The Gargoyle

There is some fantastic prose, at times.
There are some beautifully heartbreaking short story asides.
Parts of the ending are pretty moving as standalone circumstances.

But there really isn't any romance between the main characters, in their past or present...

And I don't even mean physical interactions here, as the main character loves reminding you every other page that he has no penis, because that's all that matters right?



I kept waiting for it. Surely by the time the main character moves in with his mysterious benefactor in the present timeline, she'd have told him this moving, heart-wrenching story of their love right? Nope.

There's literally zero emotional connection. No romantic dialog. No physical interactions from the time they were both fairly whole. No witty, playful banter. Nothing beyond the circumstances of her being a nun and him being a deserter and now we're facing the world as outcasts... yadda yadda yadda.

I'm glad I read this as there were beautiful stories and descriptions in it, but as a “transcends time” sort of love story, it fell flat for me.