Review of Merivel by Rose Tremain
Hook / reveal placement in literary historical fiction with sex to spare
While the Three Dog Problem novel did win the last poll (with a little outside help to break the tie), that was our first casualty in this monthâs book battle. The opening was compelling and had excellent satire, and I thought the characterization of Queen Elizabeth was spot on and fun to read. However, I didnât make it through, and you can see why in my reading reactions at this chat link:
Why the funny book "A Three Dog Problem" fell flat for me
Then I proceeded on to read the runner-up, âMerivel.â It turns out that this is actually a sequel to the book âRestoration,â which many people had raved about (but I have not read), yet Merivel can be read as a standalone without feeling like you missed too much. While I didnât love the ending, and I ended up speed-reading after about 70% into it because it got really weird for me (i.e. âgang-bang in a carriage without any real consequenceâ weird. More on that later). I found that this book was worth reading though, primarily as a study in the art of progressive reveals of secrets and hook placement to keep up the reading pace despite all inclinations to put it aside.
You can see my back and forth thoughts about why to keep reading or not in the initial reactions I had over here.
I was surprised when I looked at other top reviews praising this book (newspapers) that none of them mentioned how much sex was in this book, as if they hadnât noticed. To balance things out, I thought Iâd give you a more realistic picture of the sort of person youâre dealing with when you look at Merivel. Since there is so much sex in this, for this review I felt it only appropriate to express my sentiments fully by sprinkling in a good dose of the word fuck. Enjoy.
Spoilers for the rest of this review******************************************************
TL;DR summary
Merivel is an equal-opportunity fucker. Ladies, do you worry that youâre too thin, too fat, too old, too poor, too married, or completely stark-raving mad to get a man to bed? Well, have no fear, for Merivel will take you (& he fucking well does throughout the whole book.)
Basically, this is a 1600s Great Gatsby where Dr. Merivel is Nick and King Charles is his Gatsby, except this Nick is far more âsuccessfulâ with the ladies, despite his ripe age of 57 to 59 in this tale. The royal courts are full of debauchery that leads to everyoneâs downfall because we all know the richest die miserably unhappy. Donât read this if you are depressed, but it might cheer you up if you want to appreciate your life as âbetterâ in comparison with a miserable old ass who truly hates himself. The End.
Now onto the highlights, followed by the writing craft notes breakdownâŚ
âď¸All I loved:
What I loved most about this book was the humanity and irreverence in the historical details. The book takes place in the 1600s, and it succeeds very well in never making you feel you are being told that âback then, we did things like this.â Nearly every scene feels quite real as seen from a very human and highly flawed character, which is a monumental achievement for any historical novel.
For instance, there are scenes of the good Doctor Merivel performing surgeries with nothing but opium and alcohol to pacify the patient, who had to be held down screaming by the assisting nurse. This nurse happened to be an unshakable Irish woman who never flinches at the sight of anything, which was darkly humorous in itself. The descriptions of Versailles that contrasted the thousands of workers and stone cutters outside the palace, drowning in poverty, while the inner palace area overwhelms everyone in its splendor were exceptionally well done. I could even believe just how impossible it was for anyone to get an audience with King Louis, and the pageantry of the people in this setting was superb. Anyone who wants to experience what life was like during this time period would highly enjoy this book for its keen attention to so many small details that make the pages come alive.
The self-deprecating humor of Merivel throughout made the narrative very funny, even when most people would consider the events sad without his commentary. Yet, his tone gets progressively more and more grim as the novel goes on.
đ¤¨All that made me go âWTF just happenedâ:
There is very little character arc of change. The only changes are his devolving into deeper depression and apathy about his life, so itâs like heâs died several times before he actually dies. As a reader, itâs hard for me to get behind a character who doesnât want anything specific and is struggling to find meaning in his life. Heâs battling feelings of hopelessness for most of the book, (when heâs not screwing anyone). You could almost say itâs like he was trying to recapture his youth by going to Versailles and fucking another manâs wife as if he was in his 20s, but even then, he never strives for any specific goal. So how are we to cheer him on when we donât know what to cheer for? Perhaps that is the point though, to make us feel as lost as he does. It seems meant to be as ambiguous of an ending as possible, and I almost felt glad to see him put out of his misery when he dies at the end.
While it was apparently ânormalâ to lock your mentally ill relatives in an attic at home during the 1600s rather than let them suffer inhumane conditions at an asylum, the Kingâs attitude toward his âmad old mistressâ began to indicate that from here on out, the King wasnât meant to be a likable character in this book. Heâs presented in the most unflattering ways possible, IMHO. We even get a grand scene of the King staying at Merivelâs home for a break, during which he takes one of Merivelâs other old mistresses upstairs and fucks her loudly enough for the whole home to hear just âhow well the King is being pleased.â After a few more scenes where the King appears apathetic toward the people who are starving everywhere in the common villages, I was sick of him.
Also, there was five-some during a carriage ride. What do you even call that? A menage a cinq? Did those really happen in the 1600s? I started imagining men calling for a carriage like, âAnd Iâll take a whore with that, please, for me and my merry men.â A bit excessive, donât you think? It could have happened hypothetically, but did we really need that scene to understand just how much Merivel canât keep his prick to himself? After that, I couldnât take much of the rest of the book seriously.
Now for the writing craft analysis: Mastery of the âSteady Hooks & Revealsâ
What Iâve noticed is that for a literary tale to work, (i.e. keep people reading), it relies on many well-placed hooks and twists. Without these hooks, I never wouldâve made it to the end because this tale has a lot of things Iâm not a big fan of in it.
I selected the most memorable hooks that maintain some tension for the reader to make it through another chapter (or until the next hook). Iâve also noted where they occur so that you can see the well-distributed spread of them.
âĽPage 1 hook: An old book has been found under his bed. Whatâs in the book?
Learning that he wrote this book by hand, his life story, isnât revealed until page 2. He longs to hide this book of secrets from the world, which made me wonder what heâd done, and that reveal doesnât come until about 50% into the book.
âĽEnd of chapter 1 hook: Why does he keep thinking of John Pearce, mentioned in this book that heâs now re-reading?
Answer isnât revealed until about 30% into the book, when Merivel reflects on how the Quaker Pearce took him in when he crossed the King and had nowhere to go. He continues to see Pearce in his mind as if Pearce is his conscience for the rest of the book.
âĽChapter 2 conflict/hook: Merivelâs chief worry for the whole book is his daughter Margaret, whoâs 17, that âmarriageable ageâ when she must soon be wed before he loses the favor he regained with the King. Honestly, his love for his daughter was the only redeeming quality about him that made me like him, for a few chapters. This conflict of what to do with Margaret isnât resolved until about 85-90% through the book, when she finally meets a good young man who loves her with âa love Merivel has never known,â so the blessing is given and they will get a happy ever after. However, they are the ONLY ones who get happiness in the whole book.
This hook was strong enough that the author was able to keep coming back to Margaret in perilous situations throughout the book whenever the action was dying down for Merivel. Itâs what Iâd call the âfallback conflictâ that stopped the story from dying when it slowed.
âĽStart of Chapter 3 hook: Merivel is going to see the King to get a letter that will get him âinâ with the court at Versailles. He gets the letter, but *PLOT TWIST/ reveal* mid Chapter 3 = the King keeps Merivelâs wife (whoâs lost her mind and doesnât know who he is anymore) hidden away in the attic of the castle. Merivel doesnât freak out about this reveal as much as youâd expect because apparently his wife had always been the property of the King. In fact, the King had promised royal favors and payments to Merivel for marrying her âin name onlyâ while the King fucked her at every opportunity, to hide it from his other mistresses. He suggests the woman Celia is drugged, and the King envies her calmness.
This reveal created a good bit of tension throughout the rest of the book because Merivel never really got a full annulment of his marriage, or so it seems, which makes him unable to marry again even if heâd wanted to, and also has made him very accustomed to the habit of going to prostitutes and having mistresses himself.
âĽEnd of Chapter 3 reveal: In fact, hereâs one of his prostitutes now, his favorite old Rosie, the washerwoman. I was surprised at having a sex scene show up suddenly like this, a âcomfort fuckâ to calm his nerves before his trip to VersaillesâŚbut little did I know there was MUCH more sex to come.
âĽChapter 4 midway: Hook (Robbed by highwayman! Will he die? No, he lives, even though he doesnât seem to care whether he lives or not much at this point. The self-deprecating humor was funny for a while, but after this scene, it becomes more morbid until you realize he is seriously depressed.
âĽChapter 5: he arrives at Versailles! And itâs a fucking mess. Will he ever see the King? (Hook question)
âĽChapter 6: The King ignores him. Just when I thought the story was about to die, a flirtatious woman reels him in to come with her to her Parisian home. (Hook question: What does the woman want?)
âĽChapter 7: He arrives at her huge mansion & is showered with kindness. End of chapter: surprise! He didnât imagine the chemistry because she kisses him! (Hook)
âĽChapter 8: Reveal: Sheâs desperately hot for him because, it turns out, she is fucking lonely because sheâs in her 40s now and her husband never fucked her because heâs a gay Swiss army guard and fucks all the boys in the secret royal gay club (Fraterniteâ). Now, our Merivel is a doctor, so boy has he got a cure for her! (Spoiler alert: Itâs in his pants, and by now I start realizing he canât ever keep it in his pants for too long).
End of chapter 8: (Hook) Her husband decided to come home the morning after their first fuck!
âĽChapter 9: Merivel is kicked out by her husband who threatens to kill him if he returns, after someone who spied on them tells her husband about the affair. This hook was strong enough to maintain tension through a few chapters when one wonders if Merivel is in love with this Louise, (sadly, heâs not, just more fond of her than others). Will they ever end up together? (Hook question)
âĽChapter 10 shows them promising to try and be together at her fatherâs mansion in Switzerland later this summer (hook) while Merivel goes back to England.
âĽChapter 11: His daughter Margaret is dying of Typhus, which occupies a few chapters, (BIG tension hook) after which she finally survives it and befriends the King. However, Merivel is afraid the King will fuck his lovely young virgin daughter (because honestly the King fucks everyone in this story, but Merivel still âadores him.â Itâs tiresome, really.)
Thus the pattern continues throughout the whole book. Every chapter has some similar hook like this right when the story feels like itâs about to die, or a sex scene is thrown in to brighten up an otherwise dull chapter.
I had first thought there was some other plot structure to it, but itâs really just hook, after reflection on death, after hook, after meaninglessness of life, after hookâŚ
And just like in Gatsby, everyone dies, including Merivel. Sir Merivel takes more and more opium, gets more depressed, and watches everyone die (except his daughter). The King dies, followed by his favorite servants and mistresses, and at last, even Merivel dies at the home of his washerwoman prostitute. Only his daughter Margaret got engaged and seems in many ways better off without her father. Â
I compare it to Gatsby because it is a grand disillusionment story. While the King gets sick, is reduced to nothing, and dies, everyone he was attached to is thrown out for King James to take over. King Charles never seemed to really care about anyone other than himself for more than a paragraph once, and neither does Merivel (except he does love his daughter). Even when Merivel later gets the opportunity to be with his latest rich mistress Louise and marry her, he starts to tire of her, and then runs off to take care of the sick and dying King (hook again) to keep an otherwise dead story alive for another chapter). Honestly, Merivel was married to the King. How could he belong to anyone else when his patronage and everything depend on King Charlesâ favors? And sadly, Merivel doesnât even try to go back to Louise (the mistress heâd promised to marry) after the King dies.
Have any of you read Merivel? What were your thoughts?
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