Title: The Monk

Author: Matthew Lewis

Genre: Classic Literature

Publisher: Dover Thrift Edition

Format: Paperback

Pages: 291

Rating: 4/5 stars

*Warning: mature content. Parents please be advised.*

Synopsis:

Supernatural events, women in distress, and a corrupt clergy were popular themes in the Gothic novels of the 19th century. All of those elements, along with murder, incest, and the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition, are present in The Monk (1796), one of the era’s bestselling and most influential novels.
Set in a sinister Capuchin monastery in Madrid, the ever-more horrifying narrative recounts the experiences of a lustful and devious abbot, who forgoes his monastic vows in the face of temptation and sexual obsession. Seduced by an evil woman and intoxicated by desire, he assaults an innocent young girl and — to conceal his guilt — murders her mother. For these and other unholy offenses, he is apprehended and imprisoned, where he is subject to unpleasant treatment at the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities. In order to escape, he sells his soul to the devil, discovering in the aftermath the grim consequence of his horrifying acts.
The most famous work in the otherwise unremarkable literary production of “Monk” Lewis, the novel’s anticlericalism and heavy-breathing eroticism earned it a scandalous reputation in its time that was still intact 100 years after its publication. Today, more than two centuries later, the unvarnished crime and passion of The Monk still retain the ability to jar readers — even those inured to the violence and degradation of modern life. A masterpiece of Gothic storytelling, the book remains, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted, “rich, powerful, and fervid.”

Book Review:

This book was creepy, and superstitious, and was a great insight into the Spanish Inquisition.
The book followed a couple stories that interconnected: one was about a nun who thought her love was dead when she took the habit. Then she found out he was really alive, and she had to decide what to do.
The other story follows an abbot who is convinced by an evil woman to follow the devil in order to give into his desires. He becomes obsessed with a young woman, and gives in to his desire for her. He commits many unspeakable acts in the process of obtaining her. If you like reading classics that are creepy and superstitious, then this is the book for you! The writing was strong and powerful, and I was intrigued the whole book! There was murder, superstition, witchcraft, and all this happening within a monastery!