Product Description
Federico Andahazi author of the critically acclaimed novel El Anatomista, weaves a Faustian tale of envy, lust and self destruction, around the historically familiar backdrop of Lord Byron and his libertine colleagues in 1816 Geneva.

This atmospheric and erotic story follows the pursuits of Byron's personal secretary John Willian Polidri, whose all consuming envy of his employer and his literary friends leads him to strike a deal with a monster in the guise of a woman who promises him literary fame in return for his sperm. The reader follows Polidri's descent into madness as he discovers the true nature of the pact he has made and its consequences.

Federico Andahazi has written a provocative gothic tale reminiscent of the literary classics Jane Eyre and Goethe's Faust. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Relato sobrio y una apuesta a la duda.
Las Piadosas es una novela apasionante, que se desarrolla durante el año 1916 en una villa de Ginebra. Andahazi logra una brillante recreación de algunos momentos en la vida de un conocido grupo de la elite intelectualeuropea, su estilo de vida, sus pasiones y envidias, en una atmósfera a alvez opresiva y rodeada de erotismo. Es un logro del autor el tratamientopsicológico que le da a conocidos personajes como Lord Byron, Mary y PercyShelley y, especialmente, el de otros no tan conocidos como el doctorPolidori, secretario de Byron. El doctor Polidori, con su carga de envidia,su secreto y sus maquinaciones resulta fundamental en la inesperadaresolución del relato. Esta es una novela es muy recomendable para todosaquellos que disfrutamos de un relato sobrio, que pone en duda toda certezaestablecida y nos permite el replanteo de ciertas premisas socialmenteaceptadas. Realmente este es un libro para leer y releer. ... Read more

Product Description
En la Francia medieval, el dique Geoffroy de Charny ha hecho uso de su malefica inteligencia para pergeñar un plan que le asegurara la gloria y el poder. Dominado por la ambicion, se propone revivir el caracter milagroso del Santo Sudario, la perfecta excusa que justifique la construccion de una iglesia para su propio provecho.La trama que despliega "La ciudad de los herejes" exhibe de manera magistral la lucha del poder politico y del poder eclesiastico en sus estrategias, argucias y actos cruentos y aterradores. La naturaleza humana hace visible su rostro mas oscuro. ... Read more

Product Description
A lyrically written, sensual, and extraordinarily enjoyable novel in which a Renaissance anatomist's astonishing discovery forever changes the female erotic universe.

In sixteenth-centruy Venice, celebrated physician Mateo Colombo finds himself behind bars at the behest of the Church authorities. His is a crime of disclosure, heinous and heretical in the Church's eyes, in that his research threatens to subvert the whole secular order of Renaissance society. Like his namesake Christopher Colombus, he has made a discovery of enormous significance for humankind. Whereas Colombus voyaged outward to explore the world and found the Americas, Mateo Colombo looked inward, across the mons veneris, and uncovered the clitoris. Based on historical fact, The Anatomist is an utterly fascinating excursion into Renaissance Italy, as evocative of time and place as the work of Umberto Eco, and reminiscent of the earthy sensuality of Gabriel Garc&#237a M&#225rquez. Perceptive and stirring, it ironically exposes not only the social hypocracies of the day, but also the prejudices and sexual taboos that may still be with us four hundred years later.Amazon.com Review
"O my America, my new-found-land!" Mateo Renaldo Colombo (or Columbus,to give him his English name) might have written in his De reanatomica."

It is no accident that Federico Andahazi draws a parallel between hisRenaissance hero, the anatomist Mateo Colombo, and the explorer ChristopherColumbus. It is the conceit of his first novel, The Anatomist(beautifully translated from the Spanish by Alberto Manguel), that both Colombos made "equally momentous anddisturbing" discoveries. Every schoolchild can tell you what Columbus'swas; less well known, perhaps, is that of his countryman and fellow"explorer." "Mateo's America is less distant and infinitely smaller thanChristopher's; in fact, it's not much larger than the head of a nail." Inshort, Mateo Renaldo Colombo discovered the Amor Veneris, theclitoris.

Andahazi makes much of this discovery, not to mention its discoverer: "Thediscovery of Mateo Colombo's America was, all things considered, an epiccounterpointed by an elegy. Mateo Colombo was as fierce and heartless asChristopher. Like Christopher (to use an appropriate metaphor) he was abrutal colonizer who claimed for himself all rights to the discovered land,the female body." Certainly women readers will view this description withat least as much irony as Native Americans regard that otherColumbus's "discovery" of a land they had known about all along.

The Anatomist is based on a historical figure and historical fact;what Andahazi provides is his title character's heart and soul. Thefictional Colombo is driven by desire for the high-priced courtesan MonaSofia. Though Mateo adores her, the heartless Sofia regards him as nothingmore than a paying customer. After breaking both his heart and his bankaccount over her, Colombo returns to his native Padua whence he iseventually called to Florence to treat a saintly young widow, Inés deTorremolinos. Inés is "infinitely beautiful," and her illness is "far from common." While examining her, he discovers "between his patient's legs aperfectly formed, erect and diminutive penis." Land ho.

Though Colombo's "discovery," first in Inés and then in other women, offers plenty of opportunity for eroticism, the most compelling aspect of TheAnatomist lies in the Church's reaction to De re anatomica, thebook Colombo writes detailing his find. The Renaissance may well havesignaled the birth of new art, science, and philosophy, but it was also theage of Inquisition--and Colombo's unfolding of "the key to the heart ofall women ... the anatomical cause of love" soon lands him in prison on chargesof heresy and Satanism. The trial, Mateo's defense, and the surprisingaftermath make for provocative reading and raise The Anatomist abovethe level of the merely erotic to a more intriguing philosophical plane,one that is sure to prompt a lively discussion or two. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

A skillful tale of love, sex, science and religion in the 16th Century
This novel is nicely done--deserving of more credit than many reviewers here have given it.It is in part a love story, in part an exploration of sexual repression and religious intolerance of science, in part a comic look at how men have historically been mystified by the female body (and, for that matter, by women).The linkage of clitoral stimulation to witchcraft seemed plausible to me as a 16th century viewpoint, and in any event was quite funny.In addition to all that, the woman who read it after I finished it thought it was tastefully erotic.This is a skillfully told tale; I'm surprised it doesn't have a wider audience.

Neither Fish nor Fowl
I much enjoyed the book and read it at one sitting. As others have noted, the author is clearly familiar with the subject, and has done plenty of research, and has peppered the text with enough Italian phrases to make you almost feel at home in the plot. Written in a style that aspires to be literary, philosophical, as well as befitting the period, the novel fails to move the reader and feel for the characters who are as flat as a board. Five for research and style and one for writing a compelling as well as historically founded plot. There you go, a plain three stars!

Incredible ending
The protagonist, Mateo Realdo Colombo, or Mateo Colón, is an anatomy doctor in the sixtieth century Renaissance. He falls miserably for a your prostitute, Mona Sofía. Daily, he paints her and tries to get her to fall in love with him. After running out of money and patience, he goes on a quest for a way to gain her love.

He starts mixing love potions, without success, and is almost turned over to the Inquisition--for dissecting cadavers and visiting prostitutes--in pursuit of his quest. A young, rich, and powerful widow, Inés de Torremolinos, saves him.

Inés was very sick, and upon examination, Mateo discovers that she has a very large clitoris. By way of massaging the organ, he realizes that it is the anatomical equivalent of kleitoris, unknown in the western world. He names it "Amor Veneris" (Pubic love). Realizing the power this organ has over women, he can't wait to go back to the love of his life, Mona. Unfortunately, he publishes his findings, and he is again facing The Inquisition.

The trial is described in pure detail; this time Mateo falls victim of the biggest irony that life can offer to any human being.

Federico Andahazi has written a passionate historical novel about one of the most famous Renaissance medical doctors. He has succeeded in re-creating the period, not only in its customs, but also in its perverse ways. The author sustains a rhythm that keeps the reader intrigued--while adding humor and irony--with an ending that you never saw coming."

Note, I read the original Spanish edition

Easy to read
The anatomist is the story of the man who discovered the clitoris. It takes place hundreds of years ago, in Italy.

got sucked in by the cover
the articles of this man's defense, what should have been the most important part of the book, were NUMEROUS, DRAWN-OUT, and EXTREMELY DRY.

i liked the cover.liked the VERY ending too.its the in-between bits that i wasn't crazy about. ... Read more

Product Description
A principios del Renacimiento los maestros florentinos dominan el secreto matematico de la perspectiva, y los flamencos, el misterio alquimico de los pigmentos. No obstante, una guerra abierta entre ambas escuelas mantiene al mundo si el pintor perfecto, aque que domine lo mejor de ambas escuelas: la perfeccion de las formas y la luminosidad de los colores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Realistic Mistery
I finished recently of reading this Argentinean Federico Andahazi's novel.In addition to this reading, I have enjoyed other titles from Federico:Las Piadosas and El Anatomista.So that somehow sorrow, the style of Federico has let make an impression, I say to me then that it's sorrow, because if I would not have read the mentioned ones, the style of Federico would have hit me so much by the form in that it is weaving the mystery, the unexpected outcome of histories as by the erudite appointments (for my ignorance at least) that they confer, to the dark competition that maintains those representatives of the Holland and Italian painting school, certain arcane and mysterious realism.It makes me remember a little to the Name of the Rose of Umberto Eco, although only a little.The only pitfall that I must warn is that the end is too bizarre for my pleasure.In any case I devoured the novel in 3 days...(you can find aditional reviews in librosnotables.blogspot.com). ... Read more

Product Description
Description in Spanish: Juan Molina amó tanto el tango que puede decirse que fue creado por él. Por devoción a su música, por lealtad al destino fatal que ésta le imponía y por fidelidad a Carlos Gardel, eligió vivir a su sombra y callar la pasión que lo consumía. Hombre creado por un mito, Molina sólo pudo alcanzar la fama a través de su propia perdición. Una historia semejante, más que contada, merece ser cantada. Por eso, Errante en la sombra es una novela musical, un relato que se despliega como un espectáculo frente al cual el lector es a la vez espectador de una trama que transcurre en esa Buenos Aires que una vez fue realidad y ahora es leyenda. Con la naturalidad y el artificio propios de los protagonistas de los mejores musicales, los personajes de esta novela se expresan cantando y bailando, en medio de una historia que por momentos parece una parodia de sí misma.

El autor de El anatomista plasma aquí una nueva forma narrativa. Con indudable maestría, Andahazi ofrece a un tiempo el placer de la lectura y el de asistir en directo y en primera fila a un inédito melodrama musical tanguero. ... Read more

Product Description
Vanidad aparte recoge 19 entrevistas con escritores hispanos de renombre, una con un importante editor español y otra con el agente literario argentino Guillermo Schavelzon.

Son 21 entrevistas que dan sino la más completa, una importante gama de información acerca del quehacer literario hispanoamericano de los último 50 años.

En ellas aparecen desde confesiones personales (Alfredo Bryce Echenique habla de una depresión que sufrió por la inesperada fama que le dio su primera novela: "Un mundo para Julious"), hasta posiciones firmes ante la crítica (el peruano Mario Vargas Llosa justifica más de setenta impresiciones históricas que los críticos detectaron en su novela "La fiesta del Chivo").

También aparecen testimonios (la mexicana Elena Poniatowska afirma que Juan Rulfo era un hombre "lleno de rencores, que pensaba que los demás siempre le querían hacer algo", mientras la argentina Luisa Valenzuela describe a Julio Cortázar como un hombre humano, "maravilloso, genial, cálido, generoso y acogedor).

Además de querellas sanas contra el estado de cosas del quehacer literario (el argentino Federico Andahazi confiesa "percibir en muchos escritores una actitud totalmente miserable", que le esta haciendo difícil situarse entre los autores argentinos)y el dominicano Marcio Veloz Magiola afirma que entre los grandes nombres de la literatura latinoamericana no hay un dominicano no por falta de una literatura importante sino "porque las casas editoriales no han puesto su mira en nosotros".

Estos son sólo ejemplos de lo que el lector y el estudioso de la literatura hispanoamericana pueden encontrar en este libro, que cierra con un novedoso apéndice compuesto por dos entrevistas más, una con el editor español Jorge Herralde y otra con el agente literario Guillermo Schavelzon, en donde aparece mucha información acerca de las interioridades y la manera de funcionar del mundo editorial de España y América Latina.

En estas entrevistas, realizadas por Jose Carvajal y 14 corresponsales y colaboradores de la Agencia Internacional de Noticias Literarias Librusa, tanto los entrevistados como los entrevistadores entregaron parte de sí mismos a la historia reciente de la literatura hispanoamericana, convirtiendo el material que aparece publicado en este libro en un documento indispensable para entender de dónde viene el pensamiento literario hispanoamericano de los últimos 50 años y su futuro de cara a un nuevo milenio.

Las entrevistas que aparecen en este libro fueron publicadas entre 2000 y 2001 en la página de Internet de Librusa y en varios medios de comunicación de América Latina y Europa, afiliados a Librusa. ... Read more

Product Description
Hasta ahora el gran publico solo conocia a Federico Andahazi a traves de sus novelas y ensayos. Este libro revela el talento del cuentista. El escenario es Quinta del Medio un pueblo cuya ubicacion y fronteras son tan inciertas como los extranos limites que separan la ficcion de la Historia. Desde los enfrentamientos entre unitarios y federales hasta la Guerra de Malvinas el trasfondo belico deja lugar a epicas minimas como la aventura que protagonizan la Gringa y un joven soldado que debe cumplir con la orden de matarla; o la del soldado Rattaghan que decide ir a combatir a las Islas Malvinas para librar su propia y secreta guerra. Por momentos la tragedia deja lugar a un humor acido e ironico como el del enfrentamiento absurdo entre la ciencia el doctor Perrier y la religion el cura del pueblo cuando una posesion demoniaca se abate sobre Quinta del Medio. En una profunda reflexion sobre el Bien y el Mal conspiradores y asesinos a sueldo como Natan Negroponte el sicario de las sombras se mezclan con pequenos heroes que a su pesar se convierten en complices del horror. En cada una de estas fascinantes historias se encuentra la esencia de toda la obra de Federico Andahazi; como un arcon que se abre por primera vez El oficio de los Santos nos deslumbra con las formulas secretas los recursos y las estrategias narrativas que recorren la magnifica y original literatura del autor. El tono caustico a veces brutal el ritmo agil y ligero la descarnada precision de los hechos que se narran nos deslumbran por su absoluta naturalidad. Los relatos de El oficio de los Santos fueron escritos en los anos previos al rotundo exito de El anatomista y la mayoria de ellos fue premiada por prestigiosos jurados en diversos concursos. Era hora de que llegaran al gran publico. ... Read more

Product Description
Matthew Columbus, a 16th-century physician in Italy, is charged with heresy by the Church authorities for uncovering the anatomy of the clitoris. This book was publicly denounced by the sponsor of the literary prize it won in Argentina, as it offers a controversial view of Renaissance Italy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful!
Imagine what would had happened if history would have been different?Suppose the Aztecs discovered the old world before the Spanish conquered them?

In the Federico Andazhi's fantasy world we meet Quetza, who is saved by an old member of the elder council, Tepec.

Quetza grows to be a very smart man a a wonderful navigator.He correctly assumes that the Earth is round and the Aztec ancestors came from somewhere east.

We are taken into a fantastic journey around the world--at one time Quetza meets Christopher Columbus.

Just as Quetza is to finish the around the world trip, his second ship sinks, and all the proof of his deeds are lost.He is then punished by the priest who wanted him killed as a child and is left waiting the inevitable conquest of his race.

Marvelously written, don't know if it has been translated to English. ... Read more

Product Description
En la Francia medieval. el duque Geoffroy de Charny ha hecho uso de su maléfica inteligencia para pergeñar un plan que le asegurará la gloria y el poder. Dominado por la ambición. se propone revivir el carácter milagroso del Santo Sudario. la perfecta excusa que justifique la construcción de una iglesia para su propio provecho. En tanto. su hija Christine protagonizará junto al joven monje Aurelio una tormentosa historia de amor. Oponiéndose a los planes de su padre y dejando al desnudo la licenciosa vida de los conventos. Christine organizará una revuelta religiosa. Juntos fundarán una ciudad tan perfecta como efímera. donde la libertad. el amor y el sexo lucharán por encontrar un destino.Federico Andahazi ha escrito con mano maestra una historia apasionante que revela el secreto del Sudario de Turín. La trama que despliega La ciudad de los herejes exhibe de manera magistral la lucha del poder político y el poder eclesiástico en sus estrategias. argucias y actos cruentos y aterradores. La naturaleza humana hace visible su rostro más oscuro. ... Read more

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Publicada por aclamación pùblica en Argentina, El anatomista de Federico Andahazi lleva a los lectores a Venecia en el siglo XVI. Pues este es el momento y el lugar donde Mateo Colón, el anatomista, está a punto de hacer un descubrimiento insólito: el centro del universo erótico en la mujer. Colón siempre se ha visto a si mismo como un hombre de razón y ciencia en una época muy supersticiosa. Pero hasta él se ve tentado a utilizar el arte quimérico, cuando se enfrenta al antiguo reto, que puede destruir las más grandes mentes: Cómo hacer a una mujer profunda y deliciosamente feliz?

El anatomista nos recuerda el alcance del exuberante sentido histórico de Umberto Eco, y el ingenio desinhibido y sensual de Gabriel García Márquez. Con prosa tan delicada y suelta como una manta de seda, Federico Andahazi lleva a sus lectores en un viaje provocativo, recordándoles un territorio que jamás será completamente conquistado, pero cuya exploración y descubrimiento nos brindan satisfacción interminable.

Autor bestseller en Argentina, su país de origen, Federico Andahazi nació en Buenos Aires en 1963. Sus cuentos han recibido muchos premios y El anatomista es su primera novela. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great book
I loved this book! I should have read it during my History of Medicine class, but I did not have time at that moment and recently talking to a good old friend from medical school she mentioned again so I decided to buy it. For anyone who loves historical/medical fiction this is a well grounded book written by a psychologist. It tells the story of the anatomist who discovered the clitoris. It is loaded with tons of historical data about the Europe of the time. A must read for any woman who wants to be reminded about the beauty of her body and for any man who hopes to find clues about how to please his women.

Demasiado lento y tedioso.
Un tema muy prometedor, pero desafortunadamente no creo que el autor haya desarrollado el tema o desarrollado los personajes como ameritaba. Es una pena ya que este era un tema muy prometedor. Lamentablemente, Andahazi no logra retener mi atencio'n por mucho tiempo. Se me hizo bastante difi'cil terminar este libro y no dejarlo a un lado y comenzar a leer otro. Este no es un mal libro, pero tampoco es excelente--en mi humilde opinio'n.

Disappointing
An interesting, creative premise poorly executed.The plot develops too slowly; the motivations and personalities of the characters are never well developed.

Mucho ruido y pocas nueces
Es una lectura entretenida y hasta ahí.
La mínima ambientación histórica para hacer el relato fluido, el facilismo de la Inquisición para truncar personajes repentinamente, una buena parte del libro es la "transcripción" del alegato del protagonista en el juicio al que se lo somete.
Y a partir de allí el argumento ya no es tal, sino una larga, laaarga nota al pie.
No espere demasiado el lector.

Una novela que nunca alcanza a despegar
El anatomista es uno de esos raros libros en los que la información de la cuarta de forros es más interesante y se encuentra mejor escrita que el libro en sí mismo. El guión es ingenioso, y recuerda lejanamente a "El perfume" de Patrick Suskind, pero donde Suskind acierta en la descripción de los ambientes de la época, el detallado dibujo de los personajes y sus obsesiones, y sobre todo, en la elegancia de la narración, Federico Andahazi fracasa, al leerse su libro básicamente como un guión de cine inacabado, con tres o más estilos narrativos entremezclados. No hay transportación del lector a la Venecia del siglo XVI, no hay buen manejo de la intriga (el final es predecible) y no hay tampoco ese ritmo trepidante que caracteriza a las grandes novelas.

Al final, la obra fracasa en distintos niveles, y nos queda una sensación como que Federico Andahazi le dio vueltas y vueltas a una sola idea que tenía en mente, pero sin un desenlace satisfactorio. ... Read more

Product Description
The second novel from the best-selling Argentine author of The Anatomist, The Merciful Women is a brilliant retelling of the birth of the Gothic novel. In the summer of 1816, Percy and Mary Shelley, Mary's sister, and Lord Byron hid themselves away in a Swiss villa, whiling away rainy afternoons with the Gothic novel contest that would produce Frankenstein. Andahazi's reimagining focuses on the fifth competitor: John Polidori, Byron's manservant, a talentless hack resentful of the ease of his master's life. Through a Faustian pact with an unseen intercessant, Polidori obtains the most compelling vampire story ever written. But "The Vampyre" has striking similarities to Polidori's benefactor and to what she asks of him in return. Opium, erotica, and decadence meld into a sly and stylish novel about literary ambition, talent, and inspiration. "A hoot ... a Voltaire-like skewering of the myth of genius. Andahazi can remind you of vintage Terry Southern." -- Richard Wallace, The Seattle Times "Playful, satiric, erotic, sometimes savage, sometimes slapstick ... something completely different, and well worth reading. -- San Francisco Chronicle "As a piece of mock-scholarly, wickedly ironic entertainment, it is an utter delight." -- Publishers Weekly "This literary tour de force cum vampire tale will leave the reader gasping-from laughter and horror by turns." -- The Baltimore Sun ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

I found out why this book was on sale
I picked this book up, as it was on sale, and the synopsis sounded interesting.Some of my favorite writers, stormy nights in Geneva, it sounded right up my alley.

Very quickly, I found it wasn't.Byron, the Shelleys, and Claire were only barely relevant to the plot.They were simply a ploy to beef up a lackluster story.The tale centered around awkwardly written sex scenes, and not much else.They don't do much to further the story, and the overall plot is weak at best.It may have fared better as a short story rather than a novella, giving it a chance to be entertaining rather than tedious.

Fun book for those who enjoy mock-Gothic writing and literary mysteries
Set during the legendary period that inspired Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write "Frankenstein", Federico Andahazi's "The Merciful Women" uses as its central character John Polidori, the neurotic, despised secretary and personal physician to Lord Byron.One dark and stormy night a challenge is issued by Byron to his three guests, Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont: write an effective supernatural tale.Though he is not invited to participate, the despised Polidori, longing to belong to the group, takes up the challenge.This challenge is made easier when Annette Legrand, the hideous and secret third member of the theatrical Legrand Sisters, offers to provide Polidori with an original manuscript she guarantees will ensure his literary immortality. But, of course, Polidori must provide something in return.

"The Merciful Women" is a fun book for those who enjoy mock-Gothic writing and literary mysteries.It has moments of true horror (some not for the squeamish), but it all leads up to an ironic ending.

WORDY, WEAK CHARACTERS
Good idea for a story--Mary Shelley and P. B. Shelley himself, plus Lord Byron and a woman named Claire, all up in the mountains on a lake in the rain, much like the famous place where Mary S. wrote the first "Frankenstein"--but the writing is slow and tedious and burdened with too many words, and the characters are lame.
Also, the sensibility didn't work for me. Are we supposed to identify with the poor servant Polidori? How is it possible that he is young and stupid and treated poorly, on the one hand, and yet on the other hand an erudite scholar, a known intellect, and a doctor? How does all that fit together?
The characters are weak. Polidori runs all over the castle, frantic, because he finds a letter that he doesn't expect. Why doesn't he just open the damn thing? He finally does open it, and then, unfortunately, we have to read it. It goes on and on forever.
Then he gets upset because the woman who wrote the letter can see the light in his window. Oh boy, that would upset me. Shiver-shiver. She's far away across the lake. How lame. He flicks his light off and on, and this woman across the lake flicks her light off and on. Then he is so nervous he can't sleep. Oh boy. Pretty scary. But really. My God. How lame.
Inside the long boring letter, we get to read grisly descriptions of children born with monstrous deformities. These descriptions are not horrifying, they are disgusting. They make you want to barf.
At one point, Polidori throws himself off the balcony, for no good reason. Is that supposed to be intriguing? It might be if it made any sense.
I found the novel tedious, boring and disgusting. I struggled through 63 pages. And it was a struggle. That was more than enough.
Grade: D-
Score: -5 on a scale of -10 to +10

love it or hate it
andahazi's delightfully quirky novel about the birth of the gothic novel, the authors involved and thier dark muse has not surprisingly cut readers down teh middle. a quick look at teh earlier ratings suggests that readers have either loved or hated it.

i, thankfully, belong to the former group and must admit that i thoroughly enjoyed this devious tale written with sublime black humour. this book is clearly not for the faint or heart or the squeamish but if you are willing to be led down some sleazy alleys andahazi delivers his goods. the translation by alberto manguel is top class and it is hard to imagine this was not written in english.

the book does no offer much breadth of scope but what it promises it delivers.

A dark, ironic parody of the Gothic genre....
On a dark stormy night, a group of people holidaying by Lake Geneva gather to read out their stories. It is a competition devised by the dashing Lord Byron, to see who can write the most horrific and terrifying story... one of these people is Mary Shelley....

This book is a fantastic parody of the Gothic genre; the dark stormy nights, the mysterious castle and the heaving,storm-tossed lake... all in all, a tremendous read for anyone who enjoys Gothic tales or their parodies. Although sometimes graphic, the story is gripping and the elements of historical truth are enough to keep you interested right up to the thrilling and unexpected end. The book is filled with dark irony, and the intertextual references to the Gothic genre and the creation of that monstrous, classic tale Frankenstien, are witty and clever, but the book can be enjoyed on many levels. I would highly recommend this book, and have bought multiple copies for all of my friends. ... Read more