INGENIOUS PAIN by Andrew Miller

 *****
                 " R.I.P. CHALLENGE "                

"What does the world need most--a good, ordinary man, or one who is outstanding, albeit with a heart of ice?" This is the question at the heart of Andrew Miller's first novel, Ingenious Pain, a book set during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. The outstanding man in question is James Dyer, an English freak of nature who, since birth, has been impervious to physical pain. Not only does he feel no pain, but he recovers from all injuries in record time. By turns a shill for a quack pain- reliever at county fairs, an object of study by a wealthy collector of human oddities, and, eventually, a surgeon, James Dyer--and through him the reader--gains exposure to a panoply of 18th-century philosophical thought, medical practice, historic events, and larger-than-life rogues and heroes, both fictional and real. As a surgeon, James Dyer excels, and his inability to feel--whether physical pain himself or empathy for others--seems only to enhance his skill with a knife. James slices and dices and cures without a scintilla of compassion while his reputation grows, until at last he arrives in Russia and the mystery of his unusual quality is resolved. Miller navigates his complicated story and exotic locales with unswerving confidence, bolstered, no doubt, by thorough research. James Dyer is not a character who invites love, but his adventures make for intelligent, deeply pleasurable reading.

My View:
This novel had my attention from begining to end. It is a brilliant tale taking place in 18th century England. Part Gothic, history, psychology and magic.

We are taken from England to Paris, Norway and finaly Russia at it's most splendid.

However this story has a very dark side. We witness a rape, from which a child is born without the knowlege of pain, physical pain. Once grown the protagonist James Dyer becomes a cold blooded human being without physical or emotional pain, the question this novel seems to ask of us is, do we need pain in our life to feel empathy which makes us ultimatly human? Is to much empathy destructive to us? Towards the ending of the story, James Dyer, having gained the knowlege of pain,  late in life, seems to answer this question. 

This is a must read book, There is magic or maybe a better word for the 18th century would be sorcery   through a character named Mary, brought back from a Russian forest to England. I have one small disappointment and this is; I would have liked to see Mary and James Dyer further developped, yet the author Andrew Miller left enough hints for us to know what happened and perhaps it is better left as is.

This is just an all around fantastic novel! A great writer.