To begin with I loved this book, but I was bored with it by the end.

Clever, witty and entertaining.

I love historical novels about normal people, where the setting, the details, the events are all well researched even with some known historical figures making their appearances but the story is from the view of a person who did not exist or only in the sense that there may have been someone very like him/her living their lives in that era. This book is one such book about a glove-maker's physician son, his rise and fall in the court of Charles II and his constant indulgence of and struggle with his debauchery and indolence. The flawed yet likeable character of Merival's life seems to be a metaphor of King Charles Act of Oblivion, where the act of forgetting itself becomes the act of remembrance.
I am looking now for the sequel to this book.

A cynical view of Charles II era told by an anatomy student, after the civil war and Cromwell government.

Once again I read a little outside my comfort zone with an unlikeable character. In Restoration, we meet Robert Merivel who is a physician who meets King Charles II and his life changes. He becomes a man of that age- libidinous. Yet, Tremain is able to provide a complex man that can earn sympathy and yet frustrating man. In the end, I am able to understand his views and respect him. His character development is realistic. And through his eyes I learn more about England in the post civil war period. So the title has many layers. The themes of light, dreams and oblivion, identity and restoration seem more modern than expected for a historical fiction. Yet, from the wardrobe described, the medical treatments at that time are authentic. Therefore my reading experience is mixed. I am more willing to read unlikeable characters. Less enthused with vivid imagery of sex in many portions, but that is a personal preference. And I want to learn more about the Restoration period in England.

Robert Merival, the narrator of Rose Tremain’s Restoration, is, at the start of this book, a 37 year old doctor. He is one of the king’s favourites, and is utterly devoted to Charles II himself. So much so that he agrees to marry the king’s mistress, Celia, in order to persuade another of the royal mistresses that she is out of the picture. In reality though Charles will continue to see her, and Merival must never fall in love with her. She may be married to Merival, but she is the king’s.

Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2007/07/17/restoration/

I had trouble with enjoying this book, mostly because Charles the second is a magical, deus ex machina character and I am a stringent Republican (that is, anti-monarchist, rather than member of that American political party)

Years ago, but I remember this was Not For Me.