What? live to plunge myself in infamy? to become an agent of hell? to work the destruction in both you and myself?Alright, this book is hilarious. However, there are a few spoilers in this review. If you think youll read The Monk someday (and you should, seriously), maybe come back to this another time. Or dont, who knows, maybe it wont be so bad? Maybe this is the best, most spoiler free review youll ever read in your life? (see, Im tempting you, because its the theme of the book!). Im serious though, there are spoilers. So it features Ambrosio, our Bad Blood monk, who at firsts seems a very devout believer and as though hes generally a good person. This is a lie. Sure he gets seduced by his trusty novice sidekick Rosario, who turns out to be a woman named Matilda (and hows a man supposed to resist that, I mean, shes a WOMAN and PRETTY, get it together Ambrosio), but really his capacity for sin was there from the start, it was only, truly, a matter of time before he fell and in his vanity and stupidity forgot how to get back up. So the first sin is committed by sleeping with a dying Matilda! Of course, because shes a woman, and not a helpless idiot, she doesnt die and he, being a man, and a shitty one at that, tires of her, like, a week after they started doing the do. There are tears, but instead of shunning him and leaving the monastery to seek greener pastures she offers to help him seduce his new target, the pious, innocent Antonia (and really, Ambrosio, you maybe shouldnt trust a woman who cheated death, but hes not really that smart and kind of a coward). In between those two plotting on how to get into her pants, theres another plot involving Don Lorenzo, whos also in love with Antonia (popular gal, that innocence really attracts the men), and his friend Don Raymond whos in love with Lorenzos sister, Agnes, whos in a convent in the same city. A great detail is how the villains of the story almost all belong to the convent/monastery, God needs better representatives. There are many stories-within-the-story, one involving a ghost (really, one of the best parts of the story), one involving a band of robbers luring people into a house only to murder them and steal their money, but my personal favourite is Antonias aging aunt Leonella finding a young, handsome, gold digging man who agrees to marry her despite her unattractive features (that shes completely oblivious to), but because of her wealth. You go, Leonella, youre the true heroine of this story. The whole thing is just a lot. I mean, someone gets torn a apart by an angry crowd, there are TWO kidnappings, someone gives birth to a baby IN A DUNGEON, someone gets raped and murdered in a freaking crypt, theres torture, love-me-or-I-die romance, and then the Devil shows up to buy a few souls and fling someone off a cliff. There are so many hilarious moments and brilliant details (like Antionias mother, Elvira, copying out the bible by hand, leaving out the steamy bits, so Antonia will be safe in her complete and child-like innocence, because that always ends well), and it wasnt overtly sexist, not more than I expected at least. The men were mostly useless without the women, so that makes up for it. For a book that was written in 10 weeks, by someone not yet 20, it is quite impressive. Other than the excellent plot(s), there is depth and serious consideration hidden in there, even some literary critique. Its not merely frivolous entertainment, which only heightens the enjoyment. What a book, what an adventure, what a good time. I loved it, I loved it so much.

5 estrellas porque se las ha ganado¡Tengo tantas cosas que comentar de esta novela! Mi mente ahora mismo es un conjunto de pensamientos sugeridos, escasamente desarrollados. O digo en serio que ha sido una lectura muy intensa y que jamás, JAMÁS, leeré nada igual. No digo que sea uno de mis libros favoritos, pero es una novela que recomiendo a cualquier persona que ya tenga una trayectoria en la literatura gótica o, al menos, esté curtida de literatura del siglo XVIII-XIX. Para mi volver a la literatura gótica con El monje ha sido una experiencia harto satisfactoria. Me he reencontrado con esa literatura que me enseño un camino y que me dio una identidad. Ha sido como volver al seno materno, a los brazos de la mismísima Ann Radcliffe, después de una guerra. Aprecio las cosas de otra manera, busco otros elementos, pero sigo amando la literatura gótica de la misma manera entusiasta y apasionada que en 2015, cuando comencé mis andaduras por estos tenebrosos senderos.El monje es una novela dividida en 3 partes donde prevalece la descripción al diálogo. Una novela con tres frentes: una monja marcada por la ignominia, una chiquilla recién llegada a Madrid con sus familiares y un monje alabado por todos, que es la mismísima encarnación de la pureza y castidad cristianas. En este contexto podríamos haber encontrado una novela bastante aburrida plagada de descripciones tediosas de la arquitectura madrileña o de la sociedad del siglo XVIII (algo que a mi me habría gustado ver, pero bueno, entiendo que no todo el mundo puede buscar este tipo de información). Sin embargo, es una novela muy narrativa donde prevalecen los hechos a la descripción del entorno. Distintas historias conectan unos personajes con otros de manera natural, ingeniosa e interesante. A veces sí que resultan ligeramente pesadas ciertas historias, sobre todo porque Lewis también introduce poesías y mitos para introducir al lector mucho más en los hechos narrados. Pero no es algo que en el conjunto sea de una importancia decisiva a la hora de disfrutar la lectura.Respecto a lo demás, la parte sobrenatural es seguramente lo que más he disfrutado junto al contenido explícito y violento de la historia. Lo diré una y mil veces: que esto fuera escrito en 1796 me parece revolucionario. He leído historias posteriores que por muchísimo menos eran llevadas a tribunales. Es un libro escrito con mucha rabia, con pasión, con ardor...La misma se percibe la interacción con los personajes, en el mundo sobrenatural que subyace y en el mismísimo tratamiento de los temas. Lewis, básicamente, se caga en la institución cristiana católica apostólica. Pero de una manera muy de la época: elegante y sin despeinarse. Volviendo a la parte sobrenatural, me gusta que Lewis no explique porque suceden ciertos fenómenos como si hacía su antecesora, Radcliffe. Lewis no pretende en ningún momento ser raciona. El mundo estaba cambiando y él era joven y parte de ese futuro. La influencia del materialismo desfasado de LaMettrie y compañía no caló jamás en él. Y, como Radcliffe, también coge mucha influencia de Shakespeare e introduce algún elemento cómico, como la casera de Antonia, heroína gótica de la novela.Los personajes están bien construidos, no son meros arquetipos. Se aprecia una vuelta de tuerca en el arquetipo de mujer casta y virginal, como también en el del abad cuya rectitud solo es superada por la pureza de su alma. Todo acaba convirtiéndose en una caricatura macabra que fascina y aterroriza como las pinturas negras de Goya. Pero lo mejor es que Lewis no intenta justificarlo. Porque, básicamente, NO HACE FALTA. Ha sido una lectura densa pero maravillosa. Ojalá hablar más sobre ella en el futuro

OMGGGGGGG.... I totally CANNOT believe that the author of this book was 19 YEARS OLD when he wrote this, and he wrote it under 10 WEEKS . This is a masterpiece!! A 18TH CENTURY GOTHIC GODDAMN MASTERPIECE!!! Seriously high school kids would have loved the hell out of this and seek to read more classics were they not confined to snoring tomes like... idk, A scarlet letter? (Sorry, Hawthorne I have never gotten used to you ). "The Monk" retells the stories of a monk who abandons his virtues to become perfidious. So engulfed with lust and horror that he went at length to sell his soul for the devil and commit most heinous crimes. I was at first expected to read some long and boring stories about theology and rambling monologues, but this book turned out to have EVERYTHING that made a novel awesome : romance, poetry, murder, death, kidnapping, evil schemes, satire, social commentary, rape, incest, ghost, demons, poison, secret underground entrances, a devil that throw a guy off a cliff, and FUCKING great PLOT TWISTS! I was so blown away at the end that I nearly ripped my hair off and sunk into irretrievable euphoria. Lewis's novel, with anti-Catholic sentiments influenced by the French Revolution, was actually banned in England when it first published but that only instigated more people to read it, albeit illicitly. Well, who cannot help but being enchanted by Lewis? Even Edgar A. Poe cited him as an inspiration for his short story "The Pit and The Pendulum."