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Summary: The bizarreness is breathtaking and beautiful to behold
Review: This book was suggetesd to me by fan-favorite fantasty author Neil Gaiman in the early '90s, and since it has been egregiously out-of-print it took me close to year to find the book - ah, but such wonders are within the pages. The psychological study of our hero is so ingenious in that it ask the reader to delve into his own past, desires and obsessions so to better understand what is really being said. The powerhouse ending will stay with you for years (witnessed by the fact I'm writing this at least five years later and the Kubrickian ending is still quite vivid). It's too bad reprint editions aren't available. Searching for this title will be tedious to no end - but it's a must read.
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Summary: Great Book! Why is it Out of Print?
Review: This is simply one of the most terrifying books I have ever read. It starts out deceptively as a pastoral fantasy and gradually tightens its grip until you are mashed to a pulp by horror. this is a great introduction to a writer who should be as well known as Stephen King. Why is this book out of print?
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Summary: Surreal When You Least Expect It.
Review: This is the first book I've read by Caroll. He seems to weave a story whose strands disentangle themselves when you least expect them to. The story starts out normal enough, outlining a character's attempt to write the biography of his most beloved childhood author. But then, just when you find yourself strangely comfortable with the narrative, its seemless artiface cracks, leaving you grasping for anything that might make the least bit of sense, until by the end of the novel, you shudder at the utter insanity of it all. Other authors portray the surreal with perhaps more eloquence than Carroll. However, none of them have the ability to frighten the reader with just how normal the surreal can be. The reader is lead by the author down a realistically portrayed canvas of characters and locale. It all seems normal enough, anyway. Characters seem to experience everyday occurances, lead every day lives--they work, they make love, they have asperations. Everything seems utterly normal, then one seemingly unimportant detail stretches in the wrong way, it casts a shadow in a different direction or moves in a way that the reader might not initially expect. Then, suddenly, one finds the realism of Johnathan Carroll's canvas turns horrifically surreal. What you might have initially percieved as completely commonplace turns out to be alien and remote. The reader suddenly becomes displaced, not because he/she is presented with strange material, but that the utterly familiar, that which seems most comfortable turns out to be not at all comfortable. _The Land of Laughs_ is like going to sleep in your bed and waking up, only to suddenly notice that you weren't anywhere near your home, but lost in a place whose name you do not even know. A split second is all that separates the familiar from the alien in this novel, and Carroll seems almost too delighted to balance upon that second like a tight rope walker. Anyone who delights in surprises will adore this book. I surely did. I do, though, disagree with Neil Gaiman's quote on the back cover. _The Land of Laughs_ is not somewhere to go when things are difficult; it is, rather, somewhere to go when things seem too easy, when the concrete "realistic" world of everyday life weighs you down and refuses to let you see the possibilities, the strange and terrifying possibilities, that could spring up literally at any moment.
Rating: 
Summary: Half in, Half out
Review: This is the only book ever recommended to me by my parents and I sat and read it in one afternoon. I has hooks that dig in deep and hold you firm. The author has an exceptional gift for story telling and this book must be rated as the authors best and a suitable introduction to his work. However I rated this as 3 stars because the ending wanes and tapers, probably under the strength of the mind boggling questions the author asks of the reader.
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Summary: Another great read from Jonathan Carroll
Review: Until you've read a few of Carroll's books you usually feel that everything is very straightforward. No Carroll book is like that and he manages to take even fans by surprise with just how wierd the world can be and this one is no exception. The second half of his books are always surprising. I think the key to understanding Carroll is that in his mind all possibilities are functioning at the same time and they sometimes overlap putting his characters in some very strange positions, indeed. If you get hooked on his novels you will be hooked hard. Many of them are out of print and difficult to obtain, although a surprising amount of them are available at libraries.
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Summary: Blends fantastic elements so plainly into life
Review: Yes I'm a fan. I find ordinary stories...well ordinary. JC's books weave in the fantastic and make you wonder where reality ends. This is a very good book. You'll find memeorable characters everywhere. Quirkiness and later the fantastic appear. The turns are interesting and his prose is quick and pleasant to read.
Rating:
Summary: Blends fantastic elements so plainly into life
Review: Yes I'm a fan. I find ordinary stories...well ordinary. JC's books weave in the fantastic and make you wonder where reality ends. This is a very good book. You'll find memeorable characters everywhere. Quirkiness and later the fantastic appear. The turns are interesting and his prose is quick and pleasant to read.
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Summary: one of a kind
Review: You'll read all the other reviews that will give you details about this book. Jonathan Carroll is absolutely one-of-a-kind. A truly unique author that is REALLY hard to put down. I would say that he is the Kurt Vonnegut of the fiction/fantasy world. You'll never say you can't remember if you read his books. They stick with you.
Rating:
Summary: one of a kind
Review: You'll read all the other reviews that will give you details about this book. Jonathan Carroll is absolutely one-of-a-kind. A truly unique author that is REALLY hard to put down. I would say that he is the Kurt Vonnegut of the fiction/fantasy world. You'll never say you can't remember if you read his books. They stick with you.
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