7/1/2023 0 Comments Melmoth by sarah perry![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is necessary to keep your eyes open like a mad saint rather than closed like a contented Buddha. The refrain – “Look” – becomes more and more important, and if the maybe-a-ghost, really-a-ghost teaches us anything, it is that one word. It also makes the reader face the fact that there are things in the world from which we might wish to shield our eyes. It is a book fundamentally about redemption and it takes redemption seriously – in that it comes with a price – and manages to undo Maturin’s gloating with a sense of genuine human connection. I was reminded of Koji Suzuki’s Ring, which was adapted into an acclaimed Japanese film: Perry’s work ought to be given similarly sensitive treatment. Throughout the story Helen comes across many testimonies of people who believe that they have seen Melmoth at the moment of. But at its heart, ‘Melmoth’ is a novel about empathy. ![]() It also places the reader in a remarkably uncomfortable position. Sarah Perry is very good at asking us uncomfortable questions and making us sympathise with a scary monster lady who appears during humanity’s worst moments. She has had three novels published, all by Serpents Tail: After Me Comes the Flood (2014), The Essex Serpent (2016) and Melmoth (2018). There is an intrusive “I” in a book which is usually in the third person, and the pay-off is worth the secrecy. Sarah Grace Perry FRSL (born 28 November 1979) is an English author. Her sentences are interruptive they never quite end the way you expect them to do. The connective tissue is Perry’s own prose. ![]()
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