Filled with melodrama, ridiculousness, and ghosts. I loved it!

It has a great moral that is still useful today-Be pious because you are a good person, not because you think you're better than everyone else. ( )

The biggest flaw of this Gothic horror story for me was the somewhat dated style of writing (similar to that of Defoe). I think the creepiest part may have been the very end, in which the Spanish Inquisition is investigating Ambrosio (the monk) - partly because I suspect some of the tortures described may have been really used during this period of history!

I could quickly see why this book fell into disrepute during the early Victorian times, as it includes somewhat graphic (if flowery) descriptions of carnal sins and horrifying tortures. I did have to chuckle a few times at the very English repugnance of Catholics that showed in some of the descriptions! And I could see why authors such as Jane Austen parodied this type of melodrama. However, I was surprised by the fact that Ambrosio wasn't painted as entirely evil & his struggles with his conscience were sometimes quite moving. ( )

This Librivox edition was excellent & James White did a wonderful narration.

See my review of the Kindle edition for thoughts on the book itself. ( )

Perhaps no other novel written in the 18th century ever described the pangs of post-nut clarity with such acuity; the vehement disgust Ambrosio has for liberties all too recently indulged in is incredible. He is a man forever unsatisfied, but he is too proud and vain to ever take a step outside of the circuitry of desire once he gives himself over to it — his verbose pleadings and moralisings after committing various heinous acts only ever come off as smokescreens thrown up to conceal his own lack of self-reflection. Lewis probably deserves to be in conversations relating to Sade/Bataille, but I imagine that his work would only need to be briefly touched upon in the grand scheme of transgressive literature. ( )

ah, sweet gothic blasphemy.

If you're going to read this, definitely look for a copy based on the first edition of 1796 -- seems Lewis later made revisions to avoid charges of aforementioned blasphemy.

Also, he was only 20 years old, and a goddamn member of parliament, when he wrote this. ( )