Monkalong- Week 1, or What The Hell Am I Reading?

The Monkalong is hosted by Alice at Reading Rambo. Join us!

Before we begin, can I just mention first of all the author's name?

.

I just keep thinking of this sexy bastard. Though I'm sure he would never write something like The Monk. Probably.

First impressions? This book is crazy.

So, in our first chapter, we get Antonia and her aunt and Lorenzo, so I'm all, okay, these are our protagonists, except it turns out Ambrosio is the actual protagonist. Which, I suppose, makes sense given the title of the book. Kind of a shame though- I was enjoying the banter compared to the sheer ridiculousness that is chapter 2.

Well, then again, chapter 1 does have mysterious gypsies. Hooray for that!

Speaking of which, there are a lot of songs so far, aren't there? I wasn't expecting this. Now I want it to be a stage musical.

Anyway. Chapter 2 is scandal and controversy. We've got a nun who turns out to have a lover and be pregnant, and then we've got a monk who is secretly a lady and seduces Ambrosio. Is there some sort of theme here about women and religion? It's the lit student in me that's drawing these conclusions. But we will see!

Oh, and I knew going in someone in this book was secretly crossdressing, so I was suspecting everyone until hey, it's Rosario/Matilda. Slightly disappointing, I was holding out for Ambrosio. Or Antonia.

Ooh, and I have two suspicions/predictions:

1) Someone's told their son is dead and then Ambrosio is mysteriously found at the convent as a boy? I think we all know where this is going.

2) Let's leave aside the implausibility of Matilda sucking the poison out of a wound and curing Ambrosio, and let's not forget that she was the one who suggested he pick a rose in the first place. I'm suspicious of that. Admittedly, I'm not really sure what she was trying to do, but I think she was doing... something. We'll see.

That's all for this week!