As Meat Loves Salt

by Maria McCann

A sensational tale of obsession and murder from a wonderful writer. ‘An outstanding novel, fresh and unusual [with] all the dirt, stink, rasp and flavour of the time.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Early in the English Civil War, a body is dredged from the pond of a Royalist estate. “As Meat Loves Salt” is the testament of Jacob Cullen – homicide and fugitive. Obsessed with the graceful Christopher Ferris, he follows him to become a London printer, a Digger and, finally, an emigrant to the New World…An electrifying erotic thriller, rich in secrets and surprises.’ Independent

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Romance, M M Romance

544 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Maria McCann is an English novelist. She was born in Liverpool in 1956 and worked as a lecturer in English at Strode College, Street, Somerset since 1985, until starting work with Arden.

Her first novel, As Meat Loves Salt, was released in 2001. The story focuses on the relationship of two men, Jacob Cullen and Christopher Ferris, and is set during the English Civil War. They desert their posts in Cromwell’s New Model Army to establish a farming commune in the countryside. The novel was well received by readers and critics and has recently been championed by Orange Prize winner Lionel Shriver, but failed to attract what one could call widespread attention.

McCann also contributed a short story titled Minimal to the anthology New Writing 12 published by the British Council in 2005.

Her second novel, The Wilding, was published in February 2010 . Set in England in the 1670s, it is the story of a young cider-presser, Jonathan Dymond, his dark family secrets, and the young beggar woman he tries to help.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. There are three things you should know about this book before you start it:
1a. IT IS BRILLIANT.
1b. EVERYONE IN IT IS EXTREMELY FUCKED UP.
1c. It's gonna wear you out.

2. As Meat Loves Salt is a dark, brutal, intelligent, and moving novel. If you could write Caravaggio down, it would be this book. (Interestingly, it has a lot in common with Jarman's movie too - and for reasons other than obsessive erotic fixations with beautiful blond men!) It is beautiful and frightening - terrifying, in some places - but captivating and startlingly erotic.

3. By far the most remarkable thing about the book is the protagonist, Jacob Cullen. Other people have called him a sociopath, and while I agree that he'd probably benefit from some modern medication, his problems stem not from his lack of a conscience but from his susceptibility to anger. He's a monster, but he's far from the only monster in As Meat Loves Salt. (Also, he has no personal charm. His life is not smooth, and he's not really an opportunist - I mean, okay, if we want to talk about fictional characters that might be sociopaths, Scarlett O'Hara is probably much closer to that profile. But Jacob Cullen is in thrall to his own wrath - he's a sinner, a criminal, and a violent man, which is plenty, honestly.) His violence manifests on a different scale than that of the men around him; as we see in the passages about the New Model Army, he disdains the brutality of the seventeenth century soldier, which creates a fair amount of irony. But actually, this makes him more frightening, because Cullen's violence is so wrapped up in how he thinks of love. He kills - and rapes - to defend what he thinks of as his. His deep insecurity makes him easy to rouse to anger, but it makes his love fierce and compelling (and completely fucked up, which bears repeating). However, the way McCann immerses us in the violence, including the violence Jacob enacts, creates a very attractive argument against passion . . . or at least against the particularly twisted, Heathcliffe-like passion exhibited here.

4. I'm rarely absorbed so much by a book - I think it actually sped up my metabolism, so, uh, yeah - and I was definitely overstimulated by this one. It's an easy book to fall into, which is part of why it's so disturbing. But I like it when books freak you out, a little. Or a lot. This one freaked me out a lot, but in ways that made me want to draw ENORMOUS HEARTS ON IT.

5. The love story - I don't have any hesitation calling it that, although it goes veryveryveryvery wrong by the end - is excellent. It's convincing and however many problems you have with Jacob you still want it to work. Oh, and actually the sex is pretty delicious too, and it's not described with flowery phrases or anything terrible (thank god).

6. Other things As Meat Loves Salt reminded me of: Giovanni's Room (it's kind of a facile comparison . . . unless you've read them both), A Suitable Boy (anti-passion, complicated historical/political/social themes), La haine (violence). There are probably others I'm too mentally exhausted to think of right now.

*

ETA October 31, 2012: I thought rereading this would be easier than the first time, because I thought if I knew what happened it would be easier to deal with it.

I was wrong.

A. W. Eaton has an article on rough heroes (I have a number of problems with the article but that's irrelevant), and I . . . really wonder if she's read this book.

[mark monday · Rating 5 out of 5]

O Wrath, your tang is surely the most spicy and pungent of all the Seven Deadly Sins! your flavor is compelling, so exciting and satisfying... it gives purpose and heat and righteousness all at once. never mind the taste of ashes left in the mouth after the meal is over; that is soon forgotten in the yearning to again consume the dish and recapture its flavor once more.

As Meat Loves Salt is many things: a thrilling historical novel of the 17th century English revolution; a darkly-hued psychodrama about a man and his demons; a story about another man, idealistic, born before his time and bound to suffer for it; a tragic tale of best laid plans gone awry and dreams ground to dust; a book detailing the horrors of violence; a passionate romance.

the historical context and the details of living in that era are meticulous and vividly depicted - but they never overwhelm the narrative. "you are there" as the cliche goes, but this is not an intensely immersive experience. ignore the nonsensical description on the back cover that goes on about the food and decor and clothing described within - that is barely present in any way other than to set a scene. details never take over the plot and never overshadow the themes. enough description is given to allow the reader to feel how the surroundings actually feel. overall the key word is not "lush" - it is "stark."

the prose is amazing.

warning: there are two devastating rape scenes in this book.

the anti-hero of As Meat Loves Salt is beautifully rendered. Jacob Cullen runs hot and when his flames aren't high, he smolders. he's both monster and man, lover and rapist, hero and killer; he's many things. a man who has only the bitterest contempt for the mechanized quality of a life of service, who chafes at the class system, and views his fellow humans with thinly veiled suspicion. violence comes all too easily to him; he is a man consumed by wrath, always ready when opportunity arises to indulge in that vice. it is curious to read reviewer responses to this character because many seem to hold him at a distance, to view him as an Other, to talk about him in terms of his villainy or his potential schizophrenia. I had a different experience in that I saw a lot of him within me. I've experienced the same unreasonable and foolish jealousies, the same vindictive pettiness, the same lack of faith in both structures and individuals, the same urge to do violence on those who annoy or offend me. I think many men and not a few women have felt the same. and I've certainly felt his yearnings for perfect companionship, his stumblings towards some inchoate spirituality, his deep attraction to a person he has deemed as "good", his core of neediness that his pride has transformed into a thorny barrier that warns Beware rather than beckoning Come Hither. Jacob Cullen, I totally get you.

the love of Jacob's life, Christopher Ferris, is also perfectly rendered. he's certainly worthy of a swoon. Ferris' innate goodness, his idealism and kindness and sunny demeanor, his desire to create a society that is fair and equal, his hatred of injustice and how he dismisses both hoary institutions and "inspiring" politicians in all of their many guises, his contempt for violence and possessiveness... all of that fit hand-in-glove with his less attractive qualities - condescension and high-handedness, a transparent sort of trickiness, a tendency to overindulge in alcohol, an optimism that veers into thoughtlessness and, finally, a willful blindness to reality.

McCann adroitly contextualizes Jacob and Ferris's relationship and their very different personalities within all of the changes happening during this particular revolution. the desire to throw off the yoke of class and gender barriers; the basic need for freedom. but even more than a contextualization, their relationship and their personalities both comment on and personify those things - and how those things often end in terrible failure. but whether such people and endeavors eventually fail or not, that chafing at the bit is a key part of the human condition. such things often leads to ugliness and violence, but such is life.

In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

- John Steinbeck

sweet Jesus, that ending. so hard and true and sad. so full of unanswered questions. the ending of As Meat Loves Salt is a good reminder of why and how a truly excellent book can be so rewarding and fulfilling yet also be so tough and draining and heartbreaking. an experience to remember and to learn from, but perhaps not one to repeat.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the kind of book worth missing a subway stop for; and another book i have had for at least five years without picking up. how many hidden jewels like this do i have buried under stupid lurid family sagas?? but to be relevant: this is a real sink-your-teeth-into-it book, full of war and rage and betrayal and rough sex. but there are some tender things in it too, like umm...umm...i dunno, a man who loves red-tinted glass?? yeah, but he does some raping, so...there are some rabbits...but they are mostly food. no, i suppose this isn't a gentle book, but it is wonderfully written, and there is some true love in it, it's just not rodanthe love. which i think is a good thing.

come to my blog!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will make you absurdly happy and sad. At one point, I read trembling with excitement, my heart racing and a smile stretched on my face. The day before I had sworn never to read it again. The thing about this book is that you will find yourself repulsed by the protagonist, you will hate him, and yet you are bound to him. And throughout it all you will play the part of the good angel on his shoulder, just hoping he will make the right choices. And when he does you feel happy enough to explode. And when he doesn't you throw the book across the room and go for a walk. No book has ever made me want to do either, so this book is extraordinary - a gloriously frustrating read.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time for a VERY belated review:

I am currently reading Ace, King, Knave by Maria McCann, and unfortunately I can't help but compare it to this first of her books that I read, which I'm not sure I will ever get over. I wish I had been a Goodreads member when I read it, so that I would have had a reason to write down my thoughts on paper. I remember it being on my mind for days, probably weeks after I finished it, and it still haunts me.

As well as being one of the best examples of realistic, gorgeously vivid and detailed historical fiction I ever encountered, it's one of the most powerful and disturbing works as well. A big part of the impact comes from the unique narrative voice, a 17th century man named Jacob who is probably a paranoid schizophrenic before such a definition existed- a man constantly driven and inhabited by his “dark angel.” I once read that early schizophrenics sometimes thought the voices they heard were the devil, since that fit the belief structure of the time. I think Jacob saying it is his father's voice, guiding him, then later the Devil, both leading and cursing him, is just his way of trying to make sense of the voice in an era when they had no concept of his condition. What makes the novel so dark is that Jacob is in many ways a despicable character, who does terrible things, yet it is hard not to be captivated by him, to feel for him, and to at times forget what he is capable of and root for him. In that way, the author is "beguiled" by him just like Ferris, and Caro, and others. In the ambiguous last section, as Jacob seems to be lapsing into his delusions more and more, he becomes a truly unreliable narrator, and the reader can only speculate about how much of what he sees and believes (the true identity of the woman with the baby, for example) is a trick of Jacob's mind.

In my opinion, the cruel irony of Jacob’s story is that he is drawn to good/beautiful people in a very innocent way- he truly wants to love and be loved by them. But he and the "dark angel" lurking in his mind seem destined to destroy them instead, which makes him a fascinating and complex anti-hero.

The other central character, Christopher Ferris, is also complicated, and a man of contradictions. He has that trait where he's drawn to save people, and there can be hubris in that, as well as goodness. I view his tragic flaw as a kind of stubborn idealism; a refusal to abandon his vision of a better world, or the good in people, even when reason dictates he should. Ferris is in some ways a progressive, rational man, but in others ignores all rationality. That said, I grew incredibly attached to his character.

I would never call this book a love story; I think it is almost impossible to characterize, except as dark, visceral historical fiction. I also think it must be polarizing, a book readers might find horribly disturbing, or brilliant and haunting (or like me, both.)

[Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never, ever, ever start a book late at night again (or until I forget that I said this). I literally read this book straight through the night, non fricking stop!

This damn author has this wicked ability to warp my numb ass right back in time so that I felt like I was there watching the scenes unfold instead of simply reading the scenes.

Oh and let me tell you the scenes I was watching were not of the fluffy bunny type. No, they were of the Ted Bundy type. Here is the most twisted revelation of my book reading-instead-of-sleeping experience, I felt for Jacob. Jacob, innocent & sane servant to definitely not innocent, questionable sanity but no longer a servant; is one of the most fascinating characters I've read about in a long, long, long time.

Ok, here is my disclaimer. This book is definitely not for everyone. Shoot, it is probably not for most people (but I still think plenty of people will seriously enjoy this book). There are brutual scenes in this book but they are necessary in telling Jacob's story.

All right, enough rambling. I can't even say I'm going to sleep now because noooo, I can't. I have a full day ahead of me.

Damn you Maria McCann!

[Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah yes, tortured gay romance. Exceedingly tortured gay romance. "Is there any other kind?" he asks, tongue firmly in cheek.

Actually, this was much better than that piece of tortured fluff Call Me by Your Name. For one thing, there's no masturbation-with-a-ripe-peach scene. Other than the sheer cheesiness of that, if you've ever held a squishy ripe peach in your hand, you'll know that the end result of that will be smeary peach pulp and not two neat halves that can be assembled back together like a Tiffany box with a diamond ring inside. That type of maudlin saccharine fantasy is not what you are going to get here.

This story has heft.

We are in the head of Jacob Cullen, and he can be an exceedingly unlikeable man. Indeed, the novel starts off with us learning that he has killed someone. And after that he rapes his newly wedded wife. Later, he bashes his best friend. This is one chappie who really should go for Anger Management Classes.

But, those were violent times. England was in the throes of the Glorious Revolution. We learn facts about the murder victim and his wife that, if not entirely exonerative of Jacob's actions, at least show that all is not black and white in this world where brother is set against brother and kings were to be beheaded by commoners.

I found it difficult to read in the same way I found Giovanni's Room difficult to read. The emotions were too raw, too close for me sometimes; I had to put down the book and go away for a while. But that is what, ultimately, I loved about this book. It paints people in all their ugly glory: pulsating with need and desire, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but entirely human. If it's hard to read about, it's hard in the same way holding a mirror up to our own conflicted selves is hard.

Maria McCann gets us well into the psyche of Jacob Cullen and no, Jacob Cullen is not a nice man. He rages with anger, need and desire; desperate to be good, and failing as often as not. In other words, he's human. And that's why I liked this book.

[Laxmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I need a support group after reading this book. I both loved & loathed this book. The book captured the mood and feeling of the English Civil War, the brutality and fears.

I felt so many emotions reading this, hate, disgust, pity and sadness at both of the main characters, but mostly sickening fright for Jacob's rage. I feel he was unaware of his mental disturbance, making him complete monster, yet by the end I pitied and even sympathized with him and his frantic, uncontrollable pain and rathe of emotions.

I had quite a different view of Ferris then most of the other reviews. It appears he is to be the good to Jacobs evil, I did not view him that way. I believe Ferris to have known that Jacob was mentally ill from the start. He chose him over Nathan, due to his physical strength what role he would play in the colony. Ferris was both manipulative and selfish, and he used Jacob's obsession with him to his advantage. Just as he used his Aunt, when he left her alone sick. I questioned his true ideals when he visited if he really was about sharing and brotherly love, why not help Becca at all when she was so tired, why only at the colony when it's all under his control.

It wasn't until I reached the end of the book when I could not decipher what is real or what is in his head. So much of this book is brutally frightening Yet that that is the power this book had over me while reading. So many questions I can't shake. I am grasping for closure.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long-due review and I apologise with the friends on GR if they find themselves re-reading things that I may have already put in threads and comments. Since I opened Maria McCann's astonishing debut novel on June 22, I've found myself dragged into its world of violence, love, sexual confusion and religious obsession. Her world crawled under my skin and has stayed there ever since. I've been talking about this book with some of the lovely people I've met here on GR and even 'gently' pushed some friends to read it. I just need to talk about it - it can't be helped. And yet, until today I couldn't bring myself to attempt to write a slightly more coherent review on it and even now I fear I'll never manage to put into words what this book means to me.

Jacob Cullen and Christopher Ferris are outstanding creations - one dark, brooding, violent and disturbed but also passionate and loving, the other blonde, graceful, equally passionate and idealistic, but with a stubbornness that almost makes him blind to the realities surrounding him. Reading the book, it's easy to love and despise them at the same time, to hope for things to go well when quite clearly, they can only go from bad to worse. Maria McCann does an incredible job at keeping the tension up - the novel is like a rollercoaster, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, jolting rises and terrifying drops. By the end, I felt drained and exhausted.

The historical context is incredibly well researched: the New Model Army, the Diggers' colonies, the violence of the English Civil War are all recreated with a vividness that brings them to life and makes them leap from the page. The language is equally incredible - the sentences are sinuous and sensual, so evocative that every day I find myself re-reading sections of the book to refresh their sound in my mind. Certain scenes, such as the chapter entitled The Uses of a Map, Christopher and Jacob's oblique courtship and the shattering closing pages will always remain some of my favourite literary passages.

AMLS is dark, passionate, heartbreaking, painful and completely draining in that kind of delightful way only certain novels can be.

It's a book to go back to and I cannot but highly recommend it.

[Maya Panika · Rating 5 out of 5]

My lord but Jacob Cullen is a disturbed and dangerous soul! - Something you should know before reading this book because he draws you into his world and makes you love him, hate him, weep for him by turns as he destroys everything he loves and - for what?

The lovers are two halves of a coin, light and dark, one as honest and easy to read as the other is secretive and Machiavellian – or are they? Because there’s a cruel twist that had me aching and an end that made me cry half the night (and that doesn’t happen very often, believe me).

Dark, cruel, all too believable, terribly real (in a literal sense) and highly recommended.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was aware that the book was making me sad whilst I was reading it but I realised just how much when at the moment of finishing it I felt like a load had been lifted off my chest, I felt lighter, a ray of light touching me at the thought that I did not have to touch that world again. A world where hope does not exist. Where Ms McCann makes sure that no ray of sunshine is left.

This story left me questioning what I've just read, that is, what I will take with me? A story unreliably told by Jacob so what I just read might just be a whole bunch of delusions. There might be truths mixed in but I cannot pinpoint them so everything is left up in air. This mixture has left me feeling unsettled, sad, angry and hopeless. Definitely time for a brain shower.



BR - Maya 18th April 2015 - Without Maya's company in this one I doubt that I would have finished.

I am rather undecided about the rating really:

-it is a book I'll probably remember
-the characterisation of Jacob is very good
-I did not really love the writing
-the bleak atmosphere it created is top notch

so I don't know

[RP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other reviewers have beautifully described the plot and the characterization, and if you read the reviews, you will see the passion this book elicits. This is the kind of novel that should win awards, but doesn't. For me, it was a completely engrossing experience. I found myself struggling to get through the work day so I could get home and continue reading. What a complex, bloody, beautiful, and terrifying read. McCann is a writer of great skill. Though the book is over 500 pages long, it certainly didn't feel like it. Her writing is clear and precise, the characters are vivid and conflicted, and the moments of passion or violence will have your heart pounding in your throat. As Meat Loves Salt is a book that will make you shout out loud and then weep alone in your apartment. It will turn you on, break your heart, and outrage you.

[Erastes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacob Cullen, a man of hasty temper and with an unstable temperment is forced, for reasons I won’t divulge, to flee the manor where he serves with his wife and his brother. Very soon he falls out with them and they desert him, leaving him to attempt to walk to Bristol. He falls in with The New Model Army (Cromwell’s Army) and joins them for a month or two in which time he becomes obsessed with Christopher Ferris, a troubled but basically good man.

This is a very clever book, in a lot of ways. It’s incredibly well researched, and makes my version of the English Civil War seem rather shallow in comparison. Tthe immersion into the period is deep, convincing and realistic. It does what I always appreciate in a book, it tells of the world without over describing it. After all, when you walk into a room you don’t think “I walked into the room where there were two Persian rugs four Hepplethwhite chairs, some red velvet curtains and a desk with…. ” You simply describe what is immediate. This book does that; it’s not to say that there isn’t superb period detail in there, there is, but it’s only brought out when it’s necessary. Clothes for example. Jacob’s clothes are described in exquisite detail at one point, right down to lace and buttons but they are amazing clothes, nothing the like of which he’s seen or worn before – so it makes perfect sense for him to describe them. And so it goes, that’s how the book is, never info dumping, but making you feel you are there.

What really impressed me more than anything else is the sure bravery that the author shows in writing this 1. from the point of view of a man, a soldier in that time – knowing that she was going to have to show his view of the war etc but 2. That Jacob is just about as unpleasant a character as I’ve ever read about. I can’t believe that Ms McCann meant him to be anything else, and as far as I am concerned she suceeded admirably. As an author, I can’t imagine how any writer can embark on a story like this and yet – why not? Most of us are pretty unpleasant types! However, my hat is off to her. Not only did she write about a man with (as far as I was concerned, your mileage may vary) no redeeming qualities save that he loves another man but she kept me hooked into the book so deeply that I was willing him to have some kind of redemption, to bring about some miraculous ending which I could tell, even quite early on was never going to happen.

Jacob is truly unpleasant, but so brilliantly written that he’s hardly even aware of it himself for most of the book. Of course, this is perfectly sensible – how many of us actually think we are awful people? Jacob’s sense of self-loathing however, is ingrained in every page, less so at the beginning and ebbs and flows throughout, but gradually working into a crescendo ending with the last two heartbreaking lines. It again shows such skill that I wanted to smack/kick/kill Jacob for most of the book and yet he had me sobbing when I reached the last page.

I suppose in this day and age he would be known as a Sociopath – and in fact if you read the list of Sociopath social traits on this page you would think that Ms McCann made a note of all those character traits and started with Jacob using this as a base. What I don’t understand , even though I’ve re-read the first chapters several times to get a gleaning of it, is WHY he did what he did at Beaurepair. I can’t see any reason for it, other than he just “wanted to”.

I pitied him, immensely, because I could tell that he wasn’t going to change, but I pitied Ferris even more because he’d fallen in love with the wrong man, and that’s something I can relate to, big time. But Ferris was a grown man, and he had plenty of choices to cast Jacob aside – and could have done – and didn’t. He even dumped poor Nathan without a word, and as far as I know nothing more than a shirt looted from Basing to run off with a man who he knew he couldn’t change. He was taking a risk too, as at that point he didn’t even know if Jacob was going to be acquiescent to a homosexual relationship and he was leaving behind an established one for an uncertain future. But I guess I understand that. Better to leave a lesser love for the promise of The Big One. And Jacob could have been The Big One if he hadn’t've stuffed it up, like he stuffed everything up.

As a nice change this book wasn’t OKhomo (everyone’s gay and everyone’s OK about it) and I didn’t expect it to be as it isn’t a Romance and I was expecting it to be an accurate historical novel. In fact the men are’nt “GAY” at all, in the way that we would know it today, they’ve both been married and allegedly in love with their wives. They both consider marrying again. Ferris I think knows his sexuality better than Jacob (who is more opportunist – I think he would have had Nathan had he offered himself up) but Jacob is (I think) drawn to Ferris first as a friend and then finds he love him. But the risks they run are very real, are reflected in every single sexual encounter they have, even when they are “safe” in Ferris’s Aunt’s house in London. I did wonder about the wooden floorboards and the wooden beds though as I found it difficult to imagine it would have been easy to muffle the sounds of male sex which can be quite acrobatic. But the danger is there, hanging, lynching, burning – all of them a very real dange, even though even then, they knew that proof would have been needed.

There was one point when I had a WTF moment and that’s when Jacob met up again with Zeb; I didn’t see the point of this – I didn’t understand how Zeb had the knowledge he had, why he didn’t use it and what the meeting was set up to do – it seemed rather pointless. But then, I guess that’s realistic – not all meetings we have in this world are filled with meaning.

All the minor characters were great. I don’t think one of them was pallid or forgettable. I think possibly because Jacob hates them all in varying degrees, partly in jealousy that he can’t bear anyone to get close to Ferris. In fact the only character that I think that Jacob truly loved was Aunt, and possibly because she was more of a mother to him than his own mother was. It was so touching when she said “don’t worry, your hair will soon grow back” and Jacob looked around “eagerly” – like a child so desperate for affection and he found she was speaking to someone else. It was a briliant moment because Jacob had actually been empathising with the woman who had been shorn, and after that, I think he lost the empathy.

The “venture” was doomed to fail from the begiining, I don’t know if any of these ventures DID suceed and there were a few of them, you can’t blame the people, they’d had Cromwell and his cronies banging on about how everyone would be granted land, and all men were created equal so it wasn’t surprising that a few people formed communes in this way.

As to the ending – the Voice – and Jacob’s gradual descent? I don’t know. It’s the kind of book that has had me thinking all day. I cried at the end, bitter frustrated tears at the stupid stupid man – but then, if he had behaved differently he’d have been with the commune at the end. Then I went and bored my dad with it for about an hour and I’m still running it through in my head. I need to read it again. Did Jacob know the date was different at the end? Did the letter get it wrong? Was it Caro? Or had Jacob’s mind broken at the loss of Ferris? Was it “Caro” with Ferris in the wood? There’s so many questions I can’t answer. On the surface it all seems plain sailing, but we are inside the head of a man on the brink of madness, and frankly – how much of it all can we trust?

And the ending – stellar. It was the only thing he could do really – he wasn’t going to kill himself, after all – not with those character traits, he’ll blame everyone else in the world before he’d blame himself – although perhaps if the colony had ALL gone on a flipping ship it would have been a different book!

So yes – I loved it. Impressed impressed impressed. By the way, there is quite a lot of sex, but it’s quite subtle, but there is a lot of it.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose As Meat Loves Salt specifically because it was one of the longest-standing books on my to-read list (I added it to Goodreads in 2012), and this year I’m trying to read fewer brand-new books. I knew it was a historical novel. I knew it featured a love story between two men. What I did not know (or, possibly, just hadn’t remembered) was that its protagonist, Jacob Cullen, is no romantic hero, but rather selfish, violent and avaricious. A brutal scene near the beginning almost made me give up on the book altogether; I put it down briefly, skimmed some reviews, readjusted my expectations, and understood that what I was reading was a close and complicated study of a deeply amoral man.

If I call it ‘meaty’ it’ll sound like I’m trying to make a pun on the title, but that’s truly the first word that springs to mind when considering this book. It’s LONG, extremely detailed, immersive. Thinking about the amount of historical research that must have gone into it makes my head spin. No detail is spared: the realities of war are hideously vivid; any scene featuring illness or medical treatment is... more than I needed to know, frankly. On the plus side, it’s also rich with descriptions of setting, atmosphere and food (my time reading this book was characterised by unexpectedly strong cravings for bread and cheese).

I was thoroughly sucked in, though Jacob remains a difficult – often frustrating – character to grapple with. The ending left me emotionally confused, but I’d definitely become emotionally involved, which I think says something about the story’s power.

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[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finishing this book broke my heart. I honestly did not want it to end and when it did I cried. Maria McCann has written the most beautifully historically accurate story about two soldiers in Oliver Cromwell's army who quite unexpectedly fall in love. The story is at times savage and grisly in war and tender and heartbreaking at times. London in the 17th century was not a civilized place. McCann is a professor of history at Sommerset College in England and you get the full benefit of ther knowledge and research in the novel. The beginning of the book is a bit hard to get into because one of the main characters appears to be such a dreadful person that it takes a bit of reading to appreciate it. Once I got into it I was totally into the story and I have recommended it a great often and with alacrity.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

Although this took me an unconscionable amount of time to get through (almost two weeks), I DID really enjoy it. The story was not only involving but was narrated with a flavor of the language of the time (1645), which really put you into the period. The character of Jacob Cullen was fascinating, and the glimpse into how same sex relationships both differed back then and are essentially the same, was really spot-on.

[Claudie ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent character study of a morally disturbed man. Being in Jacob’s mind was a fascinating experience, if not exactly a pleasant one (because of his religious guilt). He was a very peculiar MC, ‘savage’ in both anger and love, impulsive and prone to obsession. I’m still not sure if he suffered from a mental disorder or if his ‘Voice’ was just the manifestation of his fear and shame… Definitely not a ‘good’ man, however you look at it, but his story still broke my heart.

The writing here was just stunning, very descriptive, and even if it was a little overlong in places after the 50% mark (mostly the colony-related bits), I skipped nothing. I give credit where credit’s due, and this debut deserves the highest rating.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 – 4.5 stars

_As Meat Loves Salt_ is a compelling piece of historical fiction and while the plot, setting, and style of this book are all great, I would say that where it really shines is as a thought-provoking character study. Our ‘hero’ Jacob Cullen, from whose internal point of view we follow the narrative events, is, to put it mildly, a troubled man. At his most basic he is without a doubt a man controlled by his wrath and pride and one who, worse still, bears a grudge for feeling that he has been forced to live below his station.

Class concerns are definitely front and center in this tale which takes place during the English Civil war at the time when Oliver Cromwell was rising to power. It was a time when the inherently classist assumptions of English society were being forcibly challenged, though whether true equality, or simply a shift in who held the reins of power, was the actual purpose are perhaps open to question. Jacob straddles an intriguing line in this political and social commentary: on the one hand he is a man who finds himself a member of the working class and is ultimately drafted into Cromwell’s New Model Army to fight against the monarchical power structure; on the other hand he is more or less newly fallen into his commoner status, and at heart tends to view himself as a member of a ‘better class’, so his true allegiance to the cause of the commoners may be reasonably questioned. There is also his great friend and lover Christopher Ferris who, for all of his pamphleteering and desire to found a commune based on the equality of all members, is himself a member of the nouveau-rich merchant class who certainly leans on his money and status to accomplish his ends.

We find out early in the novel that Jacob is an impulsive man, one who follows the urging of his anger and pride with little forethought to the possible cost. The consequences of the actions which begin the novel, and which the reader only fully understands as the story develops, are constantly being compounded by Jacob’s subsequent choices. These choices take him from his relatively comfortable life as a servant in a manor house, to the harsh and brutal conditions of the New Model army. Eventually he makes his way to London until he finally ends up in the laborious commune founded by his friend and lover. Throughout each of these adventures we see how Jacob’s ire, and his physical strength, keep pushing him along. Much as anger would thus seem to be at the centre of the novel, one could just as easily say that it is all about love. Unfortunately for Jacob this is a love primarily characterized by jealousy and suspicion which leads in the end to further outbursts of violent wrath.

As I read this book, I was very much reminded of the character of Buccmaster from Paul Kingsnorth’s _The Wake_. Both are unlikeable men whose pride and self-love lead them to alienate and hurt those around them. They also both suffer from delusions, characterized by the voice of their own worst inner demons, that drive them to their most heinous actions. Perhaps if both men had lived in more tranquil times their lives would have been less tragic, but both had the misfortune to live through violent upheavals in society that only serve to bring out the worst in their characters. Despite these negative aspects, though, (or perhaps because of them) they are also extremely compelling characters. I don’t think they are completely evil, and Jacob in particular is often wracked by guilt in the aftermath of his outbursts. Alas, it is ultimately a guilt that is fruitless as he proves himself to be unwilling, or unable, to listen to the better angels of his nature and instead embraces his inner demons. In the end it is perhaps the hopelessness which consumes Jacob as he sees the consequences of his actions, and his seeming belief that he is fated to act thus, that are his ultimate undoing.

This is a very gripping story that brings to life not only the era of 17th century England and his political and social upheavals, but the daily trials and tribulations of an extremely compelling character. Recommended.

[Amina · Rating 3 out of 5]

✰ 2.75 stars ✰

“We kissed with the practised tenderness of old lovers, the terror of new ones: it was perilous just to lie there, letting him caress me inside my mouth, hearing his murmurs of pleasure as I grew bolder.

Our danger sharpened the kiss to a delicious edge.

'Say you love me,' I ordered.

“As meat loves salt.”

There once was a king who asked his three daughters how much they love him, to which his youngest replied, 'As Meat Loves Salt'. Deeply displeased and unsatisfied with her vague answer, he banished her from the kingdom, only for his elder two daughters to turn on him and do the same to him. After many hunger-weary travels, he came upon a kingdom, which was celebrating the wedding festivities of its royal family; unbeknownst to the king that the wedding was of his own youngest daughter's to their king. Bountiful food was provided at the wedding reception, but with the scarcity of salt, not all guests were served provisions that were aided by its tasteful flavor. It was only when the deposed king tasted his serving of meat without the required salt, did he understand the significance of his daughter's answer to him.

Set during the English Civil War, Maria McCann's 2001 debut novel is the story of the tumultuous if not rapturous relationship of two men, Jacob Cullen and Christopher Ferris, from their days serving as soldiers in Cromwell's New Model Army to their joint companionship as leading members of establishing a farming community in the countryside.

“And so it was, not only the gift itself but his having noted my interest in such things, and picked me one out with such care.

'Something to remember me by,' he said as I released him. 'It needs no gift for that.'

'I shall never tire of looking on it,' I cried.”

I am vexed and perplexed as to how I genuinely feel after reading it; for it is rare that I read a book where the main character is one that is so viscerally disliked, and rightfully so. For twenty-five year old gypsy-Ethiope Jacob Cullen (no relation to any of the Twilight characters) has a murderous nature to him, with a dark and foreboding past that begins to take begins from his serfdom days that ultimately worsens on the most sacred of moments when he brutally violates his wife on their wedding day, thus spiraling him into a madness of escape from both law and family. 😥 'I am lost,'I answered, 'and can never be found again.' His personality is one very much of a psychotic brute; he is easily blinded by rage, prone to fits of jealous fury, and fueled by violent tendencies that are spurred on by voices in his head that demand him to act in certain ways with fits of uncontrollable physical altercations that oftentimes can only be assuaged by the disapproving if not somehow always forgiving acceptance of the man who found him weak and broken after his wedding took an unfortunate turn for the worse - Ferris. 😳😳

It is almost an unhealthy if not dependent obsession Jacob fixates on fair-haired and kindhearted Ferris in response to the gentle and tender treatment he grants him when they first meet with Jacob, battered and weary. Had it been better if it happened upon him not giving him water and asking him to join militia - would things have turned out different for both of them? We'll never know. 😢 For Ferris, himself, played a hand in it of his own volition; he is painted as a rather idealistic thinker - one with idyllic ideals, who has felt his fair share of loss. 'Whenever I thought of him prising off my hands I felt like crying. It was the weakness. I was at his mercy; but then, he was a merciful man.' Perhaps that is why he is so forgiving, and patiently tolerant of Jacob's fierce outbursts - bearing his violent temperament because there is a darker part of him that yearns for the dominant possessiveness that Jacob inflicts upon him. His affection for him was tinged with such an aching longing, despite his uncertainty of knowing for sure if Jacob was worth it - that intimate love letter he penned for him that stole Jacob's breath away - ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

“Or will you come to me?
Deal with me kindly. I have had no rest since a certain dream that you know of.

Speak to me, Jacob, do not play the tyrant. Speak to me.”

​I so badly wanted to see them have a happy ending; but, maybe I was too blind to see the signs of how unhealthy and toxic and all-consuming their relationship had become. 😞 They had started off as friends - my brother in Christ - 'I was possessed of a friend who might help, yet I was afraid to lose him.' There were at times, though, when I felt the genuine affection from their hearts; how the author depicted their stolen kisses shrouded in secrecy of being caught, their questioning religious beliefs of what they were caught in was a sinful act, and their fierce throes of passion that showed just how desperately they craved each other's touch. But, even so, for every happiness - there is that prevalent doubt and distrust of the past Jacob has kept hidden - the aggressive and jealous side he does not shy from and the almost masochistic side of Ferris that relished the obsessive fascination that Jacob desired of him. 🙁

I can never condone Jacob's actions - especially with how he treated his wife, a brutal and violent transgression that merited no reason, save for his own blinded lust of rage - that haunts him for all his days - tormented by the guilt and fear that it will catch up to him - despite how one may be inclined to be sympathetic for his plight, simply because of the conflicting torment of his deeply disturbed soul. 🙅🏻‍♀️ There are too many countless instances where Ferris and even, himself, make excuses for his sins, when it comes to the point, when it simply can no longer be overlooked - so much that the voices finally catch up to him. 'It is said the Devil devises particular and peculiar tortures for unnatural lovers; perhaps whenever one man looks, the other is looking away. Forever. I deserved it, I was wrathful, and my very love was a violation.' Till the end, I held hope against hope that all would not be in vain - that Jacob's mind could be put at ease - that Ferris could let love outweigh his sound judgment. I believed it to be possible - until a line is crossed that can no longer be forgiven. 😥

“Have you really forgotten? I had to choose between him and you.'
'We were friends only.'

He sighed at my stupidity. 'If you say so. We already belonged to each other.' He lay back on the pillow and put his hand on my chest, stroking me.

'Very well, I loved Nat. But I belong to you.”

Admittedly my eyes did glaze over a bit when they were laying out his plans for a community free of strife and equal prosperity, and at times I wasn't very much interested in the paltry trifles of the supporting cast, but it helped create an authentic feel to the time it was depicted - seventeenth century England on the brink of Civil War, caught in the onslaught of economic strife and political wartime. With vivid descriptions that enriched the imagery of battle to the fine details that brought forth the troubles of ailments that afflicted the people of that time, it made for an interesting if not believable read; even though, it is quite a hefty one, one that I did struggle to get into the fold, at first. 😣 'Who, to his mind, was really the wanton dreamer? Who had the wanton thought a man can't unthink ..?' But, once Jacob proved himself as a protagonist that would have to earn my respect and support - and when he failed to do so, but I was still immersed in the story and torn as to how it would conclude - did I respect the author's efforts in breathing to life morally challenging characters in a time when such love is akin to death and one as volatile and toxic as theirs. 😔

“I did all for love, and in defence of love, and am beaten black and blue for it, and would do it again if saw a hair of your head threatened.”

The ending, while ambiguous and rather vague in the final outcome was - heartbreaking - as in it broke my heart. 💔💔 Was I cautiously, but optimistically holding out for a happy ending - a reconciliation - an act of moral redemption from either side. Or was Jacob too far gone, too blinded by his fitful rages of jealousy - thwarted by his own guilt of deeds unbecoming to anyone's forgiveness - be it his wife or the common folk or even Ferris - that it ceased to matter to him what is right or wrong? 'From the heart, the place that counts.' I was bleeding within; until that moment, I had not known how much I still hoped he would deny the thing.' 😔 Am I to judge the book harshly for an irredeemable character or for a book that managed to overcome its challenging start of gripping my attention, then make my emotions spiral as two characters get embroiled in a forbidden love affair that could only mean disastrous results if openly caught, to then be consumed by the lustful carnage of a man spiraling towards an end that he could have pulled himself out, of had he chosen to just not listen to the voice in his head, but in his heart... 🥺🥺

Then, maybe I can find it in myself to see that just for the tragedy of an ending alone that slightly moved me to tears - that I should have known that there was no hope for Jacob, much like the king that perhaps, this had always been his doomed fate from the start. 😞 'It was all preordained, there had never been a place where I could have leapt free of the net.' For him not to realize the love Ferris had for him was not just an obsession, but a part of Ferris' own needs for him was something that he desired for his own sake to make them more vital together, had Jacob not been so prone to judge rashly without thinking rationally. That gut-wrenching scene that moved me the most, when Jacob held Ferris' ring, and he could not see, for he was too far gone in his blind hatred -- 'CF &JC, 1645. So he, like me, had been betrothed with a ring.' If that was not enough to know that two lives were lost in the wake of one's own desires of deceit and denial then it only proved to me how it made my time reading such a conflicting read worth it. 🙏🏻

[Aleksandr Voinov]

The writing is gorgeous, though I admit to skipping some colony-related bits post the 50%-mark. Jacob is a pretty disturbing character, and I'm still not sure whether he's driven insane by some religious guilt or meant to be a sociopath.

[Anna Chetwynd · Rating 5 out of 5]

God what a book. It took me a while to get into. At first the prose is unusual, being in the 17th century style, but it works well. Sometimes expressions are hard to fathom but it doesn't matter, it feels right.

The story of Jacob Cullen, an anti hero on the run from justice perhaps, at least from the scene of a crime where we learn that he is the murderer.

But the point of the book is not about justice or penance or reward, or even retribution, it's a journey and we spend it in the head of our narrator Cullen. It's so hard to pull off being inside the head of a character that is so dangerously unstable and yet so perversely appealing.

Patricia Highsmith did it so perfectly with Ripley, although not in the first person. Anthony Burgess does it with Alex, the psycho, amoral, juvenile delinquent in A Clockwork Orange. And McCann does it here.

The book is a bloody, filthy, intense plunge into the world of Oliver Cromwell's England and his New Model Army. It's not a romp, it's like being dragged by your twisted arm through a thorny bush.

As he escapes and is left for dead, Cullen is saved by the more conventional hero Christopher Ferris. They go AWOL together and end up in London, but Ferris's ultinate aim is a to establish a free-hinking colony of equals in the countryside.

The story is intense, the characters veer from detestable to despicable and yet are heartbreakingly and unbearably believable. What I loved so much about this author and the many others that have the courage to make the protagonists immoral or amoral, is the honesty to pick open people's less than laudable, vile, cruel and hateful traits but allow one to emphasize with them. Who amongst us hasn't occasionall felt a blind, red hot rage, been debilitated by jealousy, been weak, cruel, penitent.

I loved the character of Cullen because of his tempestuous, ungovernable temper as much as for the besotted passion he has for Ferris. He is dreadful, but he is human.

Ferris is the other side of the coin. It is as if they are bound together, as opposites, dark and light. But I didn't see Ferris as the symbol of goodness and idealism alone. He was that, but he was also capable of detachment, coldness and diffidence. And perhaps it was this that made me root for Cullen more. I wanted it to work, but they were both as guilty as each other. Of being faithless, fallible and weak.

Writing this review mainly to get my thoughts down before they melt away. But I loved this book. I haven't been this obsessed by a story and its characters for years. And its such an impossible combination of devastating and heart gripping.

not since Winston's betrayal of Julia in 1984 have I read anything that has made me rage so much. I couldn't bear it. Ah, Ferris. I could have killed him myself. I couldn't bear his faithlessness and yet the skill of the writer to have you dying to keep these two together at all costs, while having just witnessed Jacob's brutality, and STILL burning for him and weeping for his downfall. God she is good. /

I read Jacob's collapse into madness and jealousy through clenched teeth. I hated reading it but I loved Maria McCann's writing so much. What prose. And the descriptions of the men's encounters were really quite mind blowingly erotic. I don't know why. McCann has somehow managed to convey, without graphic, liberally spread excess, just extraordinary passion and eroticism.

So many thoughts about this story which is surely the mark of great writing. What is the Voice? Jacob's madness, his religiousness, his jealousy, his own excoriating self-loathing?
Is it the voice of his father? Early on it seems that is the case but does it twist into something else?

And Ferris, what a flawed man. Such a brilliant combination of idealism and pig headedness. This is a book that can be read over and over and each time more comes to light. I particularly liked the way Ferris's visionary idealism, becomes almost brutal in its careless disregard for both his Aunt and for Jacob. There is a passage where Ferris says 'Lust addled my judgement' and that can be taken as the self critical statement that it is but also it is true in a wider sense. His passion for Jacob addled everything, not least his care and love of both Aunt and Jacob himself. He staggers on in almost supreme selfishness, knowing how Jacob would do anything for him and exploiting this. And yet he always accuses Jacob of wanting to master him.

In his days of servitude Cullen reads pamphlets about the New England and eventually ends up.in Ferris's New Jerusalem. Yet the reality of it, all toil, hardship, gradual disillusionment and danger, lays bare the impossibility of it, and Ferris's blind insistence on it seems juvenile, not the stuff of visionaries. Not the stuff that the man Cullen worships should be failing at.

Another thought. Early in the book Jacob is called a 'savage' and this fuels him to murder Walshe. When he later attacks Ferris and preempts the collapse of their relationship, it is because he believes he has called him.a savage. Parallels? Does it send him.over the edge? Why?

Jacob is a contradiction. He is a virgin and yet after holding back and being proud of his self-command he rapes his own wife on his wedding night. He is jealous, wrathful and violent yet he is capable of tenderness and kindness not only to Ferris but to Aunt and Becs.

He is one of the few soldiers who don't succumb to the furious destruction of Basing House. Yet his inner thoughts of violence and murder are chilling. What an enigma he is.
Jacob is very aware of sin, hell, the Devil. He is obsessed with damnation, of himself and of Ferris. He's more in thrall to religion and these concepts then Ferris and yet he is uncontrolled, wrathful and violen

I loved his contradictions, that as a reader you are challenged by him all the time, wanting him to master his faults and his rage but sympathising with him when he fails.

Cullen is always repentant after his violent outbursts and Cullen is also in thrall to concepts of sin, the Devil and God. Ferris is a self proclaimed atheist. Is forgiveness a Christian concept alone? Because Ferris cannot find it in himself to forgive Jacob. The scene in the coach back to the colony is painful. It is Ferris that is stubborn and unyielding who will not give over, submit or be kind. I hated him in that part so dreadfully.

And yet he believes himself to be merciful. Early on he tells Cullen that he believes in mercy to every man, woman and child and later Cullen thinks, 'I was at his mercy, luckily he was a merciful man.' But, the misery of it all is when he should be merciful, so many moments, to Becs, to Aunt and ultimately to Jacob, he can't make himself.

I loved him too, but many times I didn't like him. And yet his love for Jacob, their love for eachother, was so artfully drawn, full of the contradictions and the obsessions of erotic passion and then, the ultimate faithlessness and failure of love. All devastating and so perfect.

What I loved most, a testament to the writer's immense skill, is the layering of this book, how nothing is at face value how it could take many readings to understand and how your opinions change. It's taken me much re reading to understand that it is Ferris who ultimately mastered Jacob.

Although his love and care of him was apparent from Winchester when Cullen lay wounded, it is Jacob who twice in the book is brought to unbearable pain at the thought of physically losing Ferris and a third time his mind is completely fractured when he loses him in spirit.

And to feel devastated for Jacob and at the same time watch with him in horror, with horror at him, at what he witnesses at the end of the book. Amazing writing.

And that 'love letter' the only one he's ever received, and the ending where he destroys it. Hesrtbreaking all of it. And yet it is ingrained in his mind, the words horribly and oddly prophetic, "Have you the heart to stand by and see it done?"

Rarely has a book made me think so much. I read a review which declared that the book is not heavily literary nor allegorical. Yet I think it is both these. Isn't the whole book an allegory for the destroyed country, the two sides tearing the country to pieces, struggling for dominance? Perhaps even Jacab's awareness of the violence in others but failure to curb it in himself is allegorical. Both sides of the civil war reducing eachother in brutality without self-awareness. The Golgotha.

I had some thoughts on guilt and justice, retribution and redemption. Jacob never faces justice for what he did to Walshe and yet at the end, his delusional mind punishes him with the woman who may or may not be Caro. This imagined taunting by her of him becomes punishment enough.

There wasn't much comedy in this book but the last part where Jacob is really suffering has him delivering some wryly petulant lines, "King Christopher"!.

The ending veers up towards you and slaps you. The disintegration of Jacob's mind and the inevitable madness is horrible and yet I think in the last moments I saw a glimmer of self-awareness. The Voice, such a plague in his head throughout, is perhaps not quite victorious. For at the end Jacob seems to realise what he has done and what he has lost.

This review does no justice to the book. It is beautiful, raw, poetic, immersive, painful, erotic, evocative. If you read one book this year read this.

[Tiash . · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Speak to me, Jacob, do not play the tyrant.
Speak to me."

Best laid plans went wrong, everything fucked up! A twisted psychological drama about someone's foolery, wrath and cowardice. Infuriating, as well as heartbreaking. Full of little moments to enjoy, moments to live for and moments to regret! As Meat Loves Salt is practically unputdownable.



Jacob Cullen , a man of nasty temper issue and an idealistic man Christopher Ferris. they are like oil and water. Even Jacob once remarked, Ferris is as good as bad he's. And sure author put plenty of It's instances all over the book. In short The irony they suffered was drawn toward them by themselves. Rightly so it was messy, at times I plead for powers to fix them all up! Childish ik, but I was totally invested in their story. It's like I lived a whole different life for past few days. And what rollercoaster ride it was.

It's a story about a very fucked up guy Jacob Cullen (who did something really shady and ran away) and then he joined the army and where he met Christopher Ferris, an idealist dreamer who imo was born way ahead of his time. It's a story about war and revulsion, idealism and reality! And also It's a story about a forbidden love blossoming Between two men in seventeenth century. Maria McCann and her irresistible narration and beautifully rendered characters made AMLS a full package. It’s wrapped in dark humour, twisted truth, nasty past and a irresistible rage. Trust me when I said Jacob Cullen is the lite version of Maurice Swift from A LADDER TO THE SKY by John Boyne i wasn’t wrong!

I enjoyed it to bits. Recommended!

INSTAGRAM

[Red Haircrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reader is immediately drawn into the world of Jacob Cullen, a darkly charismatic former servant turned soldier whose sincere cravings for love and understanding are too often marred by his jealous and suspicious nature which creates a mystery the reader discovers in well-timed increments.

After seeming to escape a troubled past, he falls in love with a fellow warrior, who passionately accepts and teaches him of the love between men, yet their own obsessive behavior threatens to destory everything they hoped to build.

Although written in first person, which so many people tend to be biased against because it has been lamentably done so many times, this author does it well. So well in fact, you forget your self and literally are drawn into the emotional conundrum which is Jacob. At times you can hate his viciousness but somehow you never lose empathy for his struggle to find out who he really is, and what he really wants.

For myself, I love history, I love food and I love good descriptions and an in-depth yet not overly heavy tone. Maria strikes the perfect balance with her extensive knowledge of the customs and lifestyles of the people in that era of England. Yet not only that, but the dynamics of politics and societal class are conveyed to her readers without being boring or academic.

This novel is proof positive a woman can very well write not only a good book involving gay or bisexual male characters, but do an outstanding job of capturing and revealing some of the unique dynamics such relationships have, plus heart pounding sensual scenes which are seared into your imagination long after you’ve turned the last page. The power struggles, the twists of love and hate which reflects one’s own personal doubts and biases: this novel has everything.

From my review/interview site Flying With Red Haircrow. Please follow the link to see all reviews above and beyond those I've loaded here at Goodreads.com.

http://flyingwithredhaircrow.wordpres...

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It just occurred to me that, without necessarily meaning to, I find myself rereading this book once a year. I'll go months without thinking about it, without thinking about anything related to it, and then one day I'll be driving and see a tired-looking pedestrian and I'll be back there with Jacob on the Devizes road, parched of throat and sore of foot and so hungry he won't even think about food. Then nothing will do but read those scenes again, and before I know it I'm in Winchester, I'm in London, I'm watching what infatuation and and anger and not a little madness can do to a person, and the kind of damage that person can do to those around him. Every time I finish this book I'm somehow simultaneously in love, and appalled, and exhausted and kind of afraid, and in awe, and I just never know what to do with myself. Except maybe for trying to get everyone I know to read it. Read it if you like love stories, even though this is not exactly a love story. Read it if you like war novels, even though this is not really a war novel. Read this book. No really. Please. I will thank you, and you will thank yourself.

[charlotte, · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf, 62%

[Nel · Rating 3 out of 5]

while reading this i had a lot to say, but once i finished, i dont even have anything to say.
kind of a weird book but i dont regret reading it, just wished there was more of 17th century flavour in it.

upd
but i gotta say ferris's character just confused me. maybe bcs we see him through the eyes of jacob (which would make total sense) but still i just could not penetrate his thinking. he obviously saw through jacob's tendancies and still chose to stick to him. was it out of lust? bcs i didnt believe for a second ferris was in love with him. at least i didnt see him as a person whose love speeches amounted to much. but im also the kind of person to see the worst in everyone so keep that in mind. his fate was tragic but i cant say he had no hand in it either.
the way i see it, if you choose to tangle with a rabid dog, dont cry murder when one day it bites your head off bcs what else can it do.

[Daniel De Lost · Rating 5 out of 5]

A literary debut like no others. "As Meat Loves Salt" is the tormented and at times picaresque story of Jacob Cullen, one of three brothers once of some substance but now reduced to serving in a minor aristocratic household. The historical setting is the English Civil War of the 17th century, and we absorb some of the radical ideas of the time from the servants' reading of contraband pamphlets that must be carefully concealed from their Royalist masters.

Cullen is essentially a man of hasty temper and with an unstable temperament. Suddenly he is forced to flee the manor where he serves with his wife and his brother. Very soon he falls out with them and they desert him, leaving him to attempt to walk to Bristol. He falls in with The New Model Army (Oliver Cromwell’s Army) and joins them for a month or two in which time he becomes obsessed with Christopher Ferris, a troubled but basically good man.

This is a very accurate and clever book, in a lot of ways. It’s incredibly well researched, and curiously has all the flavour of those times. The immersion into the period is deep, convincing and realistic. In particular, it tells of the world without over describing it, describing what is immediate. This book does that; it’s not to say that there isn’t superb period detail in there, there is, but it’s only brought out when it’s necessary. Clothes for example. Jacob’s clothes are described in exquisite detail at one point, right down to lace and buttons but they are amazing clothes, nothing the like of which he’s seen or worn before – so it makes perfect sense for him to describe them.

The bravery that McCann shows through the pages is truly remarkable: 1. from the point of view of a man, a soldier in that time – knowing that she was going to have to show his view of the war etc but 2. That Jacob is one of the most unpleasant characters ever put on page, and yet one of the most charming at the same time. Not only did she write about a man with no redeeming qualities save the love he feels for someone else, but she is capable of keeping readers so engaged into the book that they're willing him to have some kind of redemption, to bring about some miraculous ending.
Jacob is truly unpleasant, but so brilliantly written that he’s hardly even aware of it himself for most of the book. His sense of self-loathing, however, is ingrained in every page, less so at the beginning and ebbs and flows throughout. In a way he embodies what nowadays would be pathologically considered as a sociopath; everything he does he does just because he "wants to." He’ll blame everyone else in the world before he’d blame himself.

This is also a novel coping with the sexual confusion of the times, especially in terms of homoerotic love and feelings, still condemned, something to be frightened of and to suppress at all costs; and yet the several passion moments end up being so deeply felt, sensual and authentic.

McCann has opted for the intimacies of an internalizing, first-person style which must, in this case, shoulder the double burden of creating a convincing sense of historical period as well as character, although readers get inside the head of a man on the brink of madness, revealing all the tropes and paradoxical beauties of an unreliable narrator.

The first striking aspect of the novel is certainly the title and how much it conveys – the attraction, the chemistry, the saltiness, and sultriness, so perfect for the story told. It is dark, rough, dirty, deep, sensuous as wine over thirsty lips. Erotic in a way love between men often is – heady and intoxicating, ravaging, pungent.

"As Meat Loves Salt" is the equivalent of a Caravaggio's painting put on page. A dark, brutal, intelligent, and moving novel. It is beautiful and frightening - terrifying, in some places - but captivating and startlingly erotic.

[Maya]

Violent love eats up what it does love, and is mere appetite.

If someone had asked me ten days ago (when I finished reading) if they should read this book, I’m pretty sure my answer would have been: no. Because, for me, what it came down to was that this book was almost 600 pages of misery, torment, and gloom which eventually led to an ending that left me not only emotionally drained but in angry tears. I can count on my fingers the moments the two main characters experienced happiness or joy, and even these were overshadowed by constant hints and omens of bad times coming.

But.

I can’t ignore the fact that the author managed to make me feel for the violent protagonist (and violent is probably a weak adjective to describe Jacob). By the 15% mark I was wondering if Jacob could ever be redeemed as a character, and shortly after that I knew he wouldn’t be. Although it’s never specifically mentioned in the book I believe Jacob had a mental illness (or at least an inability to control his anger) that made it quite easy for him to reason his actions. And while later he would feel remorse for his doings it was not for the right reasons but because of fear of what his lover would think of him.

Yet, when Jacob fell in love, and no matter how extreme his possessiveness and jealousy were, he did love with passion and selflessness that touched me. And even though the relationship he had with Christopher Ferris was at times toxic because they both brought out the worst of each other, it did give me hope for Jacob. It’s not that I expected love would save him but it was obvious how much calmer and controlled he was when his feelings were returned. Also, I found it oddly endearing that Jacob was always instinctively drawn to good people, and how when accepted he tried his best because all he really wanted was to be loved. But it was never meant to be – the dark power that drove him was stronger than his heart.


Since I am still torn between how unsettled this book left me and the amazing job the author did with Jacob, I decided not to rate it.


BR with Sofia - April 18, 2015.
Sofia and I discuss the book in detail (and with spoilers) here.
It was mainly the fact that I had her to chat with that kept me reading. Otherwise I’m not sure I would’ve made it to the end.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. A historical novel set during the English civil war, it's an absolutely engrossing read. It's also very, very dark, and the story really got under my skin. The two main characters are both appalling and appealing at the same time.

I picked it up after it was recommended on some m/m list, and indeed the relationship between the two men is at the heart of the book. But it is not a happy romance, no, far from it. But it was breathtaking to read - I don't recall ever reading a book where mere looks between two characters felt this erotic.

Reading the book, though, you know everything is doomed from the start (believe me, this is not a spoiler), which makes it both hard to read and impossible to put down. The language is amazing; it pulled me in from the very first sentence.

And even though reading it hurt, hurt badly, I am very glad I read it, because like it says in a review included at the front of the book, this is a book that stays with you for a very long time.

[A.M. Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is a little spoiler-ey. And a tad annoyed. Don't read if you don't want to know.

Gorgeous historical, beautifully written which, nonetheless, felt angry towards homosexuals. Or, perhaps, men.

The main character is a brutal narcissist. I tried to find a metaphor to explain his behavior, thinking that perhaps he represented the old bourgeois?


****

****

SPOILERS

There is neither redemption or consolation for the characters or the reader. The main character is filled with remorse but who knows if it is genuine or only because he has lost something that he desired? The reader is not left with any sense that the main character will change, only that he will carry his evil to the New World.

In the end all I could imagine was that the author was dumped for a man. Seriously. I could not imagine why else anyone would conclude a story in this manner. There seemed to be no purpose to it. Just your typical, 'gay is okay if they are dead at the end' story.

It gets three stars because it was brilliantly written. But I have to admit, I hated it.