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Title: Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D. Scottish Public Health Officer (British Literature Series) by Alasdair Gray ISBN: 1-56478-307-3 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Eccentric alternate history/fantasy
Comment: I make it my job to read some pretty weird books--as an aficionado of science fiction and fantasy, I sometimes run into some doozies-- but this novel by Gray has to be one of the strangest that I've run into recently. The fact that this novel was not published in the genre, and won a couple of mainstream awards makes me wonder what else I'm missing in the "mundane" fiction shelves.
Poor Things is supposedly non-fiction, as illustrated by its full title on the title page: "Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer, Edited by Alasdair Gray." But this is all part of its mystique. Gray has constructed a literary puzzle, a Frankenstein's monster of a book that takes its inspiration from that novel by Mary Shelley as well as the works of Robert Louis Stevenson and H.G. Wells. McCandless is the titular biographer, but the story is actually that of the eccentric Scottish doctor Godwin Baxter and his "creation," Bella Baxter, later known as Dr. Victoria McCandless. Set in Glasgow in the 1880s, the plot entails how McCandless met Baxter, how he then met Baxter's protege Bella and fell in love with her, her subsequent departure, and the circumstances of her return. To reveal any more would be to dilute the heavy stuff of the novel's innovative twists.
If Gray were writing with the Fantasy label stuck on the spine of his books, I would have termed this one a "steampunk" novel for its revisionist look at medicine and technology in a pre-auto world. Fans of Tim Powers and James Blaylock should definitely check this one out.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book
Comment: I just finished the book a few hours ago and it's the best book I've read in a while. "Poor Things" is the story of a lonely doctor, Godwin, who reanimates a beautiful woman's body who commited suicide (in a unique Frankenstein-esque fashion). Godwin's creation was meant to be for his own selfish desire but like every Frankenstein story it goes horribly awry. The books goes into detail bringing you into points of view from every character, not letting you forgot what happened, and using excellent foreshadowing. Make sure you read the extra writings at the end of the book to get the full impact of Alisdair Gray's skills.
Rating: 3
Summary: Very Odd
Comment: Not for everyone, but it will appeal to those with macabre humor.
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Title: Blackden (Norton Paperback) by Duncan McLean ISBN: 039331975X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Foreign Parts by Janice Galloway ISBN: 1564780821 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Strange Loyalties (Harvest Book) by William McIlvanney ISBN: 0156856441 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 04 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Morvern Callar by Alan Warner ISBN: 038548741X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie : Perennial Classics Edition (Perennial Classics) by Muriel Spark ISBN: 0060931736 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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