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BOOK REVIEW: |
Ah, the quiet, serene, cloistered, life of a nun in Russia: full of praying, teaching gymnastic classes, stealing the Bishop’s money, and dressing as a lady of high society and as a novice monk to solve a Fellini-like case involving a mysterious Black Monk, and an assorted host of crazies. Such is the life of Sister Pelagia, the colorful and extremely clever creation arising from the pen of Boris Akunin, in her second adventure, Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk (her first was in the novel Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog).
The apparition of the famous founder of the hermitage New Ararat, the Black Monk (also known as Saint Basilisk), has been seen by monks walking on the waters of Blue Lake, menacingly pointing his finger and giving people words of dire warning. The terrifying sight of the Black Monk caused, among other things, for a buoy keeper’s wife to miscarry, and die, and her husband to respond by hanging himself in his grief. Also, the vision of him causes a very frightened monk with a bloody head to carry the news of St Basilisk’s behavior (unbecoming of a saint) to Bishop Mitrofanii by horseback at the start of the novel:
"My lord, he’s here! Close by already! Coming after me! Huge and black!"
Bishop Mitrofanii, though being a devout man, also keeps up on the latest advances in science and technology. He doesn’t doubt that the monk who brings him the news of the Black Monk thinks he has seen something that has terrified him, but he believes there’s probably a simple explanation behind the sightings. Still, he is concerned enough about the happenings at New Ararat that he has a meeting with his closest advisors, including Sister Pelagia, and sends his "consistorial auditor" Alexi Stepanovich Lentochkin, an unbeliever, to investigate.
Mitrofanii, admiring Lentochkin’s "sharpness of wit and independent thought," considers Lentochkin the ideal choice to reveal the truth behind the sightings. Lentochkin writes letters back to the bishop, and seems to be on the right track to discovering the truth; but, then he succumbs to the curse of the Black Monk when he decides to spend the night in the buoy keeper’s shack, where the first victims of St. Basilisk perished.
He doesn’t retain his rational method of approaching the situation for long, however. In one letter, he writes that his research has informed him that he should confront the evil by facing it, naked, at midnight, "pronounce the words of the magic formula: ‘Come unholy spirit’ - or ‘blessed spirit,’ as the case requires - ‘to the trace you have left, according to the agreement between Gabriel and the Evil One." Saying "Credo, credo Domine!" ("I believe, I believe, Oh Lord!") repeatedly would be one’s best method of defense against any evil spirit that might appear.
Poor Lentochkin’s fate is to go insane because of whatever happened to him that night, and to then be admitted into the wealthy and eccentric Dr. Korovin’s psychiatric care. Patients there are free to stay or leave as they desire, and many stay in separate cottages on the property, which, coincidently enough, is rented to Korovin by the church. He latches on to living in a greenhouse filled with tropical fruit-bearing plants, such as pineapples and bananas. The fruits constitutes his new diet, and he refuses to wear any clothes, preferring to be naked in his own private jungle.
The Bishop Mitrofanii sends out two other men to find out what is going on at the hermitage, but each meet nasty ends. One appears to have shot himself, committing suicide, and the other to have also gone crazy. Sister Pelagia eventually takes matters into her own hands, after Mitrofanii has a mild heart attack upon hearing the bad news about the third man he sent. But, how can she hope to succeed when the three men who went before her failed?
Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk is a book that will appeal to anyone who likes to read smart, suspenseful mysteries that don’t insult their readers’ intelligence. There are many references to literature, including books like The Possessed and The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, and Chekov’s short story "The Black Monk," which lends its name to the title of this book. Perhaps most famous for his novels about the Sherlock Homes-like sleuth Erast Fandorin, his novels about the adventures of Sister Pelagia - who lovers of Father Brown and Miss Marple should also enjoy a lot - are guilty pleasures that are addicting to read, and are non-fattening - which is always a bonus, and can’t be said of many guilty pleasures, unfortunately.
REVIEWED BY DOUGLAS R. COBB
DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REVIEWER, DOUGLAS R. COBB
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