Rating: 
Summary: The monk
Review: a delightfully horrific, goth masterpiece that every twisted mind should own.
Rating: 
Summary: It's still shocking
Review: Another reviewer was right: DON'T READ THE STEPHEN KING INTRODUCTION BEFORE YOU READ THE BOOK! If you do, it will give the whole plot away.Although not as famous as Dracula or Frankenstein, this is a must-read for any serious Gothic horror fan. One of the things that makes this book different is that (unlike Dracula) there is no proactive villain. We kind of admire Dracula because (pardon the expression) he makes no bones about what he is. Dracula is a villain and he's OK with that. The Monk is a re-active villain. His crime is that he's a hypocrite. He finds himself committing crimes because he is week, not strong. Therefore, one cannot admire the Monk the way we can admire Frankenstein's monster. It is surprising how shocking the novel is, considering when it was written. It has a very cynical - some would say "modern" - assessment of people. The Monk's main motivation is sex. Actually, sex is everywhere in the book. It is obvious that it was written by a twenty-year-old who could not, even for a moment, imagine a vow of celibacy. As the first novel of a boy barely out of his teens, Lewis pulls out all the stops as only a novice can - even bringing in the Devil himself, at the end, to dispence justice. The plot is convoluted beyond belief, sub-plots and backstories abound, as well as other outmoded conventions of Gothic literature. That having been said, this a briskly-written book. It never bores. Despite being over two-hundred years old, it is very accessible and sufficiently gruesome to interest any modern horror fan. As for being anti-Catholic, I think "Monk" Lewis ends up sounding surprisingly pious. By condeming the hypocrites, he affirms the values they are supposed to represent.
Rating:
Summary: Still a good read
Review: Even after two centuries, "The Monk" can still entertain readers while encouraging them to think about such weighty subjects as the coercisive power of religious hypocrisy. Set in Madrid during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, the book's main story arc is the rise and fall of Ambrosio, a Capuchin friar who is initially regarded by everyone as a living saint. Lauded for his brilliant oratory skills and personal beauty, Ambrosio is courted by the richest women in the city to be their personal Confessor. As Ambrosio's fame increases, so does his vanity, and it is through this Deadly Sin that he enters into later acts of violence and depravity. Lewis does a fine job of creating archetypal characters that are still used in genre fiction today. There is the Fallen Hero who becomes the Villian (Ambrosio), the Temptress (Rosario/Matilda), the Good Knights (Lorenzo and Don Raymond), and two Damsels in Distress (Agnes and Antonia). The author also provides a subordinate Villian (the Prioress of the Convent of St. Clare), who is in some ways more evil than Ambrosio. For leavening in this very dark narrative, Lewis gives readers a trio of humorous characters: Leonella, Antonia's lusty aunt and chaperone; Flora, the very chatty chambermaid in Antonia's service; and Jacintha, the superstitious neighbor who swears that she sees ghosts everywhere. The characterizations of Ambrosio and the Prioress are great examples of how power (whether it's spiritual or temporal) can corrupt. Neither character feels answerable to anyone. Even God isn't really present (although his Other Half puts in an appearance!) Lewis poses questions on personal accountability that are certainly relevant today, while deftly mixing in good character interaction and biting social commentary. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Get to Gore of the Matter
Review: I read this in college for a Gothic, Terror, Romance class. From the looks of the cover (I can't help but be lured or deterred by them), I thought I was in for a complete waste of time. Far from it! This is gothic at its most perverse. Yes, the time it took Lewis to write the book (8 wks. or so) is astonishing, but it's what he was saying about Gothicism, in general, that is important : Readers want the horror, to be scared out of their wits. The popularity of 'The Monk' may have proved his point. Lewis went against the beliefs of authors like Anne Radcliffe who felt that terror could seem real without the violence and blasphemous machinations. Lewis chose a character, a Monk, who seemed so dramatically pious that his FALL would shake the foundations not just of religion, but the boundaries of good and evil and how religion can justify them. At the middle of this pulse-pounding romp, we get the tale of the 'Bleeding Nun'. I was bothered by it at first because I was getting into the monk and his eventual demise, but this departure from the main tale proved just as fantastically chilling. If you like this one, try 'Frankenstein' by Shelley, and 'Drakula' by Stoker. They are the best of the in-your-face grotesque and symbollically allusive classics. Radcliffe's novels (The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Italian) are great ways to get a sense of how the gothic was idealized....until Lewis burst on the scene with this shocker!
Rating:
Summary: Great undiscovered gothic novel!
Review: I'm a senior in high school and am taking an enriched novels course. My teacher somehow discovered this book and tried to get us excited to read it by lauding all the sex and incest contained within. Well, there hasn't been much sex, and what little there is is described as "giving into passions" and other flowery phrases. My teacher would have made me more excited to read the book if she hadn't lauded the incest as much as simply telling me that it contains three main plots, all richly described and woven together, and that it doesn't feel nearly as old as it is (it was written in the 1700s). There's Ambrosio, the monk who falls in love with a cross-dressing novice monk, there's Agnes the nun who has fallen in love with a man (who in turn was almost killed at a bandit's cottage in the woods) and wants to escape the convent, and there's Lorenzo the cavalier who meets a young woman named Antonia. The author was ahead of his time, because the fairytale-like story is much more captivating than any other old, old novel I've ever read. It's an easy read, but swell nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: True Gothic Literature
Review: Matthew Lewis is by most people's accounts one of the forefathers of Gothic Literature. "The Monk" written in the late 18th century is an interesting tale about an Abbot whose vocation to God goes awry. The language of the text can sometimes be hard to follow if you are not accustomed to reading literature from that time period, but the story is nearly flawless. Lewis also places other characters of ill repute in the novel. My favorite being the Head nun of St. Clare's, in my opinion she is more of the villain than the monk. Throughout the tale the characters relate past tale's which can be tedious and boring at times, but do help to fill in any missing gaps the reader may have. All in all Lewis wrote a dark tale which will continue to be read for centuries to come, and his contribution to the Gothic novel will never be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Gothic Classic
Review: Matthew Lewis wrote "The Monk" in ten short weeks at the age of nineteen. Immediately the subject of controversy upon its publication in 1796, Lewis was prosecuted and subsequent editions of the book were heavily censored. Coleridge described it as blasphemous, "a romance, which if a parent saw it in the hands of a son or daughter, he might reasonably turn pale." Yet, "The Monk" was so popular that its author became a minor celebrity-coming to be known as "Monk" Lewis--and Sir Walter Scott prounounced that "it seemed to create an epoch in our literature." And whether "The Monk" truly created an epoch in English literature, or merely marked the early apogee of a genre, it stands as a stunning example of the Gothic novel. "The Monk" tells the story of Ambrosio, the ostensibly pious and deeply revered Abbot of the Capuchin monastery in Madrid, and his dark fall from grace. It is a novel which unravels, at times, like the "Arabian Nights", stories within stories, a series of digressions, the plot driven by love and lust, temptations and spectres, and, ultimately, rape, murder and incest. It is sharply anti-Catholic, if not anti-clerical, in tone, Ambrosio and most of its other religious characters being profane, murderous, self-centered hypocrites cloaked in displays of public piety. And while it sometimes seems critical of superstition, "The Monk" is replete with Mephistophelian bargains, supernatural events, appartions, and spectres, as well as entombment and dark forebodings of mystery and evil. It is, in short, a stunningly entertaining, albeit typically heavy-handed, Gothic novel, perhaps the ultimate classic of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: You'll have a devil of a time putting it down....
Review: Matthew Lewis's 'The Monk' deserves every scrap of reputation it has ever received; good, bad, or indifferent. Sadly it is the only novel by a brilliant, daring author. Ambrosio, bearer of the title moniker, has lived a life of seclusion and service among a monastic order, which he never ventures from. His 'uncorrupted' status makes him highly sought after for his counsel, wisdom, and spiritual guidance. He is loved by all. But one loves him in a very different way. Rosario, a novice of the order, reveals 'his' undying affection for Ambrosio, and begs him to love in return, by revealing himself as not Rosario, but Matilda, who disguises her sex as she has long disguised her heart, just to be near him. Ambrosio abandons his vows and embraces Matilda's affections, which marks his entrance into a life of corruption to come. In a nearby convent lies the sickly Agnes, who finds herself seeking solitude after being impregnated and 'abandoned' by her lover, Don Raymond. Agnes' brother, Lorenzo, seeks to liberate her from the convent, when it seems that her stay there is anything but voluntary. These two stories colide in the convent of the Capuchins. Toss in an evil Prioress, a ghostly 'Bleeding Nun', a 'Wandering Jew' and Lucifer, and you get one heck of a page turner. Matthew Lewis abandons eighteenth century convention and propriety, and takes readers down a dark passageway of evil spirits, daemonic bartering, betrayal, deception, and lust. But why stop there? The last 30 pages of this novel will keep you riveted. In lieu of unveiling the many, many revelations offered in these pages, I challenge those interested to discover them for themselves, and read them WITHOUT dropping their jaws in astonishment. Matthew Lewis was a truly imaginative author with a flair for the dramatic, who focused primarily on writing plays. He wrote The Monk at the age of 19, bored with his work at the time, in just 10 weeks. Astonishing, considering the manual process that an author labored through in those days. A WONDERFUL read, from start to finished, interspersed with lyrical and narrative poetry to propel an already compelling story along. The Monk is a triumph in gothic literature, and a highly satisfactory entry point into the genre. Bravo, Matthew Lewis, I only wish you had been bored more often.
Rating:
Summary: Gothic writing at its most scandalous!
Review: Often when one thinks of "old" books the ideas of sex, violent murder, evoking the powers of hell, incest, unbridled lust, rape, and transvestites are not what come to mind. However, all of these are in The Monk. This is a book that was viewed as incredibly scandalous, and even today this view still holds up.
There are two main plots in this book; first there is the story of the monk who is known for never having given in to temptation or sin. His protégé revels that he is a women and she is in love with him, the monk. The monk withstands her advances, but we see that in his thoughts she is present. Finally he gives in and they...repeatedly. She, Matilda, opens to him a world of passion, and lust, which he enters with great gusto. After a while the monk grows tired of this women and when he sees the young girl, Antonia, a girl of extreme innocence who is said to have been created by god in the image of an angel, he is completely overwhelmed with feelings and decides he must have her. He tries at first by simply seducing her, but her mother enters and teaches her daughter, hitherto ignorant of such acts, that this is wrong. Back to our monk who is now very put out, Matilda says she will help him, as she actually does love him to the point where she will do anything to help him. As it turns out Matilda has power over the evil spirits, and she has pledged her soul to the devil. She gets the devil to help the monk by giving him a spell that will open any door and make everyone sleep. This will allow him to enter Antonia's room, do what he wants, and the next morning she will know she was raped, but not by whom. This plan fails and then the monk must try other, more horrid ways of getting at this young woman.
The second story is that of Don Raymond and Agnes. These two are in love, but by a series of mishaps have been separated and Agnes is in a convent of St. Clair. One night these two `give into their passions' and the result is Agnes is pregnant. Our monk finds this out and tells the head of the convent, who severely punishes Agnes by locking her up with the intention of killing her. To make matters more complicated Agnes' brother, who is in love with Antonia, knows that Agnes is in the convent and has an order from the church to release her from her vows. The head of the convent tells him that his sister is dead, which he does not believe. Thus the brother and Don Raymond will have to save Agnes quickly.
If ever you wanted to know what happens when you throw a bleeding nun, a wandering Jew, the devil, a monk with a huge sex drive, a cross-dressing protégé, a girl of extreme innocents, an evil prioress, and a gipsy who see the future into one book this is defiantly the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: liteature of taste...
Review: should both teach and delight. The Monk's delights are many, but it teaches not. therefore, two stars.
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