Galilee

Rating:
Summary: Barker treads a different path yet again
Review: I've been a big Clive Barker fan since the early nineties and have consumed his novels as the are released. As his works progressed, Barker's interests in subject matter have shifted from pure splatter punk/relentless horror to more metaphysical matters. "Galilee" is a good book. It shows Barker's exploration of a what many of his fans may consider a foreign genre. This is not "The Damnation Game" or "Books of Blood" territory. Barker tells a story of two families, the Barbarossas, a clan of near immortals, and the Gearys, a bunch of influential aristocrats who draw resemblences to the Kennedys. Both have been linked together since the Civil War and now come to a great change when love is thrown into the fray between the Barbarossa's prodigal son, Galilee, and the Geary's newest member, Rachel Pallenberg. The story is very rich, very grand in scale and made up of complicated matters. Barker's prose is still extrodinary and I think it is still improving with each novel he writes. The only complaint I had with this novel is the ending. It is rumored that we may return to see what happens to the two families in another novel, but I was hoping for a little more closure. Barker opened many doors to this story, but he unfortunately does not clearly explain what we're seeing through these doors. It's as if looking at an image through a pane of glass smeared with grease. This is especially true with the back story of the Barbarossa family, particularly of the narrator, Maddox, who touches upon certain events on his life but fails to follow through. This may, however, serve as a poignant part to the novel's narrative since the subject that Maddox treads upon is difficult for him, in character, to discuss. Still, it would have been nice to know what happened instead of having to piece together abstractions. There's so much that's going to happen when the novel concludes, it leaves you feeling too anxious. The fates of the characters are temporarily resolved, yet not even these resolutions are absolute. This story and its elements may turn off Barker's fans who expect something more reminiscent of his earlier works. But, if you have enjoyed the maturity that Barker's developed over the years, then you'll most likely find "Galiliee" to be worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Romeo & Juliette for the Hellraiser Generation
Review: Clive Barker's saga of two families that have been feuding for generations is conventional by his standards. In that I agree with fellow reviwer's; yet this so familiar theme is given the Barker dark twist as The Barborossa family hides not only secrets, but powers as well. This novel is billed as a romance and is at that, however Barker's gift for language, description and the human condition lifts this book above most in the category. I found the story compelling and again differ from many Barker fans in not being disappointed with this offering. It was a slight departure from his usual style, granted but I think it shows him growing as a writer and more importantly author to not depend so much on gore and graphic description to keep his readers enthralled. The ending was open enough that I am eagerly anticipating a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Disappointing Book from My (Once) Favorite Author
Review: ...I have thoroughly enjoyed Clive Barker's work (this is my ninth Barker book) and it is difficult to believe that Galilee was penned by the same man who wrote the classic "Books of Blood". I think Barker wanted it to be...He was trying to do "something different", "something epic", and it just went horribly, horribly wrong. The master of horror decided here to change pace and write about two great families (one human, one "divine") and their rivalry throughout the years. The more boring the character, the larger their role in this overwrought saga...The romantic leads are particularly unsympathtic and unconvincing. Yes, the book has its moments, but there are far too few of them in a 650-page book. It was painful to get through hundreds and hundreds of pages of romanticized [writing], that might sound beautiful as poetry, but does not advance the plot in the slighest. Highly disappointing.....and Clive actually has the nerve to set us up for a sequel. ...

Rating:
Summary: Involving, good suspense, magical, epic, a little slow.
Review: I didn't meet Clive Barker as an author of the "horror" genre. I read Imajica first, and then The Great and Secret Show, and Everville. None of these were "horror" books the way I have ever considered the genre, although I've seen some people call these books "gorefests" (which I don't quite get - I thought horror was gratuitous violence, not meaningful blood). My point is that I was not disappointed that this book fell short of "horror" (as so many people have mentioned). I wasn't expecting horror, I was expecting magical realism, epic-style. And I got just that.

This book reminds me a little of 'The Prince of Tides' (don't laugh - I'm serious!). It's epic length, follows a family closely, looks inside of them and then *features* their dysfunction. That's what fascinates the reader. And in this book, magic, not just politics, saturates the family history.

Don't go into this book expecting gross/horror/sex/blood. It's not that kind of book. It's a detailed novel of magical realism with a long, stylized, constructed plot. And Clive Barker has something to say while he entertains you. His message, which I won't give away, is probably the most frightening part of the book.

Rating:
Summary: not THAT bad
Review: I just finished reading this book and came to the site wanting to see what people thought about it. I'm kind of shocked that so many people didn't like it. I admit that this is the only Clive Barker novel I've finished, so maybe its just that my opinion is not based on my liking his more graphic horror-fantasy stuff. I loved how this novel plays with the idea of divinites being more human than usually thought. As for the characterization, I got a very clear picture of who Rachel and Galilee were. She was the "woman with a dream who thinks she finds it, is sadly mistaken, but then moves on." Her "characterization" is clear enough in the context of what Mr. Barker was trying to get at. She finds Galilee, the human-diety, and together they represent the conflict of human versus diety. Anyway, I just felt obligated to defend this book from what I think are hyper-critical horror fans being a little too harsh.

Rating:
Summary: This book stinks!
Review: I was somewhat interested in the first few chapters of the book. I soon realized, however, that the book was going absolutely nowhere, fast. None of the characters were developed at all, I saw all of them as predictible and boring. Rachel and Galilee the worst! I was not convinced of the Geery evil in the least...

Rating:
Summary: This is not what I had in Mind.
Review: This is my second book by Clive and I do feel a bit let down. Fortunately I know of the man's reputation, so I still have high hopes for his books. After all, Weaveworld was brilliant and the Books of Blood looks promising. (It is there in my bookshelf, waiting for me) The bad thing about all this is that the premise of the book is indeed brilliant, but it is nowhere near of being executed the way Clive would do. Instead of an epic move (Ok, and epic "romance") we get nothing but hundreds of pages going on and on about nothing of real interest. Although the book starts off strong and great, it falls down to its knees a little before the middle; only near the end does it pick itself up (When Garrison begins to show his disturbed psyche) just to be completely murdered during the very end. Trust me, the last twenty or so pages were a pain to read.

Even the Barbarossas were not properly executed. Don't take me wrong, Mr. Barker is a master when it comes down to character development, but this circus called the Barbarossa family didn't show any sign of "divine" superiority. With the sole exception of Cesaria and Nicodemus, the family is a freak show. We are given a bunch of losers instead of having a clan of dark-blue cloaked immortals who sail the seas covered in a mask of mystery. Think about it, only the founding members of the Barbarossa clan are of any merit. Even Galilee is a painful bore.

And this gets me to another point; we are never given any full explanation to the why (or how) Rachel or just about any other women (and men) would fall in love with him. The quick explanation we are given near the end (The why of the house in Hawaii) says nothing in favor of this so-called "divinity". Falling in love with a total stranger just because you got yourself naked because he told you an erotic fairy tale doesn't give much credit to any of these two characters, trust me. The love scenes,(as well with the post-love scenes) although erotic in the Barker style, are filled with all sort of sentimental bliss, so much it becomes corny after a while, and this is bad, because during those scenes I couldn't help thinking I was reading the English translation of a Mexican soap opera's script, and anyone who has seen a Mexican soap opera knows just how bad this is for the book.

Cesaria, Nicodemus, Garrison and the early descriptions of Samarkan and Zelim's life are the few things that save this book. The man is writing a sequel, but I don't think I'll buy it. I'm not even sure if I liked this book at all.

Rating:
Summary: A Let Down For Barker Fans
Review: In the times of Cabal, Weaveworld, Imajica, The Thief Of Always, and The Books of the Art Barker was one of the best author's of his time. Galilee is a complete letdown for all of us and a softie for someone like Barker. Along with Sacrament these are his two "mushy books" and I myself dont recommend them.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This was a great book. I love the narration, and just everything about it. It's like being on a mental roller coaster as you try to put things together about what's going on, and then something else completely out of the blue happens when you least expect it that explains everything. This is a seriously good book. :)

Rating:
Summary: magical
Review: I absolutely loved this book... I have read other Clive Barker books,, but this was the best,, I could not put it down...