Ingenious Pain
Encyclopedia
Ingenious Pain is the first novel by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 author, Andrew Miller
Andrew Miller (novelist)
Andrew Miller is an English novelist.He grew up in the West Country and has lived in Spain, Japan, Ireland and France....

, released on 20th February 1997 through Sceptre. The novel received universal acclaim and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...

 for Fiction, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...

 (the first time a début novel was nominated) and the Italian Premio Grinzane Cavour prize for a foreign language novel. The novel was also listed on the New York Times "Notable Books of the Year" for 1997.

Plot

In mid 18th century Russia, James Dyer is born without the ability to feel pain or pleasure. The novels centres round Dyer's life, going from sideshow freak
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...

 to skilled surgeon to Bethlem inmate, charting his emotional awakening and first experiences of love.

Reception

The novel received universal acclaim, with critics praising Millers evocative prose, thorough research and precise pacing.

Sarah Broadhurst in a review for Lovereading stated that the book was a "very skilful, densely written, complicated novel" and stated that it was "challenging and intelligent, it is a rewarding read.". Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

 called the novel "inventive", "steeped with specific details" and "beautifully controlled". In a review for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

, Josie Barnard praised the tone of the novel, stating "Ambivalence is one of Miller's strengths. He enfolds the reader in the present tense and wields his writing style as coolly and precisely as a scalpel." and also praised his descriptions of the 18th century, stating that "Miller's evocation of the period is thorough. Many of his sentences speak paragraphs, his paragraph pages. Ingenious Pain is a book that gives visceral pleasure.", calling the novel as a whole "sensational". It was again reviewed by The Independent a year later by Lilian Pizzichini who opined that Millers "understanding of contemporary mores
Mores
Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....

 is thorough, the period detail precisely evoked, and his characters come alive with flashes of humour and compassion.".

Patrick Mcgrath of the New York Times was particularly effusive in his praise, calling the novel "peculiar", "colorful" and "complicated"; an "extraordinary first novel". He also praises Millers research, writing that "he writes a fine strong prose thickly larded with the sights, sounds and smells of the period". He also praises the pacing of the novel; and draws comparison to John Fowles
John Fowles
John Robert Fowles was an English novelist and essayist. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Fowles among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Birth and family:...

's novel The French Lieutenant's Woman
The French Lieutenant's Woman
The French Lieutenant’s Woman , by John Fowles, is a period novel inspired by the 1823 novel Ourika, by Claire de Duras, which Fowles translated into English in 1977...

; Graham Swift
Graham Swift
Graham Colin Swift FRSL is a British author. He was born in London, England and educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York. He was a friend of Ted Hughes...

's Waterland
Waterland (novel)
Waterland is a 1983 novel by Graham Swift. It is considered to be the author's premier novel and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize .In 1992, the book was made into a film version....

; and Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...

's "early flamboyant historical pastiches.".
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