First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Eric McCormack's work is often long on creepy description and short on considered structure. This work addresses the latter a little more than some of his other novels, but you'll still find his usual grab-bag of concerns here: mysterious locales, small villages, mining disasters, everyday hermeticism. I don't want to give away much of the story, but suffice it to say this is probably as close as the guy will come to solid ending in his work. There's still stuff left undone, certainly, but there's much more of a feeling that the narrator has reached a goal. This is the high point of McCormack's work, and while it's not quite as eerie as some of his earlier work - weirdness that in some cases was diminished by repetition of particular elements - it's distinctly uncanny, and deeply satisfying. Just watch out for the trip to the motel. That's some contortion.
Great fun! Probably his best so far. The title is exactly the same (why?--I don't see the connection other than Andrew Halfnight does encounter Knox's book briefly) as John Knox's misogynist (sp?) 16th century diatribe (sp?) against Mary Queen of Scots and women as rulers in general. But this anti-misogynist (again sp?) novel is fascinating, especially when Andrew, the principal character, undergoes a re-enactment of his own birth along with other wacky stuff. Unput-downable! Why isn't there an Eric McCormack Society?
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