Status
Publication
Description
Fans of Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, the first book in Akunin's Pelagia trilogy, will be instantly mesmerized-and frightened-by this latest foray into Zavolzhsk' s spiritual underworld. In the middle of the night, a disheveled and badly frightened monk arrives at the doorstep of Bishop Mitrofanii of Zavolzhsk, crying: "Something's wrong at the Hermitage!" The Hermitage is the centuries-old island monastery of New Ararat, known for its tradition of severely penitent monks, isolated environs, and a mental institution founded by a millionaire in self-imposed exile. Hearing the monk's eerie message, Mitrofanii's befuddled but sharp-witted ward Sister Pelagia begs to visit New Ararat and uncover the mystery. Traditions prevail-no women are allowed-and the bishop sends other wards to test their fates against the Black Monk that haunts the once serene locale. But as the Black Monk claims more victims-including Mitrofanii's envoys-Pelagia goes undercover to see exactly what person, or what spirit, is at the bottom of it all. Praise for Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk "For all his status as a globe-circling bestseller, Akunin keeps faith in his sleekly engineered and allusive whodunnits with the classical virtues of Russian prose. . . . That polish lends his books a peculiar charm."-The Independent (London) "Readers can hear echoes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekov in whodunits that, because of their literary overtones, can be guiltlessly consumed as entertainment."--Los Angeles Times… (more)
User reviews
This quite charming book revolves around the mysterious events in the community of New Ararat; the appearance of a hooded figure has caused some unpleasantness but when the local bishop begins to send his trusted companions one-by-one to investigate, madness and chaos descend.
I think that to explain further would diminish the pleasure of the reader in each new decription but suffice to say the answer isn't mystical but the means to it are intellectual and moral.
Occasionally the translation feels a little clunky and if you get distracted it might be difficult to pick up the thread because it meanders in a way Russian seem particularly good at. Don't expect a fast-pace but do invent stories for the patients at the clinic.
I was pleased by the way the author tied up the little snippets given to the reader throughout even when they were 'red herrings' which to me is the sign of a good mystery writer, and I also liked the touch that it wasn't solved by one person alone but for their bumbling side-kick and instead gently guided the reader to its conclusion.
The Black Monk picks up,
A frightened monk roars into town proclaiming that Saint Basilisk has returned to a provincial religious retreat and is haunting the town. The religious retreat consists of two islands: on the smaller island is St. Basilisk's Hermitage now inhabited only by three hermits; on the larger island, an ambitious abbot (archimandrite) has turned the monastery into a thriving spiritual tourist attraction. Mitrofanii dispatches one investigator after another, but each meets with some ill turn or another. Inevitably, Pelagia goes to the island in her disguise as a Muscovite lady.
With The Black Monk, Akunin has moved beyond the realm of genre or pulp fiction and into literature on a plane with Umberto Eco (one of his influences). But don't worry! Akunin still sets us a good mystery - or two or three - and combines that with compelling psychological studies of his characters' motivations and compulsions and a clash of mysticism with science - not to mention some funny if implicit commentary on commercialism in modern Russia.
Akunin works under the spell of Dostoevsky and Chekov to name only two. Indeed, the book's title comes from a Chekov short story of the same name (See Chekhov, The Selected Stories of). One of Akunin's characters is reading Dostoevsky's The Possessed (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) (also known as The Devils) and lends it another character, an actor who fully absorbs himself into his roles and who also happens to be an inmate at the open air psychiatric clinic on the island! What could possibly go wrong?
Highest recommendation.
This was an eerie,
If you enjoyed reading Micheal Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," you will certainly enjoy "Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk."