It is, ultimately, a craving for a more perfect and childlike world untainted by the cruelties and disappointments of this mortal coil. The primary theme, or emotion if you may, which runs throughout the piece is that of longing, that indescribable quality which the germans refer to as “sensucht”. His ability to write a long tale with all of the narrative sensibilities of a high fantasy epic is highly commendable, the novel reads sort of like a Tolkein for adults. Barker delves from the earthly mundane to the grotesque with the ease of a man peeling back an onion. From the opening pages where we are introduced to the sinister Immocalata along with Shadwell the corrupt salesman both of whom fall into ever spiralling worlds of madness and revenge, to the utterly wretched incarnations of the Hag, the Magdalene, the Rake and a whole range of other oddities the novel is a hideous, haunting masterpiece. I was left haunted by the imagery and characters introduced throughout the tale. The book is beautifully written, the pages dripping with haunting prose and philosophical conceits which combined together lift the novel far above the sum of its parts. One of the finest novels I have ever read in any genre and holds a very special place in my heart.
0 kommentar(er)
