As Meat Loves Salt

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The writing here was just stunning, very descriptive, and even if it was a little overlong in places after the 50% mark (mostly the colony-related bits), I skipped nothing.

It won't be for everyone as it is dark, violent and disturbing at times and McCann doesn't shy away from letting you know what is going on. The main characters meet and briefly serve together in the New Model army, and share some traumatic and formative experiences, but it’s all just a small, introductory part of the story. It’s also possible that marketing it that way would imply genre fiction, while AMLS is more of a literary piece, so the publishers wanted to emphasize themes other than love. AMLS is dark, passionate, heartbreaking, painful and completely draining in that kind of delightful way only certain novels can be.The blurb for the German translation of the book (titled, quite aptly, Rotes Glas) goes as far as to say something to the effect of (paraphrasing) “Jacob Cullen joins the army hoping to redeem himself”, which could not be more wrong if they tried for wrong on purpose. Reading the book, it's easy to love and despise them at the same time, to hope for things to go well when quite clearly, they can only go from bad to worse. McCann also contributed a short story titled Minimal to the anthology New Writing 12 published by the British Council in 2005. Jacob, who destroys what he loves with the rapacity of his desire, is as compelling as he is appalling. Jacob is truly unpleasant, but so brilliantly written that he’s hardly even aware of it himself for most of the book.

the ending of As Meat Loves Salt is a good reminder of why and how a truly excellent book can be so rewarding and fulfilling yet also be so tough and draining and heartbreaking. The reader is not left with any sense that the main character will change, only that he will carry his evil to the New World. It's completely addictive, heartbreaking, wonderfully written, with characters who creep under your skin and refuse to move. The siege and assault of the Catholic stronghold Basing House is distinctly the best thing in the book. He didn’t even meet the girl until she was locked in her room by her father, across the lane from him.Even though Jacob was undeniably bat sh*t crazy, I often sympathized with him, even when he ruined the best thing he had for him [Ferris]. Maria McCann does an incredible job at keeping the tension up - the novel is like a rollercoaster, full of twists and turns, ups and downs, jolting rises and terrifying drops. Then nothing will do but read those scenes again, and before I know it I'm in Winchester, I'm in London, I'm watching what infatuation and and anger and not a little madness can do to a person, and the kind of damage that person can do to those around him. A darkly erotic tale of passion and obsession, As Meat Loves Salt is a gripping portrait of England beset by war.