The Monk (1796)

A fun read and shocking that such content was written in 1796! I do prefer Ann Radcliffe with the explained supernatural. Her response to Lewis’s The Monk was The Italian and I preferred that volume. But, my time was not ill-spent with this crazy book! A fun beach read! ( )

"¿Qué tal si os digo que he escrito, en el plazo de diez semanas, una novela de entre tres y cuatrocientas páginas en octava? Incluso, de lo que he escrito, he tenido que desechar tanto como la mitad de eso."

Esto escribía en una carta un chaval de 19 años a su madre en el otoño de 1794.

Sin palabras.

Pero es que continuaba:

"Se titula "El Monje", y he quedado tan satisfecho de ella que, si no la compran los editores, yo mismo la publicaré".

Había nacido una de las novelas góticas más famosas de la literatura inglesa. ( )

Selling your soul to Satan is a tantalizing premise. So I expected the Monk to be: an exciting tale of fighting temptation from the greatest seducers; keeping your virtues from corruption and sin. With some hope, I expected this book would alleviate the disappointment I had with the The Pillars of the Earth ─ Ken Follett. But no, this is another disappointment; perhaps I'm not the target audience.
The biggest issue is the length. Long convoluted sections are common. The selling point i.e. the monk's corruption, only appear in the latter half.
I read through the prolix text and was rewarded with an interesting story. How the monk showed its wicked side was exciting; Satan didn't corrupt the monk, but merely revealed its nature.
However, I cannot say it was worth it. I shouldn't have to torture myself to get to the point of the book. But maybe this complains are unfair, the book is from 1796, and maybe as cared little for the subplot ─ especially the romance — I may have missed something. ( )

Filled with melodrama, ridiculousness, and ghosts. I loved it!

It has a great moral that is still useful today-Be pious because you are a good person, not because you think you're better than everyone else. ( )

Ok this book is so great- it starts off kinda slow a you're like yeah yeah a monk, blah blah picking up girls at church, but then it escalates...and really escalates ... And suddenly HOLYSHIT THE ENDING.

Also I love Satan.

The best last chapter of a book of all time. ( )