it, and this time around, I caught more of the symbolism and was able to think more deeply about the structure of the store and to analyze its layers more closely because I knew what was coming.
If you haven’t read The Gargoyle (why did you keep reading? I told you to stop!), I think it is one of those books you simply must hold in your hands. You need to feel its weight, to allow it to have a physical presence, and to develop a relationship with it. But if you’re a die-hard audio fan, and it’s audio book or nothing, then pick this one up. If you’ve read the book and are interested in a re-reading, I strongly recommend the audio book version.
Now that I’ve rambled, let me share a response from Tanya Perez, who tweets as @dogearedcopy and was kind enough to share her reaction with me when I started a conversation about this audio book on Twitter.
If a book is worth reading once, it’s worth reading twice. If a book isn’t worth reading twice, it may not be worth reading at all. On this premise, The Gargoyle is worth reading at least three times. On the linear level of narrative, a young male pornographer suffers a drug-induced hallucination while attempting to negotiate a dangerous curve at high speeds. His car wrecks, he suffers terrible injuries and is hospitalized for months where he undergoes treatment and surgeries. While hospitalized, he meets a psychiatric patient who is a sculptress, but more intriguingly, claims to be a fourteenth century nun who is destined for him. The opening sections of the book are unflinchingly graphic but not gratuitous. The centerpieces of the novel involve six love stories that span centuries. The stories telescope the narrative like “a puzzle depicting the picture of a man putting together a puzzle that depicts the picture of a man putting together a puzzle… with the final piece finally showing a monster peering through a window.” Symbolism, mysticism, and humanism are played out through literary devices, with varying degrees of subtlety. Finally, the book is a story of redemption. Exposure to Catholic theology may help the reader with the philosophical underpinnings of the final piece of the puzzle.
As for the audiobook itself, Lincoln Hoppe’s handling of foreign words and phrases is a bit awkward and suspect and, his reading of the English is sometimes artless. He sounds unseasoned and startlingly like a Stephen Hoye in the making.
I agree with all of that right up until the last two sentences. Granted, Tanya works for a company that records audio books, so she is much more of an expert than I am, but I thought Lincoln Hoppe did a nice job with this difficult book, and he seemed to get better as it went on.
And that was my experience with The Gargoyle on audio. Book Lady out.
great post! I loved Gargoyle and my book club (Kent Island Book Club) loved it as well. Andrew called us during our meeting and we talked for over an hour. The group loved the stories within the story and had a lively discussion on the darker themes of the book (Inferno, etc). Needless to say — last year, we picked Gargoyle as our Best Book of the Year.
I am so glad you had a great experience with the audio. I read this earlier this year and loved it! I plan on listening to the audio for the same reason you did, I just want to read it again. It has stayed with me long after finishing it.
What I find totally perplexing is how or why Entertainment Weekly listed this book as one of the worst of 2008! I generally trust their opinions, so I avoided it. Have I totally screwed myself? I do love audios, so I may just have to throw caution to the wind and do it.
Entertainment Weekly was so very, very wrong about this one. Jennifer at The Literate Housewife and I were both so incensed by their awful review that we each wrote rebuttals. This certainly isn’t a book that everyone will love because it is a difficult read in many ways, but I think you should give it a shot.
I enjoyed Gargoyle, but didn’t love it as much as you did. Perhaps it is one of those books that deserves a re-read, so that some of those weird sections might make a bit more sense?!
I can see that this might make a fantastic audio – perhaps I’ll listen to it one day.
Well, the re-read certainly helped me understand some of the things that went over my head the first time around….I mean, I thought I picked up on everything in my first reading, but I heard things this time that I completely missed in the initial reading. Give it a shot!
I LOVED this book as well; very different. I bet the audio version was great.
[...] On listening to THE GARGOYLE [...]
I’m the same way – I can read just about anything, but can’t watch or listen to anything too graphic without it turning my stomach.
This was one of the first books that I reviewed as well. I loved it…fantastic book.
I also *heart* The Gargoyle! I have a signed copy and exchanged a few casual emails with Mr. Davidson in which I shared (probably gushed is a more appropriate choice) how much I liked it.
I’ll confess that all the hype surrounding this book sort of put me off of it–I’m weird that way. But now that the buzz has died down a bit and after reading your comments and your review from last year, I’m thinking it is something I might like. Maybe in another year when *all* the buzz has died down
I’m that way about mass-market bestsellers and anything for which the buzz feels undeserved, but this one is worthy. I hope you’ll read it…I think it would be right up your alley, and either way, it has a lot of interesting bits to unpack in a review.
I haven’t read this book and am quite excited to have a book on my list that seems to be loved by almost everyone who has read it. This is a terrific post, thank you!
I think I’m one of the few people that thought this book was only so-so. I didn’t mind the graphic parts, but i thought Davidson got repetitive sometimes and I didn’t feel that I needed to keep being hit over the head with the fact that the narrator was no longer a complete man.
Well, you’ve intrigued me enough to add it to my wish list!
Funny, I do think The Gargoyle is an ‘easy read’. Of course certain parts are quite heavy (and that’s an understatement) but otherwise I seemed to ‘fly’ through the book… Still, I think it won’t make this year’s top-3 list.
I only just finished the book a few days ago (review is up on Graasland). I especially loved the many literary connections btw.
I loved the Gargoyle- any suggestions on what to read next?
I think WAITING FOR COLUMBUS by Thomas Trofimuk is an interesting next read after GARGOYLE.
Or The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas?