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The Parsival Saga #1
Parsival Or A Knight's Tale
Richard Monaco has created an unusual slant on the Arthurian Legend. Horror and bloodshed mingle with a soft, imaginative romanticism making an instant classic. --Salisbury Times, Britain
Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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About the author
Richard Monaco
26 books15 followersBorn in NYC, Monaco studied musical composition at Columbia University, helped create a national student newspaper, The University Review and had many works performed in concert; wrote screenplays for Warner Brothers, other studios and independents; reviewed film and books; hosted a talk radio show for five years on WNYC/FM; taught and lectured at various colleges including Columbia, NYU, and Mercy College; had plays produced in various venues off-Broadway; published poetry in anthologies and periodicals. He has published ten novels and several works of non-fiction including a poetry textbook. Two of his novels, Parsival, or a Knight's Tale and The Final Quest, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. He is planning to soon release Dead Blossoms, a ninja detective adventure set in 16th century Japan and re-release the previous Parsival books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 28, 2012
This is the first of a now out of print four volume series based on the Arthurian Grail quest of the hero Parsival. The other three volumes are: The Grail War; The Final Quest; and, Blood and Dreams. This first book and a fifth volume that never made it to print, Lost Years: The Quest For Avalon, are now available in Kindle format.
This first volume follows Parsival from his overprotective mother and his childhood home on his first quest to become a knight at King Arthur's round table. Once he is a knight, he begins his second quest to find the Grail Castle and discover its secret.
A parallel story tells of Broaditch, a servant from his mother's castle, who sets out soon after to find Parsival. The two quests compliment each other with short episodic chapters from each telling the tale of the book.
This novel is not for the squeemish. There is a war and lots of bloodshed. The people are bawdy rather than chivalric, and the sexual relationships are not always consensual. However, it is an exciting and humorous retelling of a medieval tale. I hope the rest of the series makes it into Kindle format.
This first volume follows Parsival from his overprotective mother and his childhood home on his first quest to become a knight at King Arthur's round table. Once he is a knight, he begins his second quest to find the Grail Castle and discover its secret.
A parallel story tells of Broaditch, a servant from his mother's castle, who sets out soon after to find Parsival. The two quests compliment each other with short episodic chapters from each telling the tale of the book.
This novel is not for the squeemish. There is a war and lots of bloodshed. The people are bawdy rather than chivalric, and the sexual relationships are not always consensual. However, it is an exciting and humorous retelling of a medieval tale. I hope the rest of the series makes it into Kindle format.
Read
July 3, 2011This has to be one of the weirdest books I've read in a while. The cover of this crusty paperback I've had since at least high school seems to convey a story that is full of romance and fantasy, of chivalry and magic. Yet 90% of this book is brutality: gore, sex, swearing and bodily functions. People gagging on the smell of the severed bodies or rotten meat seems to pop up every couple of pages, and the hero Pasival is, after a quick introduction, soon found raping (er, ravishing) a maiden on his way to manhood. What is going on here?
Parsival, both the epic this is loosely based on as well as the character within the book, is one of the ultimate reluctant heroes of legend: an innocent brute who means well but is forced into a world of self-discovery, of the pain and misery of existence, as he follows that illusive dream for the Holy Grail. Along the way he confronts a gloryless and disillusioned Camelot, full of petty rapists and murderers, and his own quest for chivalry is interlaced with the misadventures of three common folk, who in their own stories seem to reference at different points the Canterbery Tales, the Seventh Seal (in the form of one spectacularly depressing Jester) and Marxism (in a sort of tagged-on sidestory involving a Preist organizing a peasant uprising). The main villain, Clinschor, seems based peculiarly on both Oriental "Otherness" and Adolph Hitler (as the author explains in a brief afterward, Clinschor is based on a character from Wolfram von Eschenbach's Passival, Landalf da Padua, who in turn Hitler saw himself to be a reincarnation of). There is a feeling of moribund doom surveying this book, especially in the latter half in which the Black Plague wreaks the world, of existential melancholy as knight and villager die needlessly, as lonely people find short solace in sex and stories, as people are enslaved, as the Grail is found and then lost again, as passion seems to die and rise again at the very last moment.
It is a depressing read. It reminds one of the song from the Fantastiks, "Try to Remember," as Parsival goes from innocent foolhood to bitterly-won knowledge in the sweep of all the long pages. Yet for all the nostalgia he might feel for more innocent times, never are times shown to be innocent, never is valor or chivalry seen to exist, save for long, long ago, before our story begins. There is a bitersweetness to every page and image, even when they are not of slaughter, shitting and rape.
The story jumps freely around in time, which can be dissorienting and anti-climactic. Most of the chapters are very short (some no longer than a paragraph) and are richly poetic but lose urgency in a story that jumps around into so many characters's heads and into so many various timelines. Delliberately, one feels a grandeur just out of reach, an epic we can see only bits and shadows of, never the whole picture. This is in part because this story is an anti-romance and anti-quest, and even if Pasival's final epiphany seems too forced and new aged (like something from Siddhartha) it is an ending that fits the frameworks of the Grail narrative, and it is a revelation that is demonstrably sad. It is a revelation that we must all confront some day.
Though I do not believe this story is historical, it is clear the author cares a lot and is an expert of sorts on the subject matter, and no description or dialogue feels really out of place (even when characters say things like "it scared the shits from me"). I just read in an interview (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/...) that the author originally designed this story to be a Western, with the Parsival character called Val Parse, and that makes a lot of sense to me. It feels like the author tried to accomplish too much, and perhaps he failed in some way, as the main plot seems quickly forgotten and most urgency is thrown out and replaced with a languidness that is perhaps this book's real accomplishment: the pangs of melancholy, of innocence lost bleeding off every page.
I understand there are sequels, but I do not see how the author could carry on this motif any more than he already has done here, nor would want to read pages more of dread carrying on. Still, it is strange that this book is not more well known these days in fantasy circles, as it is very stylishly done. It had many flaws, but I do see it as a lasting experience.
Parsival, both the epic this is loosely based on as well as the character within the book, is one of the ultimate reluctant heroes of legend: an innocent brute who means well but is forced into a world of self-discovery, of the pain and misery of existence, as he follows that illusive dream for the Holy Grail. Along the way he confronts a gloryless and disillusioned Camelot, full of petty rapists and murderers, and his own quest for chivalry is interlaced with the misadventures of three common folk, who in their own stories seem to reference at different points the Canterbery Tales, the Seventh Seal (in the form of one spectacularly depressing Jester) and Marxism (in a sort of tagged-on sidestory involving a Preist organizing a peasant uprising). The main villain, Clinschor, seems based peculiarly on both Oriental "Otherness" and Adolph Hitler (as the author explains in a brief afterward, Clinschor is based on a character from Wolfram von Eschenbach's Passival, Landalf da Padua, who in turn Hitler saw himself to be a reincarnation of). There is a feeling of moribund doom surveying this book, especially in the latter half in which the Black Plague wreaks the world, of existential melancholy as knight and villager die needlessly, as lonely people find short solace in sex and stories, as people are enslaved, as the Grail is found and then lost again, as passion seems to die and rise again at the very last moment.
It is a depressing read. It reminds one of the song from the Fantastiks, "Try to Remember," as Parsival goes from innocent foolhood to bitterly-won knowledge in the sweep of all the long pages. Yet for all the nostalgia he might feel for more innocent times, never are times shown to be innocent, never is valor or chivalry seen to exist, save for long, long ago, before our story begins. There is a bitersweetness to every page and image, even when they are not of slaughter, shitting and rape.
The story jumps freely around in time, which can be dissorienting and anti-climactic. Most of the chapters are very short (some no longer than a paragraph) and are richly poetic but lose urgency in a story that jumps around into so many characters's heads and into so many various timelines. Delliberately, one feels a grandeur just out of reach, an epic we can see only bits and shadows of, never the whole picture. This is in part because this story is an anti-romance and anti-quest, and even if Pasival's final epiphany seems too forced and new aged (like something from Siddhartha) it is an ending that fits the frameworks of the Grail narrative, and it is a revelation that is demonstrably sad. It is a revelation that we must all confront some day.
Though I do not believe this story is historical, it is clear the author cares a lot and is an expert of sorts on the subject matter, and no description or dialogue feels really out of place (even when characters say things like "it scared the shits from me"). I just read in an interview (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/...) that the author originally designed this story to be a Western, with the Parsival character called Val Parse, and that makes a lot of sense to me. It feels like the author tried to accomplish too much, and perhaps he failed in some way, as the main plot seems quickly forgotten and most urgency is thrown out and replaced with a languidness that is perhaps this book's real accomplishment: the pangs of melancholy, of innocence lost bleeding off every page.
I understand there are sequels, but I do not see how the author could carry on this motif any more than he already has done here, nor would want to read pages more of dread carrying on. Still, it is strange that this book is not more well known these days in fantasy circles, as it is very stylishly done. It had many flaws, but I do see it as a lasting experience.
July 20, 2013
Parsival, or a Knight’s Tale is a novel of lyrical romance under assault by the world’s horrors. It explores the dialectical tension between deeply felt (and quintessentially 1970s, despite the Arthurian setting) mysticism and cynicism. The story unfolds through two parallel journeys: a road to kinghood and a descent into slavery.
The first journey is that of Parsival, the sheltered (to put it mildly) son of a king slain in battle. Upon discovering the presence of death and power of killing when he takes the life of a stag, he sets off in a scarecrow’s clothes on a swayback horse to become a knight. His idyllic dream of chivalry is undermined by a warrior’s reality: one of endless pillage, slaughter, and rape—all of which he witnesses and indulges during what was intended to be a fool’s errand: the Quest for the Holy Grail. As his power grows and his innocence fades, Parsival must reconcile his experience of joy and horror to gain an understanding of the universe and his place in it. If he can not, he will descend into debauch, despair, and madness.
The other journey is that of Broadich and Waleis, two servants of Parsival’s mother who are sent to retrieve her wayward son. They are captured and enslaved by the mad eunuch Clinschor. As Parsival witnesses the horror and hypocrisy of power, Broadich and Waleis endure the degradation and suffering of victimization. Somehow, they must find a way to escape, but first they must find a way to endure.
Yes, this novel is rife with brutality. It also has some moments of transcendent beauty. Neither would be effective without the other, and it demands we face both—just as the characters must as well. The author is sly, and this book is much more about the adventure of self-discovery than knightly battles.
In the final act of Parsival, the titular knight beseeches Merlinus to direct him to the Holy Grail. The old sage responds by pointing out a giant oak standing alone against a pale, dull sky and saying, “That’s the best I can do. I can keep showing you the roads, but you have to walk them. This man can’t possess that tree, he can only look as you can. It’s all in the seeing and I can’t see it for you.”
The first journey is that of Parsival, the sheltered (to put it mildly) son of a king slain in battle. Upon discovering the presence of death and power of killing when he takes the life of a stag, he sets off in a scarecrow’s clothes on a swayback horse to become a knight. His idyllic dream of chivalry is undermined by a warrior’s reality: one of endless pillage, slaughter, and rape—all of which he witnesses and indulges during what was intended to be a fool’s errand: the Quest for the Holy Grail. As his power grows and his innocence fades, Parsival must reconcile his experience of joy and horror to gain an understanding of the universe and his place in it. If he can not, he will descend into debauch, despair, and madness.
The other journey is that of Broadich and Waleis, two servants of Parsival’s mother who are sent to retrieve her wayward son. They are captured and enslaved by the mad eunuch Clinschor. As Parsival witnesses the horror and hypocrisy of power, Broadich and Waleis endure the degradation and suffering of victimization. Somehow, they must find a way to escape, but first they must find a way to endure.
Yes, this novel is rife with brutality. It also has some moments of transcendent beauty. Neither would be effective without the other, and it demands we face both—just as the characters must as well. The author is sly, and this book is much more about the adventure of self-discovery than knightly battles.
In the final act of Parsival, the titular knight beseeches Merlinus to direct him to the Holy Grail. The old sage responds by pointing out a giant oak standing alone against a pale, dull sky and saying, “That’s the best I can do. I can keep showing you the roads, but you have to walk them. This man can’t possess that tree, he can only look as you can. It’s all in the seeing and I can’t see it for you.”
Read
November 24, 2017A highly-praised fantasy novel about Parsival, the Holy Grail, and of course King Arthur? I'm there! Or at least, I was.
I was almost immediately put off by the short scenes (one page, half a page, or a little longer) with Roman numerals as if they are chapters or parts of chapters, each switching to a different 3rd person view of a different character or event. Many of them feature a "he" without explaining who "he" is until halfway down the page or more. It is confusing to say the least. I kept hoping for it all to come together, but just when I thought I'd figured it out, "he" would turn out to be someone different than I thought. And the short passages with Roman numerals just kept coming. I can't help but think that a good novelist would be able to write them together into a cohesive work.
I am a little surprised by all of the accolades for good writing. It is probably a combination of different people liking different writing styles, and a misunderstanding I have found common lately, namely that if an author describes the landscape, their writing is automatically beautiful. What little dialogue there is so far is certainly nothing special either, and I can't say that it really contributed to my understanding of the story (there is a story here somewhere, right? I hope?).
I'm glad I read some other reviews and found out that this book turns into a depressing stew of rotting body parts and rape. Now I have absolutely no more reason to bother with this "fantasy masterpiece." It's a shame...I was excited about this one :(
I was almost immediately put off by the short scenes (one page, half a page, or a little longer) with Roman numerals as if they are chapters or parts of chapters, each switching to a different 3rd person view of a different character or event. Many of them feature a "he" without explaining who "he" is until halfway down the page or more. It is confusing to say the least. I kept hoping for it all to come together, but just when I thought I'd figured it out, "he" would turn out to be someone different than I thought. And the short passages with Roman numerals just kept coming. I can't help but think that a good novelist would be able to write them together into a cohesive work.
I am a little surprised by all of the accolades for good writing. It is probably a combination of different people liking different writing styles, and a misunderstanding I have found common lately, namely that if an author describes the landscape, their writing is automatically beautiful. What little dialogue there is so far is certainly nothing special either, and I can't say that it really contributed to my understanding of the story (there is a story here somewhere, right? I hope?).
I'm glad I read some other reviews and found out that this book turns into a depressing stew of rotting body parts and rape. Now I have absolutely no more reason to bother with this "fantasy masterpiece." It's a shame...I was excited about this one :(
May 31, 2025
When I was a kid I was practically obsessed with knights and would devour anything I could get my hands on that featured them. I somehow came across this book and, while I was far too young to be reading this for many reasons, I devoured it and loved it. I'm sure it helped that there are a few awesome David Mccall Johnston illustrations throughout the book.
Now, about 30 years later I am revisiting this book and I love it for different reasons. Based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, Monaco has chosen to invert the traditional tropes of romantic chivalry and knights errant and give us a world where knights are pretty awful people and the members of the legendary round table are all scumbags and morons. You could even argue that the wisest and kindest character in the book is not a knight at all but a servant on a quest of his own.
Into this big mess comes Parsival the holy fool, with enormous luck making up for his total lack of common sense and, of course, shenanigans ensue.
This is a book that I have always been shocked isn't a classic of fantasy literature and remains fairly obscure.
Now, about 30 years later I am revisiting this book and I love it for different reasons. Based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, Monaco has chosen to invert the traditional tropes of romantic chivalry and knights errant and give us a world where knights are pretty awful people and the members of the legendary round table are all scumbags and morons. You could even argue that the wisest and kindest character in the book is not a knight at all but a servant on a quest of his own.
Into this big mess comes Parsival the holy fool, with enormous luck making up for his total lack of common sense and, of course, shenanigans ensue.
This is a book that I have always been shocked isn't a classic of fantasy literature and remains fairly obscure.
May 17, 2012
One of my absolute favorite Arthurian novels.
March 18, 2018
Stupid. DNR. weird and not in a good way. I don't think I could have gotten into this even if I tried. unfortunately. there was so many awkward and awful sex scenes. depictions of rape and horrible brutality. the characters weren't really that likeable. I think I ended up kind of enjoying broadich and alienors story towards the end. but parsival was not on my radar. only the notes at the end of the book helped me figure out what the hell I'd just read.
July 30, 2016
Parsival is a very interesting, different kind of medieval fantasy book. It's like a dreamy Game of Thrones. Narrating characters change by the chapter or paragraph, and the time frame jumps just as easily from present to a few hours in the past to 20 years in the future.
Many characters narrate, but perhaps the center of the story lies with Parsival, the naive but physically (I write physically because he's not powerful in any other respect of the word haha) powerful prince. This novel is an essentially a coming of stage story for Parsival, as even though he is a young man he has a lot of learning to do! Broaditch is the second major narrator, and while aloof at the start, he becomes a strong and relatable character .
This book is not a light read because of its language, convoluted plot, abhorrent violence, and, uh, exuberant dreamy sex scenes.... haha. I would suggest this should be read by people aged 18 years and up.
Read
April 14, 2013I spent a large number of weeks picking this book up, reading some, and putting it down again. I probably got something like halfway through doing this. A few months ago, I put it down and didn't bother picking it up again. So I think this goes in the "abandoned" folder.
It wasn't a bad book. In fact, I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading it. Just too slow to keep me engaged *between* reading sessions. Maybe it's a just a fact of life with a toddler - can't seem to read anything slow-paced at this time in my life. Ah well.
It wasn't a bad book. In fact, I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading it. Just too slow to keep me engaged *between* reading sessions. Maybe it's a just a fact of life with a toddler - can't seem to read anything slow-paced at this time in my life. Ah well.
June 4, 2012
Microreview: I appreciate what the author was trying to do; take a 'perfect' character and make him dark, depict a realistic medieval 'historical fiction', have his writing jump around in time while writing in a complex way. That all seems amazing! But it ends up being pretty bad and, more importantly, boring - both from a reader's standpoint and an intellectual standpoint. It does have some redeeming qualities, but honestly don't pick this book up.
October 17, 2021
This is one of a few books that I abandoned mid-read. Normally I try to push through and finish a book even if I feel I'm not liking it, but there was little reason to punish myself here for what seems to be third-rate Arthurian fantasy.
Usually I don't even bother recording these "did not finish" titles, but I thought maybe I should start doing so, to give a more honest picture of my reading habits and what fails to satisfy my taste.
I like the Parsival story, having read Wolfram von Eschenbach, as well as some other adaptations, the strangest and most enjoyable being Adolf Muschg's massive epic, Der Rote Ritter. I labored for months to finish all 1000+ pages of that, but it was a labor richly rewarded. Muschg is at times solemn, frivolous, absurd, and obscene, but in a way that somehow all comes together into an engrossing tale.
In contrast, after 117 pages of Richard Monaco's Parsival, I couldn't see a point in continuing. It was just boring, with awkward writing that did not flow at all. Little mini-chapters quickly shifting point of view between different characters is something I particularly dislike, at least when handled so badly as here. It just made the story disjointed and hard to follow, rather than dynamic or exciting. Parsival's adventures, as far as I followed them, did not appear in any particularly original or interesting form.
Monaco's angle just seemed to be to make the story "gritty and realistic." So let's give the the Red Knight a venereal disease, and make sure everyone says the F-word a lot so we know this isn't some idealized and immaculate Arthurian world. No, it's a super realistic depiction of a ... a, a mythical king and a bunch of knights who probably never existed, or at least in nothing close to the form of this story. Yeah, more realism is totally what myths and legends need to make them more enjoyable!
So I stopped at 117 pages because I figured, I need to waste less time reading books I don't like. Given that I generally buy them faster than I read them, I better cull these piles a little faster. Luckily this copy was only 50 cents at the library thrift shop.
Usually I don't even bother recording these "did not finish" titles, but I thought maybe I should start doing so, to give a more honest picture of my reading habits and what fails to satisfy my taste.
I like the Parsival story, having read Wolfram von Eschenbach, as well as some other adaptations, the strangest and most enjoyable being Adolf Muschg's massive epic, Der Rote Ritter. I labored for months to finish all 1000+ pages of that, but it was a labor richly rewarded. Muschg is at times solemn, frivolous, absurd, and obscene, but in a way that somehow all comes together into an engrossing tale.
In contrast, after 117 pages of Richard Monaco's Parsival, I couldn't see a point in continuing. It was just boring, with awkward writing that did not flow at all. Little mini-chapters quickly shifting point of view between different characters is something I particularly dislike, at least when handled so badly as here. It just made the story disjointed and hard to follow, rather than dynamic or exciting. Parsival's adventures, as far as I followed them, did not appear in any particularly original or interesting form.
Monaco's angle just seemed to be to make the story "gritty and realistic." So let's give the the Red Knight a venereal disease, and make sure everyone says the F-word a lot so we know this isn't some idealized and immaculate Arthurian world. No, it's a super realistic depiction of a ... a, a mythical king and a bunch of knights who probably never existed, or at least in nothing close to the form of this story. Yeah, more realism is totally what myths and legends need to make them more enjoyable!
So I stopped at 117 pages because I figured, I need to waste less time reading books I don't like. Given that I generally buy them faster than I read them, I better cull these piles a little faster. Luckily this copy was only 50 cents at the library thrift shop.
June 30, 2020
Parsival is a curious book. At first blush you would expect a typical Arthurian adventure story, but the further you delve into it the more you realize that this is not the case at all. Yes, it does have adventure and uses the Arthurian grail legends as a backdrop, but there is nothing typical about it.
At its heart the tale seems to be a journey from dreamy innocence to cold reality. Parsival, cloistered by his mother and growing to adulthood with no knowledge of the outside world, travels into a land torn by war and ravaged by knights without honor. Unfortunately, he allies himself with these brutal men and loses the innocence that his mother was so eager to protect.
The quest for the Holy Grail and the Castle where it is contained becomes a quest for redemption, but by the end of the story it becomes clear that the “Grail” may not be a treasure at all, at least not a treasure of the traditional sort.
At times beautiful, at times brutal, Parsival is certainly a challenging read but one that I very much enjoyed.
At its heart the tale seems to be a journey from dreamy innocence to cold reality. Parsival, cloistered by his mother and growing to adulthood with no knowledge of the outside world, travels into a land torn by war and ravaged by knights without honor. Unfortunately, he allies himself with these brutal men and loses the innocence that his mother was so eager to protect.
The quest for the Holy Grail and the Castle where it is contained becomes a quest for redemption, but by the end of the story it becomes clear that the “Grail” may not be a treasure at all, at least not a treasure of the traditional sort.
At times beautiful, at times brutal, Parsival is certainly a challenging read but one that I very much enjoyed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2023
I’d read this almost 20 years ago, and it hadn’t made much of an impression. It’s sat on my shelf since. I thought I’d revisit it before getting rid of it and I’m glad I did, because this time I couldn’t put it down.
Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood back then, or perhaps I was expecting a more typical adventure novel and blind to anything that wasn’t. Which this surely is not.
This one is in equal measure funny, gruesome, and thought provoking. The syntax and jumps in perspective take some getting used to but didn’t stop me from following the book.
Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood back then, or perhaps I was expecting a more typical adventure novel and blind to anything that wasn’t. Which this surely is not.
This one is in equal measure funny, gruesome, and thought provoking. The syntax and jumps in perspective take some getting used to but didn’t stop me from following the book.
December 23, 2022
After reading this version of Parsival, I will never be able to read another Medieval story in the same way again. Monaco's version is not the Hollywood version of shiny knights, rescuing beautiful ladies. In this version, you see & smell the sweat, dirt & mud, lack of hygiene . The knights are not gentlemen out to save the world. They are crude, violent men who ravage the landscape, taking what they want, and victimizing the peasants. Monaco's story rings true, and his writing makes this period come alive.
February 2, 2024
Not my favorite representation of King Arther and his knights. And Parsival is actually not a very good person, nor are the knights he learns the craft from. I like the more traditional tale with the knights being chivalrous and the best of society. Far less realistic, but . . . a better story in my opinion.
January 16, 2025
Plot doesn’t convince me to read the other two books in the series (but maybe I will one day if I stumble upon them); yet with that said, Parsival was a humorous and ambling main, if albeit naive, character to follow. Broaditch was also quite heroic, and quite possibly may even be the most ‘morally noteworthy’ guy in the book … but is that even the question, here? We’re discussing THE GRAIL! And no, I won’t spoil if it’s found, but Monaco’s description of it at the end is worth the read in itself. Overall: Campy, Picturesque, Gory, Inventive. 8/10.
October 11, 2017
Amazing, dream-like, proto-grimdark fantasy. All four books in the series are worth reading. I re-read it every few years and always come away with a fresh perspective. Highly recommended if you like intelligent, gritty fantasy.
June 10, 2018
A novel, with which I am not in sympathy (the author hates Wolfram von Eschenbach, and I think the whole Arthurian mythos, and lets us know at great, and bloody, length
November 6, 2014
Richard Monaco's Parsival is, it seems, rather forgotten these days when it comes to Arthurian fiction, which is strange, since it is a very well written, dreamlike story.
This is partly based on the epic Arthurian romance Parzival, by Wolfram Von Eschenbach, a German knight and poet who himself based it on an unfinished tale by Chretien de Troyes. The story of Parsival is that of the Holy Fool, the innocent who seeks, and finds, the Grail Castle.
Monaco is a good writer and this tale features some familiar names (Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Gawain) in a slightly unfamiliar setting. England (or Albion) is never mentioned, so the story unfolds in an unnamed land as we follow the entirely innocent, unworldly (otherworldly?) Parsival as he leaves his home and experiences the world for the first time. His progress from innocent to Knight to weary melancholy is handled in a series of dreamlike sequences, full of horror and blood. There is war here, unremitting, gruesome war. The bodies are literally piled high.
Monaco, as a counterpoint to his protagonist, also follows three "peasants", Broaditch, Waleis and Alienor, as they move through a landscape of horror and death trying to find Parsival. The narrative leaps forward twenty years at one point to find Broaditch telling the tale to his children.
It's a classic good versus evil story, with the dark wizard Clinschor seeking the Grail and Merlin trying to guide Parsival with cryptic, rather unhelpful, hints. Chivalry is nowhere to be found here.
What the Grail actually is is never defined and it is only at the end that Parsival comes to realise what he's been seeking. And also the point that Broaditch, after a question from his son regarding Parsival's fate, sets out to find him, thus setting the scene for a sequel.
A strange, unsettling book well worth your time.
This is partly based on the epic Arthurian romance Parzival, by Wolfram Von Eschenbach, a German knight and poet who himself based it on an unfinished tale by Chretien de Troyes. The story of Parsival is that of the Holy Fool, the innocent who seeks, and finds, the Grail Castle.
Monaco is a good writer and this tale features some familiar names (Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Gawain) in a slightly unfamiliar setting. England (or Albion) is never mentioned, so the story unfolds in an unnamed land as we follow the entirely innocent, unworldly (otherworldly?) Parsival as he leaves his home and experiences the world for the first time. His progress from innocent to Knight to weary melancholy is handled in a series of dreamlike sequences, full of horror and blood. There is war here, unremitting, gruesome war. The bodies are literally piled high.
Monaco, as a counterpoint to his protagonist, also follows three "peasants", Broaditch, Waleis and Alienor, as they move through a landscape of horror and death trying to find Parsival. The narrative leaps forward twenty years at one point to find Broaditch telling the tale to his children.
It's a classic good versus evil story, with the dark wizard Clinschor seeking the Grail and Merlin trying to guide Parsival with cryptic, rather unhelpful, hints. Chivalry is nowhere to be found here.
What the Grail actually is is never defined and it is only at the end that Parsival comes to realise what he's been seeking. And also the point that Broaditch, after a question from his son regarding Parsival's fate, sets out to find him, thus setting the scene for a sequel.
A strange, unsettling book well worth your time.
December 19, 2013
Think of this as a side story to King Author, something that happened to happen about the same time with characters crossing paths, and you have a good idea of what "Parsival" is all about. Parsival himself is young man who was raised to have no clues about the rest of the world, but who is extremely talented and extremely fey. His mother, a queen of some territory, eventually sends him out into the world and the rest is to be found in the pages of this book.
Richard Monaco's prose is fairly readable, but his real talent is how he weaved such a meaningful storyline from what seems to be a random journey of a fool.
Richard Monaco's prose is fairly readable, but his real talent is how he weaved such a meaningful storyline from what seems to be a random journey of a fool.
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March 10, 2015After reading reviews of this book, I agree with most of what has been already posted. The story, though, I think to have elements of being cast against the mold of the romance and narrow Arthurian legend. The facts are that the Middle Ages were violent and human life was not respected, especially not the serfs and peasants. Warlords plotted to control property and wealth. Arthur and Gawain are not heroes; they are both ambitious, scheming, and sadly human. Parsival is an innocent who enters the world with one ambition only: to become a knight. He is so focused on his task that he misses his opportunity to attain the greatest icon of the age--the Holy Grail.
August 11, 2014
This book is timeless in ways that will make it stand out hundreds of years from now. The author, Richard Monaco, takes the Arthurian story to a new place with beautiful writing that is different from everything you've ever read. His style connects to the reader in a way that is unusual. I suppose a better reviewer could describe his unique style, but all I know is that the writing in one of a kind and special, so I'll leave it at that. No one since has written like Monaco, and even though many have tried, few will ever come close.
September 6, 2013
A tale from the times of King Arthur. The plot seems to me a little thin. The book does an adequate job of pointing out the misery and horror of war. It also points out that no matter how much a child is protected from evil, that he (she) will at some point come in contact with evil and face having to make moral choices. Although his mother tried to keep Parsival innocent, once he was out in the world on his own, he found himself acting at odds with the innocence he had in the beginning.
August 28, 2014
This is a strange book. It is often grotesque and off-putting, but this is offset by an ethereal beauty. The whole thing has a dissociative feeling to it that is oddly calming in the face of uncertainty...
February 15, 2009
I found this book well written and quite inventive in character and plot. Monaco brings a new dimension to the ancient Arthurian character of Parsival.
July 4, 2009
Dreamy, violent and strange.
June 27, 2012
The book starts with a home (tent) invasion and and "innocent" sexual assault. Need I say more?
Fuck this noise.
Burn.
Fuck this noise.
Burn.
July 28, 2012
I love this book. I first read this when I was in highschool and loved it then. its raw and violent brutal. when I saw this was available on kindle I snapped it up immediately and am rereading it.
January 9, 2014
Disjointed in the beginning. Disorganized in the middle. And disappointing by the end. I'd have abandoned it part way through were it not for the bawdy parts.
February 7, 2016
Enjoyed revisiting a book I enjoyed as a much younger person...
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