The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot

A couple of weeks ago, I finally came to the end of The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren. Perhaps the title is less of a mouthful in the original Swedish, but the book itself was nevertheless very good indeed. Translated fiction has never been something I typically read so I surprised myself by picking this up in the first place, but I'm certainly glad I did. Perhaps the fact that it was a free publisher's proof had something to do with it...

The story is a dark and powerful picaresque tale with more than a hint of the Gothic, and it recounts the terrible misfortunes that beset the eponymous hero from his dramatic birth to his death just over a century later. Deaf, dumb and horrendously deformed, Hercules is forced from the start to struggle for love and acceptance. Only his transcendent love for Henriette Vogel allows him to survive in a suspicious and superstitious world that fears and despises him.

Hercules and Henriette are born within minutes of each other to prostitutes on a wildly stormy night in 1819. Henriette is a picture of health and beauty, but Hercules' deformities are so severe that his mother dies in childbirth and he is thereafter left to the surprisingly tender care of the assorted prostitutes in the German brothel that comprises his whole world. Hidden from visitors and kept away from the outside world, Hercules quickly forms an unbreakable bond with Henriette that is to sustain him throughout his lifetime. The crux of the story lies in the fact that although he is physically weak, Hercules has the ability to read and influence the minds of those around him. The book makes it clear that this is both a blessing and a curse - while it undoubtedly gives him great power over people, it also allows him to see into the very darkest corners of the human mind and to see the revulsion he evokes in people around him.

When the brothel is closed down, Hercules is torn from his beloved Henriette and from the only world he knows and is thrown into chaos and cruelty. His life from that point is a series of disasters - from being thrown into a nightmarish lunatic asylum to being forced to flee for his life from murderous agents of the Vatican who believe he is demonically possessed. Indeed the only thing that helps him survive and to cling on to his sanity are his mental abilities and his undying love for Henriette. In this, the story is as much about the irresistible power of love to overcome all things as it is a tale of unending woe. Vallgren does a fantastic job of evoking the reader's sympathy for his misshapen hero, and even when he later uses his abilities to do some truly terrible things, we can nevertheless understand the pain that drives him, and even (if we are honest) cheer him on a bit. Trust me - read the book and you'll see what I mean. As gruesome and surreal as some of the scenes are, they always pack an emotional punch.

In the end the strong dual themes of revenge and redemption through love were what made this book great for me. Vallgren resists the temptation to descend into farce or to present the world in black and white. His characters are strong and real and he plays on your emotions with a deft and subtle touch. Definitely worth picking up...