Review: Bed of Crimson Joy

Bed of Crimson Joy by Jasper Bark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review of BED OF CRIMSON JOY by Jasper Bark

I wish author Jasper Bark would install a window in his forehead, because I really want to observe his imagination at work. His newest-published, BED OF CRIMSON JOY, is a totally knock-out, kickin', take-no-prisoners, read-and-weep story which just blows common fiction out of the water and out of the Universe. I can't think of any other author quite like Mr. Bark, nor any imagination akin to his. And yes, as his Author's Note says, he is contagious.

Sixty-something Rose has endured four decades of a loveless and sexless marriage with Stanley, a man whose snippy sarcasm I can forgive only for his sharp intellect and knowledge of poetry. A chance encounter with new neighbors propels Rose into an entirely new, seemingly impossible, realm where nothing "real" any longer exists--and where what is, remains eternally, especially punishment.

If this were a Medieval moral tale, a morality play, Rose would be cast as the Wendigo, the hungry spirit always clamoring to be filled, at the cost of her own sanity and soul, and at the cost of all around her. Stanley would be cast as the Cleric, intellectual, ascetic, and lifeless. The reclusive eccentric wealthy individual who appears later in the story, to such powerful effect, would be the Mephistopheles role.

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