Jack Wolf (1)

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The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones | Jack Wolf
Apr10 by anninyn

The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf is a a literary historical.

Explosive, transgressive and wildly inventive, Jack Wolf’s novel THE TALE OF THE RAW HEAD AND BLOODY BONES (Penguin Original; March 26, 2013; 978-0-14-312382-8; $16.00; also available as an ebook) is arrestingly authentic. UK based author Jack Wolf, who wrote the novel as a woman and has since transitioned to being a man, has fully embraced both the language and ideas of eighteenth-century England to create a beautiful and startling novel that contemplates questions of good and evil, faith and science, that are still relevant today. Moreover, while it does not explicitly deal with issues of gender identity, Wolf’s experience of transitioning from female to male is reflected in the writing, in particular in its focus on identity and what it feels like to be uncomfortable in one’s own skin.

I can see why the way it’s written -using period spelling and capitalisation (though fortunately not the most extreme versions) could put an unaware or unexperienced person off. But I strongly advise you to try to get through it, like I advise people to try with Wuthering Heights (if you can get through that you can get through this. At least this isn’t in dialect).

Provided for free by Penguin Group through NetGalley.

I really struggled with this, hence the long gap between my acquiring the book and my review. It’s a difficult book, not just in the language, but in the pace and the themes. A long book like this is always going to be a slow starter, but I wasn’t, at the beginning, entirely sure we had started. I got the concepts that Wolf was going for fairly early on, and became frustrated when the viewpoint character couldn’t see it as clearly as I could.

Once you get into it, the writing is beautiful. So many authors would use the fact of writing in an archaic form of the language to ignore poetry, meanignful metaphor, or truthful description, but Wolf doesn’t, and the result can be something magical at times. I warn you, that this descriptive ability could put a person off who doesn’t want to read about the darker desires of the human being – the desire to hurt, to cause suffering. Also, there are some quite forthright descriptions of prostitution and BDSM within, so be aware.

Plot wise it’s a slow but good ‘un, with many interesting and exciting twists and turns. It’s solidly constructed, with no major WTF moments. It also manages to discuss gender, class and other, related subjects without ever falling into the trap of inappropriate attitudes for the era. No politically correct history here! But there is an intelligent use of the attitudes of the time to examine our own, modern attitudes which I very much approved of.

So, this is a damn fine book, and you should probably read it. 4 out of 5.… (meer)

Please check out more of my reviews on my blog.


Bookmark the permalink.
The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones | Jack Wolf
Apr10 by anninyn

The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf is a a literary historical.

Explosive, transgressive and wildly inventive, Jack Wolf’s novel THE TALE OF THE RAW HEAD AND BLOODY BONES (Penguin Original; March 26, 2013; 978-0-14-312382-8; $16.00; also available as an ebook) is arrestingly authentic. UK based author Jack Wolf, who wrote the novel as a woman and has since transitioned to being a man, has fully embraced both the language and ideas of eighteenth-century England to create a beautiful and startling novel that contemplates questions of good and evil, faith and science, that are still relevant today. Moreover, while it does not explicitly deal with issues of gender identity, Wolf’s experience of transitioning from female to male is reflected in the writing, in particular in its focus on identity and what it feels like to be uncomfortable in one’s own skin.

I can see why the way it’s written -using period spelling and capitalisation (though fortunately not the most extreme versions) could put an unaware or unexperienced person off. But I strongly advise you to try to get through it, like I advise people to try with Wuthering Heights (if you can get through that you can get through this. At least this isn’t in dialect).

Provided for free by Penguin Group through NetGalley.

I really struggled with this, hence the long gap between my acquiring the book and my review. It’s a difficult book, not just in the language, but in the pace and the themes. A long book like this is always going to be a slow starter, but I wasn’t, at the beginning, entirely sure we had started. I got the concepts that Wolf was going for fairly early on, and became frustrated when the viewpoint character couldn’t see it as clearly as I could.

Once you get into it, the writing is beautiful. So many authors would use the fact of writing in an archaic form of the language to ignore poetry, meanignful metaphor, or truthful description, but Wolf doesn’t, and the result can be something magical at times. I warn you, that this descriptive ability could put a person off who doesn’t want to read about the darker desires of the human being – the desire to hurt, to cause suffering. Also, there are some quite forthright descriptions of prostitution and BDSM within, so be aware.

Plot wise it’s a slow but good ‘un, with many interesting and exciting twists and turns. It’s solidly constructed, with no major WTF moments. It also manages to discuss gender, class and other, related subjects without ever falling into the trap of inappropriate attitudes for the era. No politically correct history here! But there is an intelligent use of the attitudes of the time to examine our own, modern attitudes which I very much approved of.

So, this is a damn fine book, and you should probably read it. 4 out of 5.… (meer)

Do not be lured in by the Cover of The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones to expecting a Novel packed with Action and Magic. It is nothing of the Sort. Instead, Raw Head, as I shall henceforth refer to this Book for brevity's sake, is a slow-moving, pretentious Tale of Psychosis, Pedophilia, and Sado-masochism. While I cannot necessarily say that this is a bad Book, I can say that it is an acquired Taste, one I have no interest in ever personally acquiring.

You may perhaps be wondering at my newly discovered Love of Capitalization. I do this to prepare you for the Experience of perusing Wolf's Novel. Every single Noun within these Pages is capitalized. Wolf presumably does so to emulate the Style of classic Works, which would capitalize particular Nouns, or perhaps to hint at foreign Origins, as I know German does this. However, I found this Style entirely off-putting. In English, capitalizing Nouns in the middle of Sentences is not the done Thing, so my Brain kept trying to place additional Emphasis on those Words, resulting in a stilted Reading. The Capitalization forced me to skim most of Raw Head, as that way I was less bothered by the errant capital Letters. Either the Reader will find this unique Touch endearing or eminently frustrating.

Speaking of frustrating, let us discuss the Plot! Raw Head opens with a young Tristan Hart. He does not begin as a promising Youth, and lives in the Shadow of Nathaniel Ravenscroft. He admires Nathaniel and does whatever Nathaniel does. He becomes rather obsessed with Nathaniel much in the way that Sal Paradise wishes he could be like Dean Moriarty in On the Road. Then Nathaniel disappears for most of the Novel, but, don't worry, he will be back, sort of like Outbreaks of a venereal Disease.


Certainly the book could have been thinner.

As Tristan grows older, he discovers Passions, the first for Science and the second for causing Pain. His primary Hobby is that of performing Autopsies on any dead Animals that can be found. He saves the Bones as a Collection. A short way into his sexual Education, he begins to find that he is turned on by the Pain of Others, and tries to abuse a gypsy Woman who was going to willingly have sex with him. She curses him.



Of course, he blames his Madness on this curse, but, really, he's just psychotic. He has Spells of a Time where a Story comes to life around him, and he believes them to be True. Only later, when Others tell him of his Foolishness does he know these Happenings never occurred. During the time of his Madness taking hold, he is studying Medicine. I love to think about Sadists practicing Medicine, don't you? He also visits a whore House and whips the Whore kept for the Sadists.



Worst of all, they do not come to an unhappy End. Instead, they raise two Children, which simply gives me the Shivers. What was the Point of this Novel? Is there a Lesson I should have learned from this? Is it that sadistic, psychotic Murderers make wonderful family Men? That's all I'm seeing.



None of this interests me, especially due to the overblown Style with which Wolf told the Tale. However, if you like old-fashioned Language and Spellings, and also always wanted to know what it would be like if Patrick Bateman and Humbert Humbert were combined into a historical Character, then this has been written just for you.… (meer)