John the Pupil

by David Flusfeder

The extraordinary new novel from David Flusfeder.


‘John the Pupil’ is a medieval road movie, Umberto Eco seen through the eyes of Quentin Tarrantino, recounting the journey taken from Oxford to Viterbo in 1267 by John and his two companions, at the behest of the friar and magus Roger Bacon, carrying a secret burden to His Holiness Clement IV. As well as having to fight off ambushes from thieves hungry for the thing of power they are carrying, the holy trio are tried and tempted by all sorts of sins: ambition, pride, lust – and by the sheer hell and heaven of medieval life.


Erudite and earthy, horrifying, comic, humane, David Flusfeder’s extraordinary novel reveals to the reader a world very different and all too like the one we live in now.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Medieval, Historical, Book Club

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2014

About the author

David currently teaches Creative Writing at The University of Kent, UK.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant accomplishment, rich in imagination and intellectual stimulation. The author does a fabulous job of warming your heart to his protagonist, a precocious boy tasked with carrying a secret book of wisdoms compiled by his teacher Roger Bacon to Pope Clement IV. He's accompanied on his journey from Oxford to Italy by two brothers from the priory. The journey is fraught with perils both of a physical and spiritual nature and the relationship between the three boys is movingly developed. Often with historical fiction authors are conscientious about surface detail but tend to give their characters a jarring modern sensibility. Here there's an easeful artistry about the way the author takes us inside the medieval mind, an evolving synergy between internal and exterior worlds.

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Flusfeder’s John the Pupil is one of those books you enter like a world. Within a few sentences, you find yourself living inside of it—and your immediate surroundings become no more than white noise. The thirteenth century, in which it takes place, is an era of terror and knowledge.

The John of the title is a student of Roger Bacon. Along with two of his Franciscan brothers, John has been sent on a pilgrimage to Rome with the goal of delivering a new book by Bacon to the Pope, Clement IV. This journey is traveled on foot for the most part, and in the tradition of their order the Franciscans are expected to preach daily for alms that will provide them with food and, sometimes, housing.

The pace of the book is slow, as is a pilgrimage on foot. John records events on scraps of parchment, labeling the entries with the names of the Saints’ Days on which they were written. One day is much like the next: sore feet, the constant threat of violence, and an inner dialogue that John uses to try to understand the meaning of his journey even as he undertakes it. This pacing is part of what makes the book so all-consuming—it pulls readers into the rhythms of life from seven centuries ago.

Flusfeder’s prose is both beautiful and unadorned, true to the book’s era as is the pace. Wording is simple, but precise. Sparseness, rather than rich detail, is what brings these characters to life.

Give yourself the pleasure of reading this book. Let yourself settle into its rhythms and language and experience a world we left long ago.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book settles you firmly in the medieval world of 1267 and within the traveling task of John the Pupil. He is delivering his Master Roger Bacon's book to Pope Clement. The journey is dangerous, long and of no sure completion; it's from England to Italy. That's the bones.

But the flesh of this story is in its spirit, within both the faith and the striving- it is questioning and often difficult, but it is also SO encompassed in our traveler's solid knowledge and devotional core belief to his task. And also within the conceptions of and connection to his fellow traveler friars, the two that he has chosen to accompany him.

It's very hard for me to review this book. The simplicity was such a whole piece worldview, and yet it was so completely and mystically complicated with the corporeal world "eyes" at the same time.

It has some similarities to Canterbury Tales. Many passages are poetic or refrains from Roman Catholic service or Matins, Prime, Offertory of the Mass.

It's the kind of book I would have loved to discuss with my High School English teacher, Sister Brian. Absolutely loved it and thought the outcomes and endings both quite realistic. And in John's case his full born graduation to adulthood.

The language forms reflecting God, the saints and the nature of the physical world were 5 star sublime.

[Sherry Sharpnack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fell for the glowing reviews on this one.

“John the Pupil” is a travel log, about a sheltered student of Roger Bacon getting sent on a mission to deliver a book and apparatus for starting fires to the Pope. It is set in 1267, so you can imagine how difficult the journey will be.

Yet it feels like you are only imagining it; I never got drawn into the characters, nor the story. The conversations aren’t written as dialogue, but after-the-fact, which creates emotional distance. I never really felt a part of the story until the brutal treatment of Brother Daniel, which is nearly the end of the book. John finished his trip, and it changed his life, but it didn’t affect my life at all—which is what I look for in a book.

[Rob Adey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous medieval quest. Not really sure about the Tarrantino comparison in the blurb – this isn't schlocky or especially violent and there is no obvious role for Uma Thurman. It would make a good film, but probably more something like the Coen brothers or an extended ad for KP crisps.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

John the Pupil is a forthcoming novel from David Flusfelder, a professor at the University of Kent and author of six previous novels. John is a travel log, written by the student of Roger Bacon as he journeys to deliver Bacon's magnum opus to Pope Clement IV. The story was billed as written in the vein of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (my favorite book), as well as Michael Faber, and curiously, Quentin Tarantino.

I love The Name of the Rose for its medieval setting, art- and history-based puzzle solving, and religious themes that never descend into Church bashing. John claims a bold heritage, which I find uncertain from my experience.

The story is entirely narrated by John, as a travel log of his journey. He recalls discussions and other characters, but there is no dialogue, only narration after the fact. You can imagine him filling in his notes at the end of a day's journey. I expect this choice is the experimentation that echos Tarantino. The novel is itself a framed narrative, beginning with a fictional translator giving a history of John's journal, and claiming to have come to it many years later.

John is a sheltered monk, book-smart at the hands of his master, Roger Bacon, but street-dumb from living an insular life in the Franciscan monastery, and further withdrawn into the library, at that. It seems his two companions are chosen because they are the only names he happened to know on short notice. They undertake their journey, facing threats and temptations in the world designed to attack each of their weaknesses: alcohol, women, pride of intellect.

Unfortunately, the narrative style was a significant obstacle for me. The whole story stays at arm's length from the reader. We never actually meet the characters or experience the difficult situations, we only hear about them after the fact. It dilutes the conflict. The travel log, as well, is written by John specifically for his tutor's benefit, and feels further sterilized to be publicly read. It is a choice, and I don't fault the author for making it, but it left me disengaged from the story. A personal diary might have been more successful, but also historically inaccurate, as no valuable paper would have been wasted on a completely private text.

The characters were well rounded and clear, I must say. I am critical of the style preventing me from connecting with them, but the narration allowed me to understand them clearly. Their troubles made sense, and I enjoyed that each had a trap waiting for them designed to break them at their weakest point. John would certainly have seen the hand of the Devil in their struggles. I also greatly enjoyed the thorough footnotes section. Written in the as the academic we met in the first pages translating the travel log, the end notes are comprehensive and while fictional, seem historically plausible. A clever edition. I give a lot of credit to Flusfeder for thinking so carefully about the broader context of his novel and including it for the reader.

I enjoyed John the Pupil, by the end I was thoroughly pulled into John's mission, and hoping to see him succeed. I wasn't happy with the narration style keeping me at a distance from the action, but if that description doesn't bother you, John is a worthwhile read.

[Rj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and rich in imagery but the story didn't drive as much as I'd hoped a 'medieval road movie' would, even though it was technically packed with action and adventure. The historical backing was sound and really interesting and although I thought reading a historically authentic dialogue would be a little tiresome it read naturally and was still relatable.

[English · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've known about this book for years, but only recently got around to borrowing the audiobook from my library. The concept, I must admit, was very interesting, and starting each day's account with a short biography of the Saint it was named was quite educational!

The actual story won't be according to everyone's taste. Its basically a day to day account of the journey to Rome, and the struggles and temptations the three young friars face along the way- and they get tempted in almost very way: and sometimes succumb.

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy, although most of the details seemed right. What attracted me early on were some the details about monastic life, how friars were different from monks and what they actually did. (Friars were supposed to travel around preaching, monks to stay in more or less one place).

Most fascinating was the connection with Roger Bacon, a shadowy and almost legendary figure. I never knew he was in turn a student of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln and another towering intellect of the thirteenth century.
Bacon certainly comes over a great scholar in this story, but as another reviewer pointed out: its also implied he may have been a madman. For too long I think Roger Bacon has ignominy of being presented as some kind of sorcerer, evil magician or insane: yet some consider him as the Father of experimental science. He was certainly into some dubious things, and got into trouble: but I could not help but conclude he was an incredible intellect who deserves more attention and credit, alongside most of the other neglected Medieval European intellectuals.

Shame there is not actually a lot about Bacon in this, and I understand the legendary book John was transporting is lost to history (and indeed, some suggest never existed in the first place).
A worthwhile read, but I'm not sure its one I'd consider a keeper.

[Maria White · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a 13th century chronicle by John, a pupil of the friar Roger Bacon, who is tasked with taking a secret book from Oxford to Italy to deliver to the Pope. John is accompanied on his travels by two of the Brothers of the Order and he recounts their various adventures en route, being ambushed and delayed and lost and so on. According to the blurb, this is a lively and funny tale, but, having smiled at a witticism on page 1 ("note on the text"), it was downhill from there. The style, presumably in an attempt at authenticity, is episodic and elliptical, and half the time I didn't really know what was going on, but that may have been because I'd nearly fallen asleep. It was a relief to read the last potted history of yet another saint and get to the end.

[Lyddie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took my partner and I nearly a year to read this, just because we were only reading it aloud before bed and then discovered Netflix (so ended up going to bed too exhausted to read).

I cannot recommend reading it out loud enough as so many medieval stories and texts were made to be spoken aloud. David adopts a stylised and lyrical style that works both on the page and to the air.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

John is studying under Roger Bacon who resides in an English monastery. When Bacon needs to get something to the Pope, he sends John along with two Brothers. This was, in essence, a medieval road trip novel. It was a little strange in parts, I didn't wholly get on with the writing style but it was an okay story.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do so love a good medieval road trip, particularly with bonus friars.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won an uncorrected proof copy of this novel as a Goodreads giveaway.

This work of historical fiction is the story of John the Pupil, who in 1267 is charged by his master at the monastery to take his great work to the pope. John is able to take two companions with him, but he has lived at the monastery for most of his life and the world beyond represents evils and temptations beyond anything he has experienced. John and his companions experience violence, kindness, lust, and a variety of other worldly experiences while on the road.

Flusfeder has created an elaborate frame story for his novel to make it as closely identical to a work of non-fiction as possible. This includes a "Note on the Text" section that explains that the following work is a manuscript found among the collection of one Augustus Jessopp in the nineteenth century that the editor has translated and whose fragments he has arranged as closely as possible. "The mistakes that have been made here are the editor-translator's own: I am not a historian or a philologist, just a worker in language, whose path to John's manuscript has been an unlikely one that need not interrupt the reader's attention" (xv). This seems like a blatant tongue-in-check message from the author about how he stumbled upon this fictional story that he has packaged as a non-fictional text.

The accompanying chronicle of John's story is John's first hand account of his story - a journal of his quest - arranged not by date but by Saint's Day. John typically spends some time recounting the saint for which each day is named before an account of his own day's events. In the notes section that follow John's account, the "translator" says that "one assumes that this first time that John has given us a summary of the acts of the saint whose day it is represents a youthful ambition: he writes of adventures that he hopes will prefigure his own" (206). Thus through his own journey, John is building his own story of adventure and heroism, which previously he was only able to read about.

Despite its pretensions, this novel does not, of course, read exactly like a manuscript from the thirteenth century. John is much too introspective and detailed, and the language (despite the "translator's" attempt to use "only words that would have been known to John") does not read like the formal, stilted writing of that century. However, in the notes, Flusfeder writes, "All historical novels are failures or, at best, metaphors, dressing up the present day in anachronistic disguise" (212). So is this novel a farce? Or a metaphor? I can't help but feeling that this whole book is an elaborate tease - of the author of his readers - an elaborate ruse to force the reader to contemplate historical fiction in general and John's story as its relates to our own, in particular.

While John's quest experiences many setbacks and deviations, ultimately it helps him learn more about himself than he ever could under the tutelage of his masters at the monastery. "The journey I am making now is a mirror of the contemplative journey I took at the friary; and there is another, higher one that mirrors this, from above, and which I was closer to in the schoolroom" (172).

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether fiction or non-fiction, I am very fond of books set in medieval times such as those I've mentioned in earlier reviews by Ellis Peters and Ariana Franklin. To me, both science fiction and medieval stories share a common trait. Such genres show more clearly our human blind spots by removing ideas from our contemporary cultural setting and exploring them in a less familiar context.

John the Pupil is a novel written purportedly from scraps of a medieval journal from 1267 of a trio of men on a pilgrimage to Pope Clement IV. John undertakes this trip to deliver a book of science written by John's superior, friar Roger, at the monastery. The author has arranged the scraps according to a travel timeline assumed from the route he would have been traveling and coordinated with towns mentioned in the fragments. (240 p.)

Four and a half stars
Adult readers

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with a stunningly creative narrative voice, this is a brief but beautiful little book. Highly recommended.

[Susie Helme · Rating 4 out of 5]

1267. Franciscan novice John is tasked by his master Roger Bacon to deliver a parcel to Pope Clement IV in Viterbo. In a wooden box is the master’s Great Work, full of his discoveries and inventions, which John is on no account to open. Another parcel, wrapped in linen, he is to open ‘only when he has given up all hope’. He is to travel from Oxford with two companions, Brother Andrew and Brother Bernard, and to write about their journey. Brother Andrew is beautiful; Brother Bernard is strong; John is ‘merely clever’.
Along the way they meet Simeon the Palmer, who undertakes pilgrimages for hire. He betrays them to a band of thieves, eager to seize their treasure, but the brawn of Brother Bernard and the wily precautions of Master Roger prevail. They encounter the master gardener Father Gabriel, by whose herbs and wisdom John is ‘exalted’. John meets a living saint, who sees into his future. They abide for a while in the kingdom of the epicurean Cavalcante de Cavalcanti and his son Prince Guido, where riches seem endless.
The brothers preach along their way, and, as well as confronting the dangers of the mediaeval road, they are tempted by the sins of pride, greed, lust, ambition.
This ‘mediaeval road movie’-cum-morality play is fairly chaotic in structure, as if it were, indeed, as stated in the foreword, composed of loosely bound fragments of parchment found in a box in the attic of some manor house, and, according to my googling of saints’ days, it’s not even in chronological order. Each section is dated by the saint’s day on which the events transpired, with a brief story about that saint. As well as the Gospels and lives of the Saints, theologians—Sedulius, Caesarius of Heisterbach, Boethius—are quoted—and are explained eruditely in an appendix at the back. I didn’t understand the ending, despite rereadings.
The mediaeval feel of the tale is undeniable.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully strange, yet strangely familiar tale--an account of a pilgrimage wherein the pilgrim faces and overcomes many a temptation. The pilgrim is a pupil of Roger Bacon, a real 13th-century scholar who sent his magnum opus to the pope. In this tale, his star pupil John is the one tasked with the delivery--entirely on foot (except the channel passing from England to France, of course)--from Oxford to the papal residency in Vitertbo at the time. The novel purports to be the journal John the Pupil kept along the way. Many entries begin with a brief life of the saint whose saint day it is (and who is often the subject of the preaching that the pilgrim does along the way). I didn’t really know quite what to make of those “lives of the saints.” John is accompanied by two gentle but dim-witted novices, and the bond they form along the way is one of the main themes of the story. In the end, though, it is the pilgrim’s solitary devotion to his mission that carries the story. This was a welcome respite from the melancholy stories I’ve been subjected to lately. Although this one is not without deep sadness and even a little violence, the tone is entirely different and refreshing.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Described by the back cover blurb as a 'medieval road movie' - a trite but apposite description - John the Pupil relates the story of a journey taken in 1267 from Oxford to Viterbo (then the home of the Pope) by John on behalf of his master and tutor Roger Bacon. Told in the form of a lost manuscript that has been pieced together by a twenty-first century academic, the story feels remarkably true to the medieval mindset and John's vicissitudes and the perils he faces along the way are brought vividly to life. Ultimately, though, there isn't all that much to engage the reader in terms of story and the overall effect felt just a little flat

[Beth Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to fulfill the challenge for the category of a book about the Middle Ages. I have to admit I wasn’t really excited about reading this, as I don’t have a particular affinity for the Middle Ages. It actually was a little bit better than I thought it would be.

John is sent by his master Roger Bacon along with Brother Andrew and Brother Bernard to make a delivery to the Pope. They face obstacles along the way.

This was ok. You might like it if you enjoy reading about religion and the Middle Ages.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was torn between three or four stars, but I like to round up. The book was well-researched and the narrator's voice was wonderfully naive and consistent. I liked that. But somehow it felt ultimately like a shaggy dog tale--all journey and no destination. The end left me a bit confused and definitely disappointed. I loved all the saints' tales though--they're so ridiculously gory and horrifying when they're told seriously like that.

[Josep Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's supposed to be "funny and strikingly original"... but the only reason I kept reading it was because I wanted to see what happened to John the Pupil. The story was not too original nor the writing anything special. I did appreciate the references to medieval religious life, which were correct and accurate for the most part.

[Chuck Heikkinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

John, the pupil of magus Roger Bacon, is entrusted with Bacon's magnum opus to be delivered to Pope Clement VI. The novel depicts life as it then was (and in many ways still is) through the words and eyes of a young monk, as he travels with his companions to carry out his mission. Thieves, temptations, and other troubles lie on the path as human nature presents itself to the youth.

[Rev. M. M. Walters · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story concerns the account of a trip from England to Viterbo of a Franciscan Friar who was a pupil of Roger Bacon bearing a missive to the Pope. Like its protagonist, the story tends to meander a bit. Although I finished the book, it was heavy going at times. It was difficult to have much sympathy for the title character since he spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself.

[Brianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a different kind of read. While it was a bit slow at times, I ended up enjoying it.

I'm curious to read more from this author. I'm also just curious enough to look for more books on this topic and in this format.

I know it won't be for everyone, but I think I would recommend it.

[Jose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Borrring

I couldn’t even get ten pages into this book. Hard to follow, no hook, a parade of characters with no depth to any of them. Maybe it gets better. Let me know if it ever does.

[C. Christopher Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating novel, a sort of medieval road story. The ending was a bit peculiar and unexpected, but the journey was delightful. Flusfeder has a keen sense of medieval European culture, and the vignettes he depicts along John’s journey immerse the reader in that world.

[Bethany Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable, I found it by seeking similar books to Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, doesn't quite do it for me but still has some very funny parts. Great for anyone who enjoys that period of history and the religious politics

[Biz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. Couldn’t get into the story.

[Lila Yasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly fun romp!

I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of action in this account. From barroom ballads to martyrdom, it’s got quite a variety.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Have never read one in first person from this time era quite like this. Even tho there are time spaces it still runs well, glad I got it.