Unclay by T.F. Powys (Book Review)

Unclay 
By T.F. Powys
Published by New Directions, 2018
Print Price: $16.95

The small village of Dodder makes up for its tininess with a large assemblage of weirdoes and perverts. There's Lord Bullman, whose only interest is in hunting down poor foxes and is worshipped by some as a god. James Dawe is the local miser and isn't adverse to selling off his beautiful daughter for the right price. Sarah Bridle hates her body so much she's convinced herself she is a camel. Mr. Solly hates love and has planted nut bushes around his house to keep it out. To bolster it, he visualizes all women as vegetables. Farmer Mere is a psychopathic sadist that is wearing out the local prostitute. Mr. Dady takes pleasure in killing flies in Renfield like fashion.

This village needs a good purge, some kind of purification ritual to exorcise all its grotesqueness from the face of the earth. And who should arrive upon the scene but Death himself, the grim reaper literally...but he can only take someone's life when he is ordered to by God. Death, who goes by the name John Death in the novel had a letter, from God I suppose, with two names on it, the names of the people that are supposed to die. But somewhere along the way to Dodder, for the first time in his existence, he has lost the parcel that names those he is supposed to take.

You would think he would be in a tizzy about it, but Death takes this as an opportunity to engage himself in things he never has the time to pursue. Namely, to sleep with every girl in the village and fall in love! Yeah, Death isn't much better than the rest of the village inhabitants. In fact, you might say he fits right in.

Don't get me wrong, there are some actual NICE characters in the book...a FEW. The Reverend Hayhoe is desperate for a job as the village cleric and supplies a moral baseline to judge the other characters by. Joseph Bridle is also a nice guy but he is hounded by constant bad luck. He's also in love with the miser James Dawe's daughter, Susie, but the father AND daughter think she could do much better than Joseph.

This book was first published in 1931 so I was a bit taken aback by the rampant virile sexuality and depravity exhibited in its pages. I felt almost like I had walked into a bedroom where Thomas Hardy and the Marquis de Sade were having sex. It never got "graphic" but the whole novel just pulsed and throbbed in some weird copulation.

Don't get me wrong. It was great. But it just seemed like a strange one off of a book. I would be very interested in reading Powys's other works. It was different and constantly kept me off balance. It almost became too much at times. I started to wonder if I would be able to cleanse myself of this village when I finished the novel. The characters stick in your mind that much! They were so repulsive you couldn't stop looking at them. Even DEATH, who you would think would be jaded at our petty human pleasures, is a pure horndog.

Powys did a great job of mixing disgust, comedy, tragedy, creepiness, and even some philosophical asides that were always welcome. This guy was a master. I can't believe I had never heard of him. I will definitely seek out any other available works by this author.

My Grade: A