The title suggests it all, really. And it does make you rethink the enjoyment you may feel in reading a book cover to cover.
But what Lovric does that is so unusual is combine something truly disturbing, truly difficult to swallow, with a tried and true love story.
The Story of Family
Marcella Fasan is a pawn in her brother Minguillo's game of life. Minguillo, a spoiled, ugly young man torments his quite younger sister with all sorts of imaginative tortures, just as he does the help and the animals. His sick, twisted nature makes even his kind parents afraid of him, and so no one ever steps in to help sweet Marcella.
One of the most disturbing aspects of this book is that not only do you read about Marcella's plight as she is forced to endure the machinations of her brother, but you read Minguillo's perspective in first person narrative, as though he is speaking directly to you as a confidant. Which the reader is, in a way, further creating a sense of intimacy with a monster.
It is Minguillo's obsession with the torment of his sister that eventually leads to his ruin, but it is the fact that Marcella is his sister, and in the 18th century, that made her his property, to use as he saw fit.
The Story of Love
Directly opposed to the villainous Minguillo is Doctor Santo Aldobrandini, who gives his heart and soul to a woman he saw once in a tower window. When Minguillo torments his sister nearly to death, he brings in the good doctor, thinking that the doctor will assist him in further torturing his sister. Instead, the doctor comes to love Marcella as no one has before him, and this sets both himself and Marcella on a path of anxiety and subterfuge as they work tirelessly to get Marcella away from her brother.
This love story is beautifully subtle. While the feelings are clear, they are genuine and without lots of flowery prose or extreme exposition. And this subtly creates a beautiful contrast to the shocking and brutal nature of her brother's behaviour.
The Story of Extremes
Minguillo is the extreme of evil. He tortures, he denigrates, he humiliates and he murders. And this behaviour is exemplified in his unique collection--books made of skin, and the more delicate and fragile the skin, the more he obsesses over it. There are many passages that make a reader distinctly uncomfortable, and this is a credit to the author, that she has drawn this character so well.
The women in the convent of Santa Catalina are another example of extremes. And again, you have a villain in the shape of a nun who exists only to be the "best" nun in the convent by mortifying her body beyond repair, and attempting to force others to do the same. It is she who, paradoxically, will set in motion the possibility of freedom for Marcella.
It would be possible to go on and on about this book, as it has many layers, including social, cultural, religious and familial aspects throughout its 476 pages. It is breathtaking, uncomfortable, and exceptionally unique in the contemporary canon of literature.
The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric. Bloomsbury 2010. ISBN: 978-1-4088-0588-6
Victoria Oldham - Victoria is a freelance writer from Southern California, currently living in the Midlands of England with her partner. She is in the ...
