I had to create a new shelf for this one: strangely uncategorizable.The reason I bought this book of the bargain rack at B&N was because it was written by Susan Howatch, who had written several of the Gothic romances my sister and I ripped through back in the late seventies and early eighties. This one was, um...different.This book grew to be about a spiritual reawakening and healing of a very broken man. On the way to that, we're treating to some borderline explicit hetero-acting-as-gay-in-a-prostitution-setting sex. A little beyond the pale for a book that has a lot to say about God and love. Apparently, Howatch wrote this book as part of a trilogy explicating healing practices that were popular in England in the 1990's. There was a lot more time devoted to the sickening than the healing.I can't imagine who'd I recommend this book to, but I was oddly drawn to it. I liked the part about love and everything, but it was off-putting that the hetero-acting-as-gay-male-prostitute referred to Jesus as "The Bloke." I kept thinking of the Mass in Spanish and "El Senor," which always makes me have a little 7th-grade in my head giggle.My remaining question is, did the author think that healing was not applicable to the run-of-the-mill hoi polloi, so she had to invent an unbelievably broken character? To me, it made the message slightly weaker. But then again, maybe she wasn't try to send a message.
I used to be a big Susan Howatch fan - loved Penmarric and Cashelmara and the other long family saga books she wrote in that era, but I lost interest when she went into the religious themes. I picked this one up because I was revisiting the plots of some of her older stories and I saw that although this was the third in a series, it was able to be read as a stand-alone. The plot of a gay-for-pay prostitute who is redeemed (in part) by religion intrigued me though so I gave it a go. I must admit to being swept up in the story enough to have finished it fairly quickly, although there were some very contrived points that seemed too simple in some ways.Overall, I did enjoy it, but it wasn't one of her best. I liked Gavin, and tough moll Susanne, but I wasn't so keen on Carta, but maybe it was because she was very much of her time. I was, however impressed by Nicholas and Lewis's refreshing views on helping through religion and healing the whole person, which was something of a surprise for this very non-standard-religion follower.
What do You think about The Heartbreaker (2005)?
I've been reading Susan Howatch for decades. I started with the historical novels and proceeded into the Starbridge series -- which are these incredibly cheesy novels set against the pageantry, the splendor and the relevance (NOT) of the Anglican Catholic Church. I just adore them. I couldn't tell you why. She writes so incredibly badly -- that's really part of the allure.There is absolutely no one I know to whom I would recommend these books so they remain a secret vice, kind of like eating a pint of rum raisin ice cream while watching The Shahs of Sunset
—Patrizia
Once again Susan Howatch enthralled me with her storytelling, in this unflinching account of evil and redemption. I've read all the Starbridge & the other St Benets novels and this third in the St Benets trilogy was just as compelling. The one thing I found most difficult was reading so many extended scenes told from the unsympathetic viewpoint of Gavin, the "leisure-worker"; hanging in there with his over-sexualised language and the detailed account of his lifestyle was hardgoing. And yet I came to care for Gavin; and I knew the author was going to deliver later on, as she did... I love her Christian characters, Nick and Lewis, and find them utterly convincing. Susan Howatch is amongst my all-time favourite authors.
—S.C. C Skillman
