The Sad Tale Of The Brothers Grossbart

By Jesse Bullington

The Sad Tale Of The Brothers Grossbart by Jesse BullingtonI’d heard lots of good things about this book, the online world was buzzing about it for a while, and while the title was definitely intriguing enough to make me want to read it, one glance at the minor artistic miracle that is the cover was all it took to convince me to escalate this one up the reading list – and I’m so glad I did.

With the last vestiges of bubonic plague beginning to die out in medieval Europe, poor-born Hegel and Manfried Grossbart, unlikely survivors of the disease, are eeking out a living relieving the dead of their earthly treasures and all the time believing that the Blessed Mary watches over them, for they are pure and therefore righteous. The brothers hatch a plan to travel south to ‘Gyptland’ where everyone knows the graves are overflowing with riches but with a small matter of vengeance to attend to first, they head into the little village they call home and commit a heinous and brutal crime before setting off on their way.

But this is to be a journey such as they could never have imagined, and along the way they encounter witches and devils, strange demons in many forms, thieves and priests and pirates and all manner of bizarre characters while all the time, behind them, the sole survivor of their brutal act stalks their trail, lost in self-pity, fuelled by revenge and willing to sacrifice anything to get it. Thus begins the Sad Tale Of The Brothers Grossbart.

To describe the Brothers Grossbart as a matched pair of villainous, evil, bastards would be an understatement. They are a truly vile pair with not a single redeeming quality between them, yet they seem to be blessed with that mixture of sixth sense and stupidity that keeps them one step ahead of on-coming trouble and, more importantly, always alive. There’s no ‘save the cat’ moment for these two, no efforts to make them likeable, rather the text rejoices in the Brothers foul-mouthed, black-hearted ways and dubious yet unshakeable beliefs so that you will gladly follow them through this adventure – a psychopathic Bob ‘n’ Bing on the ‘Road To Hell’ directed by the bastard child of Scorsese and Tarantino – to see just how badly how it turns out, for them and for everyone around them.

I have to say right off that as debut novels go this is one the best I’ve read, and while it’s a strangely crafted book – the language changes style and it switches POVs seemingly at random from character to narrator and back again – it is utterly absorbing and as fine a tale as you’ll read this year. The characters are well developed, the brothers especially with their banter, their sibling shorthand and their religious diatribes extolling the virtue of the Virgin Mary over all else, but the many folk they gather along the way from the priest, Martyn, the arab, Al-Gassur, the pirate captain Barousse and his servant Rodrigo, Sir Jean the fop…..are all beautifully drawn, unique in motive, voice and deed.

And Bullington manages to herd this amazing cast of characters through a fairly complex plot, one that is masterfully controlled with a well-honed understanding of the period and of the beliefs and superstitions of the time, and successfully weaving the many and various strands of the story together well enough that the ending, when it comes, is as unexpected as it is inevitable.

I feel sure that this book will polarise readers like marmite, the ‘love-its’ on one side and the ‘hate-its’ on the other. It holds nothing sacred being at once bloody and violent, packed to gunnels with expletives, racist and heretical in equal measure, but it’s also absurd, bizarre, bawdy, laugh-out-loud funny in places and above all highly original.

Jesse Bullington has a unique voice and a rare talent and his debut novel showcases both to terrific effect. Following The Brothers Grossbart will be a difficult task, of that there’s no doubt, but I’m looking forward to whatever he conjures up next with enormous anticipation.

The Sad Tale Of The Brothers Grossbart is published by Orbit and is available to buy from Play.com, Blackwell and all good book stores.

Jesse Bullington has a website.