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I like Jonathan Carroll a lot, but this one had somehow escaped me. This seems a little odd since some consider this his masterpiece. I've had a copy of the relatively rare Viking edition for a long time, but I didn't read it until I wound up with a copy of the Orb reprint. Yes, I'm one of those who is afraid to read some of his books. But enough of my neuroses...
The Land of Laughs, like many of Carrol's books, works on many levels. On one level, it is about a dead celebrated children's author who literally writes a town and most of its citizens nto existence, and then creates their futures through his writing, as well as the troubled high school teacher who goes to the author's town to write the biography of his literary hero. However, it is also about coming to terms with who you are and why, and the suffocating power of obsession.
The writing isn't quite as tight as Carroll's later work, but some passages contain true magic. Carroll creates phrases that are imaginative and descriptive, without ever being trite or self-indulgant. Most importantly, the story is wickedly engaging and very entertaining. Carroll builds the reader's sense of dread, and then smacks you at the end (which is typical of his writing).
It is especially interesting to people who can clearly imagine writers creating realities and characters that we truly believe. Not that any of us on this board are like that. Even though I have a crush on Una Persson. :D Oops... I said enough of my neuroses. Now I'm getting into my psychoses...
The Land of Laughs, like many of Carrol's books, works on many levels. On one level, it is about a dead celebrated children's author who literally writes a town and most of its citizens nto existence, and then creates their futures through his writing, as well as the troubled high school teacher who goes to the author's town to write the biography of his literary hero. However, it is also about coming to terms with who you are and why, and the suffocating power of obsession.
The writing isn't quite as tight as Carroll's later work, but some passages contain true magic. Carroll creates phrases that are imaginative and descriptive, without ever being trite or self-indulgant. Most importantly, the story is wickedly engaging and very entertaining. Carroll builds the reader's sense of dread, and then smacks you at the end (which is typical of his writing).
It is especially interesting to people who can clearly imagine writers creating realities and characters that we truly believe. Not that any of us on this board are like that. Even though I have a crush on Una Persson. :D Oops... I said enough of my neuroses. Now I'm getting into my psychoses...
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