Well, I was quite surprised coming upon this review of a book I read a while ago. I had very similar reactions to yours, so don't know what else I can add, just pleasure at finding someone else who can appreciate this unusual book.
The English Civil Wars are my all-time favorite historical period. It's that utter darkness of morality and mood of the 17th century, the violence and horror, and yet, despite that, the looking out and up for something better. (Aside: to get an excellent sense of what was going on with Cromwell and the Parliamentarian side, read Christopher Hill's God's Englishman.)
Back to As Meat Loves Salt: I really couldn't stomach the sociopath narrator. And yes, I read an online review with the author in which she talks about deliberately creating a monster to be the voice of this story, and explaining that she, and all of us, have these characteristics within us to some degree. The problem is she put them all into this one character, to a very great degree, and I loathed him too much to feel any sympathy for him. I think she let an artistic conceit run away with her. It's fun for her to test her skills as a writer. For most readers, it's just too unpleasant to read, except for those who are so stupid (I've read some of their comments online) that they take Jacob's self-serving presentation at face value.
I did find the m/m sex scenes very hot and loved the character of Ferris, while admitting that he got himself into this predicament with his eyes open. But I hated the scenes of Jacob deceiving his wife into marrying him and running off so she couldn't incriminate him, then raping her in the woods. I hated everything about Jacob except his "love" for Ferris, the closest he could come to genuine love.
I also "enjoyed" the war scenes (sorry, that's a comment on me, I guess) because I thought it was a terrific idea of McCann's to show how how a big, strong, murderous sociopath was the ideal soldier for those times and that kind of warfare--a siege of a house/stronghold, with civilians inside.
I disagree only on one point: your interpetation of the ending. I felt Jacob's actions and motives were quite clear by this time. We know he's a monster, we know he's incapable of doing anything good, and we know, if he truly loves Ferris on some level, then he must destroy him. So he deliberately screws up the letter and leaves the commune to the mercies of the Royalist landowners. He knows exactly what he's doing. He could have warned them or tried to get them to leave. With solid evidence of what was going to happen, most of them would have been more than willing to save themselves. Jacob wouldn't have been "committing suicide"--he could have warned them in advance. But no, he holds on to the letter, does nothing, and lets the doomsday come. Then he watches it, to get the maximum of sadistic pleasure. Yes, it "hurts" him to see it, because on his own messed-up terms he did love Ferris. But he chose to watch this, to see it, because ultimately the only thing that turns him on is deadly violence.
And of course, the wonderful kicker: where does this sociopathic monster end up? America, of course! To everyone who wonders why this country turned out the way it did, why we do the terrible things we do and elect such unspeakable leaders--here's the best explanation I've read so far. Jacob Cullen is the prototypic American colonist.
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timeasmymeasure
Loved book, hated him--and more spoilers
Date: 2007-06-03 11:15 pm (UTC)The English Civil Wars are my all-time favorite historical period. It's that utter darkness of morality and mood of the 17th century, the violence and horror, and yet, despite that, the looking out and up for something better. (Aside: to get an excellent sense of what was going on with Cromwell and the Parliamentarian side, read Christopher Hill's God's Englishman.)
Back to As Meat Loves Salt: I really couldn't stomach the sociopath narrator. And yes, I read an online review with the author in which she talks about deliberately creating a monster to be the voice of this story, and explaining that she, and all of us, have these characteristics within us to some degree. The problem is she put them all into this one character, to a very great degree, and I loathed him too much to feel any sympathy for him. I think she let an artistic conceit run away with her. It's fun for her to test her skills as a writer. For most readers, it's just too unpleasant to read, except for those who are so stupid (I've read some of their comments online) that they take Jacob's self-serving presentation at face value.
I did find the m/m sex scenes very hot and loved the character of Ferris, while admitting that he got himself into this predicament with his eyes open. But I hated the scenes of Jacob deceiving his wife into marrying him and running off so she couldn't incriminate him, then raping her in the woods. I hated everything about Jacob except his "love" for Ferris, the closest he could come to genuine love.
I also "enjoyed" the war scenes (sorry, that's a comment on me, I guess) because I thought it was a terrific idea of McCann's to show how how a big, strong, murderous sociopath was the ideal soldier for those times and that kind of warfare--a siege of a house/stronghold, with civilians inside.
I disagree only on one point: your interpetation of the ending. I felt Jacob's actions and motives were quite clear by this time. We know he's a monster, we know he's incapable of doing anything good, and we know, if he truly loves Ferris on some level, then he must destroy him. So he deliberately screws up the letter and leaves the commune to the mercies of the Royalist landowners. He knows exactly what he's doing. He could have warned them or tried to get them to leave. With solid evidence of what was going to happen, most of them would have been more than willing to save themselves. Jacob wouldn't have been "committing suicide"--he could have warned them in advance. But no, he holds on to the letter, does nothing, and lets the doomsday come. Then he watches it, to get the maximum of sadistic pleasure. Yes, it "hurts" him to see it, because on his own messed-up terms he did love Ferris. But he chose to watch this, to see it, because ultimately the only thing that turns him on is deadly violence.
And of course, the wonderful kicker: where does this sociopathic monster end up? America, of course! To everyone who wonders why this country turned out the way it did, why we do the terrible things we do and elect such unspeakable leaders--here's the best explanation I've read so far. Jacob Cullen is the prototypic American colonist.