The Wooden Sea : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Mister Floon...
Review: To paraphrase Neil Gaiman's back cover blurb, a new book by Jonathan Carroll is a cause for celebration indeed. It's difficult to choose favorite Carroll novels because they're all wonderful, unique and delightfully strange. THE WOODEN SEA showcases him in a decidedly more playful mood that in recent years. I don't want to spoil the wigged out plot and its delicious twists, suffice to say that it's a heck of a fun, oddball romp. If the name "Floon" appeals to your sense of absurdity, you'll dig this. It's a crime against letters that many of Carroll's books are out of print as they're all gems. Go out, buy THE WOODEN SEA and if you like it, you'll be haunting used bookstores for years to come, seeking out Carroll's other strange and shiney concoctions...

Rating:
Summary: How Do You Row in a Wooden Sea?
Review: The question lies at the heart of Jonathan Carroll's latest flight of fancy, the aptly named Wooden Sea. Look,let's make this simple. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who know Carroll is one of the most elegant fantasists writing today, and those who haven't read him yet. His latest "brings back" Frannie McCabe, Chief of Police of Crane's View. I put "brings back" in quotes because those who have met him in previous Carroll works will find they never knew him at all. But then, the only thing consistent in a Carroll story is the complete confidence one can have in knowing one cannot have complete confidence in knowing anything. Read this book and laugh, read this book and cry, read this book and marvel. Or, to put it another way, Read this book!

Rating:
Summary: What is so great about this book?
Review: I can't imagine what the other reviewers like so much about this book. I was so glad when I finally finished it. I had no idea what it would be about and didn't know anything about Jonathan Carroll. This book was a complete waste of time. It's silly, boring, and meaningless.

Rating:
Summary: Not Carroll's best
Review: I have high expectations for this book after reading Land of Laughs and Sleeping In Flames but I was rather disappointed.

The story had Carroll's usual interesting characters and humourous dialogues but the story simply falls flat - loosely tied up, full of inconsequential subplots with absolutely no sensible or coherent connections.

Rating:
Summary: Do you hate loose ends?
Review: Then you may not want to read this. As others have stated, the book leaves you wondering if maybe you missed something while reading it the first time. Thankfully the characters (especially Frannie) are so well drawn and the writing so good that you may not mind reading it again. Unfortunately I have too many books waiting for me on my counter to justify a reread (at least not at this moment). It is quite possible that I did miss something.

With that said, Wooden Sea reminded me of amore sentimental HARUKI MURAKAMI (I have herd of them both categorized as "magical realists")It is the story of how a three legged one eyed dog, a feather, a shovel, a lizard, a couple of other Frannies from different times, and aliens can turn a normal guys life into a hectic mess. Any possibility that they could not have. . . Well, maybe the feather but the rest is definitely messed up.

The plot was sort of goofy at times (the reason it did not get five stars) but the power of the writing pulls you through to the end. I would recommend this to anyone who can suspend their beliefs of what is real.


Rating:
Summary: Carroll's best
Review: I believe Jonathan Carroll has a truly great book in him, and this one comes as close as anything I've read by him. It's flawed by an ultimately silly plot line about alien interference in human lives, but the heart of the story is purely human. Frances McCabe has travelled far and hard to find peace of mind before returning to his home town and becoming a police chief. He was a cocky youngster, a troubled juvenile delinquent, a Vietnam veteran - all selves he has absorbed willingly or unwillingly into bemused middle age. He is astonished to find himself where he is: a respected man in the town that expected him to end up in jail, best friend of a man who repeatedly arrested him as a youth, married to a woman he adores, though his adolescent self had thoroughly despised her. His past selves are by no means gone, surfacing in a fondness for losers, "the perfume of grilling T-bone steaks," and a Ducati Monster motorcycle - "the evil `F*** me - I'm a god!' sound of its 900cc engine alone is worth the price of admission."

McCabe's world begins to go awry when a three-legged, mottled, pathetic dog appears on his doorstep, dies, is buried, but somehow refuses to stay in the ground. Its carcass returns with a heartbreakingly lovely smell and a strange feather. McCabe suspects that someone in town is playing with his mind, but the story takes a far stranger turn when a strutting teenager begins to give him advice, and he recognizes the youth as his own adolescent self. McCabe will meet all his loved and unloved past and future selves before the story ends. The device that brings this to pass is so ridiculous that it damages the novel, but the real story remains McCabe's unfaltering affection for his crazy life. His difficult past has made him caring, not cynical, and he is a keen observer of the world around him, seeing people and events with a hard-beaten sense of wonder and humor.

It's rare to find a writer who can match a character sketch like this with the steady detail that makes it real, but Carroll has that ability. McCabe's personality breathes on the first page: "Never buy yellow clothes or cheap leather. That's my credo and there are more. Know what I like to see? People killing themselves. Don't misunderstand; I'm not talking about the poor f***s who jump out windows or stick their sorry heads into plastic bags forever. No `Ultimate Fighting Championship' either, which is only a bunch of rabid crewcuts biting each other. I'm talking about the guy on the street, face the color of wet lead, lighting up a Camel and coughing up his soul the moment he inhales. Good for you, Sport! Long live nicotine, stubbornness, and self indulgence."

Carroll's scenario in The Wooden Sea is the hero whose strength is put to the test, and the author has placed the Trials of Job in front of McCabe. Halfway through, a plague of locusts would be a welcome relief. Ultimately, though, it's an uneven contest, for McCabe has been through fire before, and is as solid as they come. Unlike Job, he perseveres for his love of people, not his fear of the gods, and he will sacrifice no one but himself to their whims. His success comes at a huge price, but he pays it without question. He has been played with by the gods, even agreed to play their games, but the gods are certainly the worse by comparison.

Rating:
Summary: Starts great, then just a bunch of loose ends
Review: "The Wooden Sea" is my first Jonathon Carroll book, and probably my last. I was initially totally hooked by the first few chapters--great character in police chief Frannie McCabe, interesting mysteries--why does the dog Old Vertue keep showing up? What's the connection with the feather he finds and the dead teenage girl? Where have the Schiavos disappeared to, and why was the house so spotlessly clean? What's the deal with the feather? Fascinating, atmospheric, funny even. And then as I got deeper into the book I realized that Carroll has either no intention of really answering those questions or he doesn't know how to--he just keeps adding more random weirdness. Now I have no problem with ambiguity or magic or fantasy in my fiction--I'm not one of those readers who needs everything wrapped up neatly at the end of a book. But "The Wooden Sea" is just plain sloppy. It's entertaining and at times humorous, but ultimately very frustrating. There are some great images & ideas--Frannie flying, people in the future walking down the street with memory helmets, a best friend who morphs into a dog in the future, a private Beatles concert in a supermarket, a time travel reunion with his dead dad at a diner--but this is why I ended up hating this book by the end--NONE OF IT MEANS ANYTHING!!! Ultimately, "The Wooden Sea" is just a bunch of loose ends that go nowhere.