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A carregar... The Book of Human Skin (2010)por Michelle Lovric
   Nenhum(a) Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro.  NewLibrary78 | Jul 22, 2023 |   This is a SERIOUSLY weird tale, told by five separate people in consecutive sections. First we have arch-fiend, Venetian nobleman MinguilloFasan. Repulsive, warped ...and with an unpleasing penchant for collewcting books bound in human skin ...he is not pleased when he gets a baby sister. And then we have the lovely Marcella, a hapless victim to her evil brother's torture. Well meaning servant Gianni, who- under a cover of obtuseness- onserves his master's misdeeds. Heroic young doctor, Santo Aldobrandini,enamoured with poor Marcella- but powerless as she is committed to a lunatic asylum...and ultimately to a nunnery in Peru. And lastly, perhaps the most grisly creation in literature, warped Peruvian nun, Sor Loreta - an aspiring saint despite her murderous and psychotic intentions towards those around her. Much self-flagelation and much worse... Couldnt put it down ...highly original and well researched. (  ) starbox | Sep 16, 2020 | The main villain of the story, Minguillo Fasan, is physically and morally corrupt beyond redemption.He goads the reader with his contempt for all goodness, and invites shudders of horror as he plots to destroy his younger sister, Marcella. Marcella, the exact opposite of her brother, embodies all goodness and love. A true heroine, she endures her brother's cruelty, but refuses to become a victim. Gianni, Minguillo's valet, maintains the pose of an illiterate fool in order to protect Marcella. Sor Loreta, another malignant character, is a religious zealot intent upon martyrdom. Dr. Santo Aldobrandini, is the impoverished lover of Marcella, The Hero of this twisted Fairy Tale. Michelle Lovric has written a masterful, complex story that takes one on a whirlwind ride. (  ) maryhollis | Feb 20, 2017 |  ) .cris | Jun 15, 2016 | ) mmacd3814 | May 30, 2016 |
Lovric’s dark tale of familial woe and colonial intrigue will imprint upon the Dear Reader’s skin in the way only a classic can.
Midday, 13th May, 1784- An earthquake in Peru tears up the white streets of Arequipa. As the dust settles, a young girl with fanaticism already branded on her face arrives at the devastated convent of Santa Catalina. At the same moment, oceans away in Venice, the infant Minguillo Fasan tears his way out of his mother's womb. The great Palazzo Espagnol, built on Peruvian silver and New World drugs, has an heir. Twelve years later, Venice is in Napoleon's sights and Minguillo, who has already contrived to lose one sibling, is listening to the birth-cries of his new sister Marcella, a delicate, soft-skinned threat to his inheritance. Meanwhile, at Santa Catalina, the scarred young girl has become Sor Loreta, whose craving for sainthood is taking a decidedly sinister turn. Minguillo's livid jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But Marcella Fasan is not quite the soft target Minguillo imagines. Aided by a loyal servant, an irascible portrait-painter, a young doctor obsessed with skin, a warhorse of a Scottish merchant and a cigar-smoking pornographer nun, Marcella pits her sense of humour, her clever pencil and her fierce heart against Minguillo's pitiless machinations. Her journey takes her from Napoleon's shamed Venice to the last picaresque days of colonial Peru - where the fanatical Sor Loreta has plans of her own for the young girl from Venice. Bewitching, daring, darkly humorous and alive with historical detail, The Book of Human Skin is a breathtaking story of unmitigated villainy, Holy Anorexia, quack medicine, murder, love and a very unusual form of bibliomania. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumMichelle Lovric's book The Book of Human Skin was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Current DiscussionsNenhum(a)Capas populares
 Google Books — A carregar...GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia: (3.62)
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‘Why are we all doing our best to become angels? It is perhaps because we shall always have something shadowy in our consciences ...’ ( p. 459)
Books with the cover made of human skin, and behind this Gothic library there is Minguillo Fasan. Against this project of books of human skin there is an obstacle: Marcella, Minguillo’s sister.
The Book of Human Skin is narrated from five main characters’ points of view: Minguillo and his sister Marcella Fasan (a noble family of Venice), Gianni delle Boccole (House Fasan’s butler), Sor Loreta (nun in Arequipa’s convent, Peru`), and Doctor Santo Aldobrandini.
Although this book could be categorized as historical fiction, we can find other genres: horror, romance, and especially Gothic fiction.
In the background Michelle Lovric’s passion for Venice: ‘marbled water cradled in the shadow of a bridge, a palazzo seeming to sway in a web of fretwork, ...’ (p. 181) or ‘ the play of water reflections under bridges and the cries of seagulls at dawn.’ (p. 438)
And from this Venetian’s water reflections towards the old wet brick’s walls in the calle (an alley of water) the destiny follows a path of magic; so when Minguillo’s father writes to his wife about the insanity of their son, Minguillo intercepts the letter and ‘I (Minguillo) had barely finished scanning it (the letter) when a fictitious gust of wind carried it out of the window and away down the Grand Canal before any inquisitive monkey might count his toes.’ (p. 78) Randomness and magic change everything and give birth to a new story.
Minguillo Fasan talking about his books: ‘When I say I loved books, I mean that I loved not just the souls of my books but their bodies.’ (p. 39) or ‘Late at night, did Minguillo books of human leather talk among themselves?’ (p. 285) Minguillo a sadistic man remind the first pages of Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont: ‘One should let one’s fingernails grow for fifteen days. etc etc’ His dreams are collecting books of human skin and living for ever in Palazzo Espagnol.
Marcella Fasan is a patient sister whose Kafkian life goes from a tormented cohabitation in Palazzo Espagnol in Venice, to the hospital for lunatics, and finally in a convent in Peru`. She waits until her enemy (her brother) collapses; and again the human skin intervenes to correct imperfections: the small pox.
Gianni delle Boccole is depicted speaking a Celinian argot; an example: ‘so as not to draw saucespishon (= suspicion)’ (p. 393) He is the butler in Palazzo Espagnol and loves Marcella like a father.
Doctor Santo Aldobrandini explains why the human skin is so important: ‘Perhaps this is why I have always loved the skin: because it is both the story and the storyteller.’ (p. 21)
Sor Loreta hates her skin and body. She thinks to reach sainthood because of her behavior: drinking only vinegar and fighting every way of life outside the strict monastic rules. This character is surprising for her frankness and seemingly funny logical thinking.
A final note / quote: ‘Dio ha manda` l’om per (par) castigar l’om’; in my opinion a better translation could be: God created man to torment man. instead of God created man to shame man. (last page)
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