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The Leper’s Companions |
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 The Leper’s Companions byJulia Blackburn Random House (Vintage Books) 197 pages, September 2000 ISBN 0679758380 Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart Julia Blackburn pushes the boundaries of fiction with her new novel The Leper’s Companions, of miracles and supernatural occurrences. The story opens with a nameless female narrator lamenting the loss of a love. To deal with her grief, the narrator imagines herself in a remote fishing village along the ocean. Her imaginings take her back to the year 1410. In this year, a mermaid washes ashore, bringing five major disasters to the tiny village. The narrator tells the story of each catastrophe in magical, mystical terminology that gives an otherworldly feel to the book. The past becomes indistinguishable from the present the narrator creates for herself. All but one of the characters referred to in the book remain nameless, and are identified merely by their affliction. This technique seemed somehow disconcerting, keeping me from caring about the characters. The leper, a Venetian, is the main protagonist. Clapping his wooden boards together, he arrives in the village and is somehow cured, although how or why is not clear. The leper decides to make a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy City. Four villagers embark on the harrowing trip with him. The scenes aboard the ship carrying the travelers are some of the most tastefully realistic I have read. A couple of chapters jump back to the present and a few times, the narrator interjects her point of view, making the overall reading difficult. Although there does not appear to be much substance to the story, The Leper’s Companions is full of imagery and magic, with prose nothing short of poetic. |
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