Rating: 
Summary: Flawed and Twisted: A Travesty of History, by fermed
Review: This is a first novel by a young writer, and my bias would greatly favor her efforts, but I cannot endorse this type of distortion of truth in the name of "historical fiction." I do not mind the use of fictionalized historical characters, but the rules of decency (and of common sense) suggest that when such characters are used, they must be depicted as realistically as possible, using imagination and the writers creativity only to fill in, to adorn, or to make more "real" what is known about, say, Jesus, or Van Gogh, or Hannibal. But in this case the author engages in a wholesale plunder of a historical, published work, (MONTAILLOU, by E. L. Ladurie, translated by Barbara Bray), from where she borrows not only the main events described in the novel but even the names of the characters. The book MONTAILLOU is based on the translation of the Inquisition notes and records prepared by Jacques Fournier, who eventually became Pope Benedict XII. It is this taking of identifiable people from the historical record and plopping them into a novel that I find so objectionable. There was indeed a woman named Fabrisse Rives who had a daughter Grazide, but there is no comparison between the Fabrisse and Gracide of the Inquisition records, and the romanticized and distorted Fabrisse and Gracida of the book. It seems only fair that if one is to use real people as the inspiration for fiction, to at least change their names. Having read MONTAILLOU and met the real Fabrisse and the real Gracide in its pages, it was downright obnoxious to have to put up with, and read about, what this writer does to these characters. It is true that THE GOOD MEN gives credit to the book MONTAILLOU in its acknowledgements (by saying that the work was a "source of much clarity for me"). It also credits a half a dozen other books, and many people, for help in the preparation of the novel. I am not implying that the author failed to give due credit for the sources of this novel. But I do not believe it is right to take real people and transmogrify them under the guise of novelistic inspiration. In fact, the novel is not an enhancement of the reality of medieval life in a small town in Occitan, but rather a pale and defective rendition of that reality. Even though the book is subtitled "A Novel of Heresy," the actual depiction of the Albigensian (Cathar) heresy is trite and superficial, and does not have the structural strength to support the novelistic edifice that the author tries to build upon it. One is never exposed in this book to the deep passion that just have existed in the peasant who would discard their Christian faith and risk violent executions for a strange and heretical view of the universe; nor is there a proper explanation of the tenets of the Cathar faith which would eventually suffer a bloody extirpation from Christianity. In summary, I was a bit offended by the silliness of taking raw and powerful history and turning it into a novelistic exercise of dubious value.
Rating: 
Summary: Enthralling but should have ended sooner
Review: This is a great, first historical novel with interesting, complex characters. I really enjoyed it up to around page 240 or so. After that the characters' morality all seemed to go downhill and when an aged man developed an attraction to an 8 year old I was totally thrown and confused by his character. I find it hard to believe a man could be attracted to such a young girl. So the novel lost its sense of authority for me. Though I did finish it, it was without the relish with which I started it.
Rating: 
Summary: "A Novel of Heresy"
Review: This novel is an attempt to portray the life of a small village in 14th century France during the Cathar heresy. It chronicles the people involved very well, and is based upon solid research by the author into the Inquisition records meticulously kept during the lengthy interrogations of both witnesses and accused. Using these records, the author has brought to life many of the villagers, most importantly, the local curate and some of the women with whom he was involved. It's a good story, but at times the prose is a little overheated, and the emotions expressed by the characters are a bit too much to take. Also, the author has the annoying habit of telling the same incident through several different eyes, in separate chapters, with no warning, and that gets a bit jarring occasionally. On the whole, this is a very good book, and well worth reading for the insight it gives the general reader into incidents that are now largely forgotten, but which were very important to the life of the Church and its people many centuries ago.
Rating:
Summary: (4.5) The curse of civilization...
Review: This novel of 13-14th Century heresy in France carries a message of isolation. The female characters, from Marquise to Fabrisse to Echo, fend for themselves in a hostile world, existing in their narrow circumstances of birth and at the mercy of indifferent men. Of the predominant male characters, Bernard, the Dominican orphan and Chief Inquisitioner, and Pierre Clerque, the wayward reverend, orbit each other as opposing forces of "good" and "evil". Bernard has never known a mother other than Mother Church, and is driven by a sense of "otherness", his only personal dialogue with God alone. And the twisted body and soul of Pierre Clerque, a priest unable to quell his body's lust for women and his attraction to heretical doctrines, pursues his pleasure with abandon. All of these disturbed souls meet in the village of Montaillou, in an era rife with superstition, where the Roman Church rules with an iron will, torturing and burning any accused of heretical beliefs. The moral rectitude of the Inquisition, which began in France in 1206 and continued into the 14th Century, presents a conundrum of sorts, one that is demonstrated the lives of the villagers. For the most part illiterate, the humble are particularly vulnerable to superstitious assumptions. Only the priests and friars are literate and serve as intermediaries between God and such simple folk. The villagers are rendered incapable of didactic reasoning in spiritual matters, especially with the abundance of belief systems passed through the countryside. The quality of life in the 13-14th Centuries doesn't allow for subtlety and the Church is threatened by any deviation of established doctrine. So, in a way, the peasants are the victims in a clash between philosophies, as sheep led to graze from one field to another. As well, the villagers protect the heretics, who are often treated with as much reverence as Church officials. It is a pitched battle for the minds and souls of uneducated men. Like a great spider, the Church wields its power to maintain control and collect tithes. The intolerable plight of medieval women impacts the story, in stark relief against the machinations of men, at a time when women are less than chattels, servants to the men who dominate their intractable and dreary days. Without the shelter of family, these women, especially Fabrisse and her daughter, have few resources for daily survival, often with nothing left to barter but their bodies. They cling together, keening in despair, unseen and irrelevant in their identities. Craig's writing is precise, often that of an observer, much like the Inquisitors themselves, distanced by calculation. As tormented as some of the characters are, particularly Pierre Clerque and Arnaud, the cobbler, we are aware of their fragile humanity, although Pierre's actions seem without benefit of conscience. Throughout, the book is burdened by a lack of hope, as ignorant and superstition-riddled peasants cringe before the rage of the Inquisition. In contrast, one young woman, Echo (a.k.a. Grazida, daughter of Fabrisse) renounces a life of victimization, marries Arnaud and bears a daughter, Merce. It is this nurturing union that allows Echo to stand accused before the court of the Inquisition. The novel struggles under the weight of everyday brutality, as well as the passionless Church officials who burn and imprison the ignorant with impunity and without mercy. There is no evidence of Christian compassion or forgiveness for the village people. The Good Men is a powerful indictment of a Church that allows slaughter in the name of religion. More than a black mark against the history of the most powerful church in Christianity, the Inquisition is a blight on civilization, an unforgettable travesty that cannot be forgotten. Luan Gaines
Rating: 
Summary: You'll need a long shower afterwards
Review: When I finished this book I had to take a long shower to get rid of all the disgusting filth and diseases, both physical and spiritual, that afflicted the people of the middle ages, and infected me with each turn of a page. Where was God in those dark days? Nowhere, it seems. It is no wonder that today only 12% of France attends Church. The trauma of the Church many massacres, starting at its inception with Charlemagne murder of 8,000 of his own people in a single day for not converting, and which continued for a thousand years with an unsatiable thirst for more blood, is still vividly present in our communal memory. This book really makes you believe in reincarnation as it makes you feel as if you were the person, male or female, who was subjugated to the atrocity of the Church. Be a light unto other Nations! I think that Charmaine Craig has done just that. If only her book could be translated and sold in Afghanistan, or Iran, or Arabia, maybe a few Fabrice or Echo or Merce could be saved.
Rating:
Summary: It was a novel with merit
Review: while I don't agree with the reviewer from San Diego, at least, not with his vehemence, essentially, he is right. Ladurie's book as well as that of Rene Weis paint quite a different picture of many of the characters in the book, especially the priest Pierre Clerque. I liked the book; it held my interest; parts of it were really compelling, but there were a number of inaccuracies. Having been a student of the Albigensian heresy for a good portion of my life as well as a retired college professor, I was bothered with the liberties that ms. Craig too. For a first novel, she did a quite good job, but the book would have been better if the history behind the Cathars had more substance. And, therefore, more accuracy.
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