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Book of Human Skin Paperback – January 1, 2011

by Michelle Lovric (Author)

4.3 177 ratings

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13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her...

Print length

512 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury
Publication date

January 1, 2011
Dimensions

5.08 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

1408809648
ISBN-13

978-1408809648
See all details

Mariana Enriquez
1,025
Paperback
51 offers from $9.31

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury; First Edition (January 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1408809648
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1408809648
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,981,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22,233 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.3 177 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

177 global ratings

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A gripping read.

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2018

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Well written, humorous, macabre, interesting story line, history, this book has everything!
Based in Venice and Peru - something completely different.
Well worth a read.

One person found this helpful

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Steven Moore, Author

Spine-chillingly original!

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018

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Spine-chillingly original.

Just brilliant.

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MissAmanda

Too Long, but an enjoyable read

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2014

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I've read 2 other books by this author and enjoyed them very much, bringing to life as she does ancient Venice. This book was similarly detailed and evocative, but for me too long and skimmed the final third to get to the end. I found the phonetically written characters quite hard to get into in places, and felt some of the characters were sub par in terms of their credibility. But overall a good enough read.

One person found this helpful

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Lady Fancifull

Gothic, Grand-Guignol, Grisly, Grim and Gorgeous!

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2015

Good Heavens! Michelle Lovric has a rich, inventive imagination, steeps herself in research, wears it lightly, and overflows with a kind of earthy vitality that seems to belong to an earlier century and indeed to be more akin to South American literature than English literature. Or it may just be the time and the place she is writing about

The marvellous Book of Human Skin is set in Venice, and also in Peru, or what later became Peru, at the tail end of the eighteenth century, up to and beyond Napoleon's death on St. Helena in 1821

The book is written in 5 voices, each of which is excellently delineated. Two of them are quite definitely of the devil's party, even though one of them is a deranged nun who believes she is due to ascend in beatitude, and 3 are most definitely on the side of the angels

Minguello Fasan, born in 1784 is a vile, sadistic, sneering, puffed up and very funny scion of the house of Fasan. He bears more than a passing resemblance to the monstrously compelling central character of Patrick Susskind's Perfume. Minguello, right from the start has a whiff of brimstone about him, and whether by nature or by nurture is determined to express that fully. He is the second born of the house, and aware of the dislike in which everyone holds him, including his parents, is determined to inherit all his family's substantial riches. And he is a passionate collector of books which are bound in Human Skin.

Marcella Fasan is his younger sister. Born with a congenital weakness, she is nonetheless loved by all, and almost immediately becomes the next target of Minguello's sadism and ire (something happens to his older sibling) Marcella is intelligent, a gifted wielder of the pen and pencil, loyal, loving, resourceful and refuses to accept the role Minguello assigns her (dead through his many designs)

Gianni delle Boccole is bright, devoted to Marcella, but appears a dolt. By circuitous means he learned to read (though most assume him illiterate); he is Marcello's valet. Though he can read, he can barely write, and certainly has a more than usually phonetic grasp of spelling. Initially, his often hugely funny misspellings were a little irritating or contrived, but by the third or fourth of Gianni's tellings of the tale, I was sold on him. And some of the tale is so dark and seamy than the levity of unintentional writos are a relief!

Doctor Santo Aldobrandini is a poor young orphan, with a desperate desire to help and heal, and a large and tender heart, who gets himself, by hook or by crook, apprenticed to learn the craft of physic.

These four start their journey in Venice, a proud, patrician, sophisticated, urbane, cultured - not to mention decadent (according to some) - state, whose fortunes will be changed by Napoleon.

Sor Loreta, the deranged, delusional nun, dreams of becoming a martyr, a saint, and the prioress of Santa Catalina, Arequipa, in modern day Peru

Another way of looking at these five (and there are many other equally ebullient characters who might almost have strayed from Balzac or even Rabelais) might be in the tradition of some of Rossini's operas. And I'm sure this is deliberate, on Lovric's part, as another character, the current prioress of Santa Catalina, is devoted to Rossini's music (not all nuns are quite the dour characters which the outside world thinks they might be)

In this, Marcella and Santo are of course the young lovers (Rosina, Almaviva/Lindoro) (Santo, like Almaviva in The Barber of Seville is expert in disguise in order to gain the enemy stronghold to meet his truly beloved) Gianni, valet, is Figaro, and Minguello the much more wicked version of the merely buffoonish Doctor Bartolo, and the equally sadistic Sor Loreta a notched up version of the prim Berta,

This is a glorious, twisty, turny (utterly credible within its own reality) plot. Characters that make sense in place and time. Humour which is as dark as you like, but, overall, an explosion of intelligence, vivacity, inventiveness and originality.

As you can tell, I like Lovric rather a lot, following my earlier read of her later novel, involving the wonderfully tressed Irish sisters The True and Splendid History of The Harristown Sisters: A Novel

The 466 page novel is followed by a much soberer and more explanatory 30 page afterword by Lovric, where she lays out the factual aspects of her book, and where she departed from the facts. In essence, all the historical information IS there, but may have been woven in a unique way by Lovric. The dots are in place, she does the joining.

I think I've gone off reading 'wood books' and will stick to the less potentially dangerous Kindled editions. Readers of this will understand my new sensitivities..........

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Keris Nine

Skin deep

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2010

The scale and ambition of The Book of Human Skin can be measured in its spanning from Arequipa in Peru to Venice of the late 18th century, taking in along the way a society dominated and revolutionised by the sweeping reforms of Napoleon in his conquest of Europe, as well as the revolution against Spanish rule in South America. It's also measured, just as ambitiously and comprehensively, by the range of its colourful cast of characters that take in all aspects of this striving for a new egalitarian society, all of them to a large extent defined, disfigured and their lives determined by the condition of their skin.

Much in the way the Patrick Süskind's Perfume opened up 18th century Europe as a highly original olfactory experience, The Book of Human Skin adds another dimension, that of the experience of life in the 18th century considered through the tint, taint, texture and tincture of the human skin. The self-lacerations and mortifications on the body of a fanatical nun in Arequipa testify to her state of mind and the world around her as much as the pustulant scarring on the face of Minguillo Fasan, the deranged son of a noble Venetian businessman, indicate the twisted machinations and extreme, vile and violent lengths he will go to in order to disinherit his pitiable disabled sister Marcella. Willed their father's estate in preference to the eldest son, Minguillo plots dastardly scheme after scheme to discredit and further disable the young girl, hoping eventually to have her sent off to a nunnery in the traditional fashion. Fasan himself has no great ambitions for the inheritance other than for the funding a grim and growing collection of legendary books bound, no less, in human skin.

While the historical background of the book is important, it's far from academic in what is clearly a delirious and entertaining romp through 18th century Venetian society. The historical context however is used quite brilliantly and ingenuously to indeed present various aspects of life through the medium of skin. All the lusts, excesses and indulgences of the age, all the beauty and the splendour, all the machinations, cruelty and depravity are expressed in the skin and faces of a wide range of characters, from the epidermis of Napoleon himself to the disfigured faces of beaten servants, and even in the mixing of skin tones on the palette of a painter of Venetian nobles.

A thick book, bound with intriguing black edging as if to warn of the corruption and depravity contained within, The Book of Human Skin may look a little intimidating, but it's a delightful and entertaining book to read. With its cacophony of beguiling narrative voices from the differing classes clamouring to present their side of the story, even the most deranged possess a seductive charm in their observations to draw the reader wholly into their world, making the 500 pages a mere skip to read. Considering the books fascination with "anthropodermic bibliopegy" however, the Cautious Reader should be wary of any "specially bound" editions being offered for sale.

One person found this helpful

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S Cummins

The Book of Human Skin

Reviewed in Canada on December 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

Fascinating, historically fairly accurate, very dark at times, good to have some knowledge of catholicism, but best of all it features Venice!!!

Erinome

4,5 Sterne: Geht unter die Haut

Reviewed in Germany on October 18, 2013

Verified Purchase

In THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN lässt Michelle Lovric in Venedig und in Peru zu Beginn des 19. Jh. fünf Erzähler auftreten, die jeweils eine starke eigene Stimme haben, und von ihrem Schicksal berichten.
Minguillo Fasan, der Sohn spanisch-venezianischer Adeliger, lässt nichts unversucht, um seinen Mitmenschen das Leben so schwer und unangenehm wie möglich zu machen. Minguillo frönt verstörenden Hobbies und seine Schwester Marcella, die die zweite Erzählerin im Roman ist, hat besonders unter seinen psychopathischen Anwandlungen zu leiden.
Der junge Doktor Santo Aldobrandini hat sich besonders der Erforschung von Hautkrankheiten verschrieben. Seine und die Wege der Fasans kreuzen sich und ihr Schicksal ist von diesem Zeitpunkt an eng miteinander verwoben.
Gianni ist der Kammerdiener Minguillos. Er und die anderen Dienstboten sind Marcella treu ergeben, können gegen Minguillos Terrorherrschaft jedoch nichts unternehmen und verfolgen das Drama gezwungenermaßen von den Seitenlinien.
Die letzte Erzählerin ist die peruanische Klosterschwester Sor Loreta, die von sich glaubt, von Gott auserwählt geworden zu sein, und ihr einziges Ziel ist es, als Heilige in die Geschichte einzugehen.

In THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN vermischt Michelle Lovric Liebe, Treue, Freundschaft, religiösen Fanatismus, Sadismus, Medizin, Kurpfuscherei, Malerei und Rache und schafft so einen faszinierenden und farbenprächtigen historischen Roman, der zwei Kontinente umspannt. Die Handlung von THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN ist sehr clever aufgebaut und letztendlich werden alle fünf Erzählstränge zu einem spannenden und sinnvollen Ganzen zusammengeführt. Mehr möchte ich an dieser Stelle jedoch nicht verraten, um niemandem das Buch zu verderben. Die einzelnen Abschnitte sind deutlich gekennzeichnet und die Handlung ist kein durchgehendes Ganzes, sie ist in einzelne Situationsaufnahmen unterteilt.
Die zahlreichen Figuren in THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN sind lebensecht und glaubwürdig gezeichnet und haben mich vollkommen begeistert. Sehr gut hat mir auch gefallen, wenn mehrere Erzähler auf die gleiche Figur treffen und so kontrastierende Eindrücke des Charakters eingefangen werden.
Alles in allem hat mir THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN sehr gut gefallen. Mein einziger kleiner Kritikpunkt ist der Erzählstrang rund um Gianni. Giannis Passagen sind aufgrund seiner schlechten Bildung in phonetischem Englisch verfasst, was mir die Entschlüsselung dieser Abschnitte nicht immer einfach gemacht hat. Englischanfänger sollten hier unbedingt vorsichtig sein. Ansonsten kann ich jedoch eine uneingeschränkte Empfehlung für diesen schönen historischen Roman aussprechen.

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J. Cooper

Epic plot, rapidly devoured

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2011

Verified Purchase

This was quite simply a breathtaking read. I've never read a book that stirred such a range of emotions. It was clever, witty, personable and rapidly devoured. The page count was never noticed, the pages whirled by and the end came all too soon.

The plot at its most basic level can be described as one of good versus evil. Yet via a network of some of the finest literary characters I've yet to have met, the author delivers a structural masterpiece.

Set in the heart of Venice, one noble Venetian family gives life to a son. And not just any old son, this is Minguillo, one of the most dastardly and repugnant characters I've yet to have encountered. Minguillo sets out to destroy his family in an attempt to assert himself as head. The main body of the book thus describes his manipulation of his family and his evil deeds once comfortably seated in a position of power. He hates his sister Marcella with a passion and the lengths he will go to in an attempt to destroy her life are simply astounding.

On the other hand, a duo of fine characters (in the form of the humble servant and aspiring doctor) set out to frustrate Minguillo's plans as a result of their love for Marcella. Thus the stage is set for a read in which subterfuge, secrecy and trickery are king in an environment oppressed by evil. At the same time on the other side of the world in Peru, a fanatical young woman enters a convent, an event which will have devastating consequences for many different people.

I really liked this book for many different reasons. The historicity of the period was subtle and hidden to an extent in the background, but ultimately well researched. The characters were fully personable and dimensional and were supported by a fabulous cast of sub-characters. Scenery was described in a way which brought an image to life. The smells, sounds, tastes and cultural practices were vividly expressed through a range of linguistic expressions and mannerisms that were completely original and evocative.

The book is structured in a way in which the characters appear to be expressing themselves in the first person in a manner akin to diary entries. Different type faces are given to the characters, a technique which I found to be particularly helpful as quite often the `entries' are no longer than a single paragraph or page. The type face was soon associated the character and became unnoticeable.

If you enjoy epic plots, historical dramas and dysfunctional families, you simply have to buy `The Book of Human Skin'. It is an astounding read and one which I am sure will become a literary classic enjoyed by countless people. Highly recommended.

One person found this helpful

BeccaRose

a bit uncomfortable....3.5 stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2011

Verified Purchase

This was my first novel by Lovrik. I must say I found her writing expressional and well researched. However I did struggle, I found it difficult to get into at first and at certain points contemplated giving it up. This is nothing to do with the overall plot or style of writing; rather it was because I struggled with Minguillo's wickedness. It was absolutely uncomfortable from start to finish, frustrating and upsetting. I can't say I enjoyed any of his entries, and actively felt disheartened when I saw his name and typeface patiently waiting to be read! Although his ending fate is somewhat satisfying, it could have been more so. The ending seemed to me to be a little bit `thrown together', and predictable, which ultimately I found it disappointing.

I also found the characters to be difficult to believe in, you could call the book of human skin the book of human extremes, evil and benevolence live side by side with no compromise or middle ground. It reminded me very much of a Shakespearean Drama in terms of the characters and the scenes, and also in terms of the transgression of the plot. Perhaps this is due in part to the Venetian background, but I also think the themes of justice and revenge had a major impact.

My favourite character was by far Cecelia Cornalo; I found her to be refreshing light comic relief and I enjoyed her sense of Justice and her (one might say typically Italian) passion for art, for life and for love. I can see why Lovrik has used this character again and again. I found Marcella and Gianni to be quite whet (in terms of Marcella please excuse the pun!), I was desperate for some sense of character progression and the lack of this was disappointing. I enjoyed Gianni's character entries however due to the expressionate and humourous way they were written.

Overall definitely worth a read, and fascinating from a political and historical perspective, but definitely a bit of a chore to trudge through in parts.

3 people found this helpful

Lady Fancifull

Gothic, Grand-Guignol, Grisly, Grim and Gorgeous!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Good Heavens! Michelle Lovric has a rich, inventive imagination, steeps herself in research, wears it lightly, and overflows with a kind of earthy vitality that seems to belong to an earlier century and indeed to be more akin to South American literature than English literature. Or it may just be the time and the place she is writing about

The marvellous Book of Human Skin is set in Venice, and also in Peru, or what later became Peru, at the tail end of the eighteenth century, up to and beyond Napoleon's death on St. Helena in 1821

The book is written in 5 voices, each of which is excellently delineated. Two of them are quite definitely of the devil's party, even though one of them is a deranged nun who believes she is due to ascend in beatitude, and 3 are most definitely on the side of the angels

Minguello Fasan, born in 1784 is a vile, sadistic, sneering, puffed up and very funny scion of the house of Fasan. He bears more than a passing resemblance to the monstrously compelling central character of Patrick Susskind's Perfume. Minguello, right from the start has a whiff of brimstone about him, and whether by nature or by nurture is determined to express that fully. He is the second born of the house, and aware of the dislike in which everyone holds him, including his parents, is determined to inherit all his family's substantial riches. And he is a passionate collector of books which are bound in Human Skin.

Marcella Fasan is his younger sister. Born with a congenital weakness, she is nonetheless loved by all, and almost immediately becomes the next target of Minguello's sadism and ire (something happens to his older sibling) Marcella is intelligent, a gifted wielder of the pen and pencil, loyal, loving, resourceful and refuses to accept the role Minguello assigns her (dead through his many designs)

Gianni delle Boccole is bright, devoted to Marcella, but appears a dolt. By circuitous means he learned to read (though most assume him illiterate); he is Marcello's valet. Though he can read, he can barely write, and certainly has a more than usually phonetic grasp of spelling. Initially, his often hugely funny misspellings were a little irritating or contrived, but by the third or fourth of Gianni's tellings of the tale, I was sold on him. And some of the tale is so dark and seamy than the levity of unintentional writos are a relief!

Doctor Santo Aldobrandini is a poor young orphan, with a desperate desire to help and heal, and a large and tender heart, who gets himself, by hook or by crook, apprenticed to learn the craft of physic.

These four start their journey in Venice, a proud, patrician, sophisticated, urbane, cultured - not to mention decadent (according to some) - state, whose fortunes will be changed by Napoleon.

Sor Loreta, the deranged, delusional nun, dreams of becoming a martyr, a saint, and the prioress of Santa Catalina, Arequipa, in modern day Peru

Another way of looking at these five (and there are many other equally ebullient characters who might almost have strayed from Balzac or even Rabelais) might be in the tradition of some of Rossini's operas. And I'm sure this is deliberate, on Lovric's part, as another character, the current prioress of Santa Catalina, is devoted to Rossini's music (not all nuns are quite the dour characters which the outside world thinks they might be)

In this, Marcella and Santo are of course the young lovers (Rosina, Almaviva/Lindoro) (Santo, like Almaviva in The Barber of Seville is expert in disguise in order to gain the enemy stronghold to meet his truly beloved) Gianni, valet, is Figaro, and Minguello the much more wicked version of the merely buffoonish Doctor Bartolo, and the equally sadistic Sor Loreta a notched up version of the prim Berta,

This is a glorious, twisty, turny (utterly credible within its own reality) plot. Characters that make sense in place and time. Humour which is as dark as you like, but, overall, an explosion of intelligence, vivacity, inventiveness and originality.

As you can tell, I like Lovric rather a lot, following my earlier read of her later novel, involving the wonderfully tressed Irish sisters The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters

The 466 page novel is followed by a much soberer and more explanatory 30 page afterword by Lovric, where she lays out the factual aspects of her book, and where she departed from the facts. In essence, all the historical information IS there, but may have been woven in a unique way by Lovric. The dots are in place, she does the joining.

I think I've gone off reading 'wood books' and will stick to the less potentially dangerous Kindled editions. Readers of this will understand my new sensitivities..........

4 people found this helpful

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