Title: Melmoth Pdf A Novel
“Masterful…scary and smart, working as a horror story but also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of will and love. Perry did as much in her richly praised novel The Essex Serpent, but this is a deeper, more complex novel and more rewarding.” (Washington Post)“Another Gothic stunner…a scary novel that chills to the bone even as it points the way to a warmer, more humane, place.” (New York Times Book Review)“Ms. Perry, whose last book, The Essex Serpent, was a breakout hit, again proves herself a master of atmosphere.” (Wall Street Journal)“The past few years have brought a glut of fashionably affectless and amoral fiction, to which Sarah Perry’s fierce, full-hearted books about love and ethics feel like the perfect antidote.” (NPR Book of the Year)“A gothic masterwork.” (Entertainment Weekly)“The last few years have brought a glut of fashionably affectless and amoral fiction....Sarah Perry’s fierce, full-hearted books about love and ethics feel like an antidote to that elegant apathy....In a world that feels desperate, chaotic, and unredeemable, Melmoth asks us to be witnesses for each other.” (NPR)“Reels you in, using the same trick of all the best ghost stories, from The Turn of the Screw on: Is there really a ghost before you? Or do you see the projection of your own secret sins and desires? What is more frightening than the human?” (New York Times)“A novel that manages that vanishingly rare feat – being at once hugely readable and profoundly important…Perry’s masterly piece of postmodern gothic is one of the great literary achievements of our young century.” (The Guardian)“The author of The Essex Serpent casts another haunting spell in this exquisitely written gothic novel.” (People)“Filled with thought-provoking ideas on historical guilt and personal responsibility, as well as a depth of learning…the message at its heart is an uplifting one; even if redemption for wrongdoing cannot always be achieved, there is power in bearing witness.” (Financial Times) For centuries, a mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters—and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, unpronounced sanctuary. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth hunts her prey through the ages, dooming those she captures to the damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.But, unaware, as Helen wanders the cobblestone streets, she is being watched. And then Karel disappears . . . Including an unforgettable cast of characters—among them Helen and her circle in contemporary Prague; a young woman in 1930s Cairo; a junior Ottoman bureaucrat during World War I; a child in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia; a young man caring for his severely ill brother in a Manila hospital; and a desperate refugee from central Africa, precariously seeking shelter in 2017 London—Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent is a haunting novel of Gothic dread and moral struggle, a masterpiece of suspense, reckoning, and incandescent midnight.
“Masterful…scary and smart, working as a horror story but also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of will and love. Perry did as much in her richly praised novel The Essex Serpent, but this is a deeper, more complex novel and more rewarding.” —Washington Post
For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters—and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.
It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.
But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . . .
A first class downer. Am baffled by the rave reviews of this book. Would recommend it for people who seek depression.Skippable! 🌟🌟🌟💫After loving The Essex Serpent, I had very high expectations for this one. While the prose delivered, my experience with it overall fell short. I do think this is a novel I’d like to re-read, and soon, to see if my view changes (a lot of people whose taste in books I usually share absolutely adored this!)We’re following Helen, a translator, and her friend Karel - through a series of historic documents that take the narrative back in time, we follow the figure of Melmoth who bears witness to, and is a reminder of, decisions made at moral impasses. I found the descriptions of place and atmosphere creepy and superbly done, but struggled piecing together the narrative as a whole.For me, I felt the historic flashbacks were the most powerful and immersively written parts of this narrative. In a sense they worked like short stories within this narrative, and were excellent! However, my inability to connect with the primary narrative really early on restricted me piecing together all of the different complexities that Perry wrote into this.I’ve read a number of reviews “explaining” what Perry was trying to achieve, and while I admire her efforts for me I did not get this from my own reading of the narrative.Another Eerie and Gripping Story from Sarah Perry This is the second novel by Sarah Perry that I have read, the other being the monumental "Essex Serpent." I think she must be the most fascinating and unique novelists one is likely to encounter. Her stories are haunting and spooky, yet not cheap scares, but fascinating and complex dramas. In this book, she follows the techniques of "Essex" in that complete documents become elements as the story unfolds, so the reader can read what the characters are reading. This means that there are several stories unfolding within the main outline of the novel. The documents can jump time barriers, relocate to distant countries, and inject new characters which last only so long as the particular episode caught in the document takes center stage. One mark of a talented novelist is the ability to completely switch locations and time frames between books. Here, while "Essex" was set in late Victorian Essex in England, this story takes place primarily in present day Prague, Czech Republic, as well as earlier in Manila in the Philippines.The title refers to a European legend about a young woman who was alive at the time of Christ. She and some colleagues set out to cleanse the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, arriving at the cave when the stone blocking the entry already had been removed. With the exception of the young woman, the others declared they had seen the risen son of God--she disputed this and accused them of lying. As a result, she was punished by being forced to wander the earth, without home or respite, until Christ comes again. Not only does she suffer physically (bloody feet) but she is painfully alone and devotes her efforts to finding someone (or many in succession) who will accompany her in her endless wanderings. She focuses upon individuals who have done something evil which makes them potential targets of blackmail by Melmoth because she sees and knows all. She also can change appearances and materialize suddenly. European parents apparently used this figure to terrify their children into proper behavior.The central character here, Helen, fits the bill as we learn. The documents incorporated into the story go back as far as 1637, and have been collected by an elderly professor who passes them to Helen. All of the documents capture instances of Melmoth in action at various times. Some of them are downright creepy and are dramas within the main drama showing the evil acts of various individuals. Perry's masterly skill in integrating these stories into her main story to enhance its impact is quite impressive. So what could have been a simple ghost story instead becomes almost a study in psychology as Melmoth plies her wiles on these hapless individuals. Perry also is able to keep these multiple stories integrated while focusing on Helen's main story.The most exciting episode is the final one, as Melmoth zeros in on Helen whose great sin we finally learn. The key events had taken place in the Philippines some 19 years prior to the present in Prague. The dramatic point is whether Melmoth can persuade or bully Helen into joining her on her endless treks, given that her horrible powers have become familiar to Helen through reading the documents. And the ending is unique and somewhat surprising and requires the reader to do some heavy thinking. A fascinating read which must result in the reader considering whether Melmoth has her eye upon them and knows all one's secrets.
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