Book Review: MELMOTH by Sarah Perry

Melmoth by Sarah Perry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"I wonder, when God permitted us to fall, if He knew we'd fall so far."

I started reading this book during a ghastly three-hour ride covering the four-and-a-half kilometer distance to work, but had to stop because it was creeping me out (even though I began it in broad daylight!). Tried to pick it up again later that evening but apparently I can't read Gothic novels at night, so I said to myself I'd finish it on the Lord's Day for good measure.

And oh my goodness, it is truly painful to read. It is, to put it simply, a book on pain. On the agony of the body... and the tortures endured by a guilty soul.

This is my second Sarah Perry novel (I enjoyed THE ESSEX SERPENT immensely), and while I think T.S.S. was better written, I liked the story of MELMOTH more.

Perry uses the "tale-within-a-tale" frame narrative, as different characters from different times spoke of the haunting figure, the Wandering Jew, condemned to forever walk the earth, bearing witness to cruelty and depravity as punishment for denying Our Lord.

I never expected that the protagonist's backstory (and arguably the most haunting episode in the novel) would take place in Manila! From the Vltava to the Pasig River, from Charles Bridge to Aurora Boulevard... this novel is sweeping in scope. Fentanyl features quite prominently, too, as did overrun Filipino jails and the suffering of innocents within.

"And if there is only us, we must do what Melmoth would do: see what must be seen -- bear witness to what must not be forgotten."

While reading the descriptions of some of the most horrific, shameful events of human history, I did wonder if the author knew firsthand of the pain she was describing.

And true enough, this article proved my guess was correct:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

And now I can't wait to read Charles Maturin's 1820 novel, with the same title!



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