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Answered Prayers #1
Bones of the Moon
Cullen James is a young woman whose life dictates her dreams-and whose dreams control her life.
In her first dream, she found the perfect man-and the same thing promptly happened in life. Now, she has begun to dream dreams set in Rondua, a fantasy world of high adventure, full of tests of her courage and strength. Slowly and quietly, her dream world is spilling over into her New York City reality and beginning to threaten everything she loves in life. Her friends are gathered to help her-but even her newfound courage may not be enough.
In her first dream, she found the perfect man-and the same thing promptly happened in life. Now, she has begun to dream dreams set in Rondua, a fantasy world of high adventure, full of tests of her courage and strength. Slowly and quietly, her dream world is spilling over into her New York City reality and beginning to threaten everything she loves in life. Her friends are gathered to help her-but even her newfound courage may not be enough.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 12, 1987
36 people are currently reading
2,230 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Carroll
119books1,147followersJonathan Carroll (b. 1949) is an award-winning American author of modern fantasy and slipstream novels. His debut book, The Land of Laughs (1980), tells the story of a children’s author whose imagination has left the printed page and begun to influence reality. The book introduced several hallmarks of Carroll’s writing, including talking animals and worlds that straddle the thin line between reality and the surreal, a technique that has seen him compared to South American magical realists.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
July 29, 2018
I don’t believe such magnificently developed imagination is a completely natural asset of the author. Really, how does one come up with all that imagery? Are they born that way? Do they stimulate it, somehow? I don’t know what this guy is taking to stimulate his imagination but whatever it is, it must be good. Basically, I felt in order to right this wonder, the guy must have gotten intimately familiar with all kinds of flora (to put it inconspicuously).
Maybe I’m just crazy but all the things the author has come up with here? I was astonished at the beauty of this book. It’s emotionality and intricateness are way off the chart, any chart! Also, we have quite a variety of topics touched here: love and despair, loss and stability, life and death, development and stagnation, dreams and reality. How would you deal with parallel worlds, had there been any? What about a person, dreadfully wounded, what would you pray about? Kids, how do we deal with them, their presence and absence? Time, what is up? Is magic already here? Have we simply forgot to notice it? What do we take for granted? Should we? Imagination, how healthy is it? Really, how do you take these and many other questions and stuff it into a book, a smallish one, without it becoming an encyclopedia?
The plotline is quite simple. And this book needs no advanced plots, otherwise it might become raving incomprehensible. The way things are presented to us is totally mindblowing! It's not exactly speculative finction. I don't know what it is but it is really good!
The alternate reality is incredible!
Q:
To give us all courage as we moved toward the plains, I began to sing the song of the wooden mice who went to war. I don't know why I remembered it, I didn't even know where it came from, but I certainly knew every word of the song. The others joined in (Pepsi humming after he had listened a while), and we moved a little less apprehensively toward the machines.
...
Wooden mice know what's nice;
Sawdust cheese and maple spice (c)
Q:
Abandoned later because of failed dreams or newer and better combinations, they had been left to stop and die. But they hadn't. Machines don't die . . . they wait. (с)
Q:
...how the mountains had learned to run, why only rabbits were allowed pencils, when the birds had decided to become all one color. (c)
Q:
Bees the size of coffee cans flew silently over the river. It was dusk and the water had abandoned the light (c)
Q:
The fish rose as one to meet us. Their shapes and colors were impossible to describe. You could say that this one looked like a headlight with eyes, that one like a key with fins, but it would be pointless. (c)
Q:
I didn't want him to be frightened, but I had forgotten children's willingness to accept anything, so long as it is wonderful. (c)
Q:
None of us know what it's for, but it does get you places twice as fast. If you want to go and visit Jackie Billows in the Conversation Bath some day, just get on that road and you'll be there a week earlier than you first planned. (c)
Q:
That? That's just the speed of sound. Sometimes, if you're very lucky, you'll be able to see the speed of light go by too, but that's rare. Sizzling Thumb likes to keep as much light as he can in his Stroke. But the speed of sound is so common, and there's so much _of_ it. . . . Most of us just ignore it if we're near. If you wait a minute, you'll hear it and know what I mean. (c)
Q:
Once in a while they'll have a party on it, depending on which Stroke you're in. It's a very good surface to dance on. (c)
Q:
When I slept, I dreamed of a giant black fountain pen writing words across the sky: wrords that made no sense, but were very beautiful nonetheless. (c)
Q:
When we awoke, the sea was completely gone. Even Pepsi was surprised by its disappearance. In its place was an immense meadow full of wild flowers and crazy-colored butterflies. It was very warm and sunny. (c)
Q:
Everything there was unusual, somehow wonderful. The island was named Rondua. The only inhabitants I had seen so far were the big animals: Mr. Tracy, Felina the Wolf, Martio the Camel and others. I learned to set my expectations aside and be open to the waves of new stimulus that were forever washing over me. It was a lesson similar to what I had learned in my waking life with Danny, only Rondua was allowed to be and do whatever it pleased because it lived on the other side of sleep, where all bets were off and giant camels spoke Italian. (c)
Q:
But you've got to be very careful of dogs wearing hats! (c)
Q:
Pepsi was stretched across my lap, his face all wonder and glee.
«And you know all of them, Mommy? You know each one?»
I put one hand on his springy hair and pointed with the other. «Do you see that big dog there?»
«Yes! He's wearing a hat!»
«Well, that's Mr. Tracy. He's the guide. (c)
Q:
I remember when the sea was full offish with mysterious names: Mudrake, Cornsweat, Yasmuda, and there wasn't much to do in a day. Clouds moved like bows over the sky. Their music was silver and sad. Your father drove a fast little sports car that sounded like a happy bee and he drove me wherever I pleased. (c)
And the real reality is astonishing as well:
Q:
You can lose yourself watching rain as easily as you can watching a fire. Both are deliberate yet whimsical, completely engrossing in no time at all. (c)
Q:
Dreams do what they want. You can't put a leash on them and tell them where to walk. (c)
Q:
We want to be loved for what we are, but also for what we want others to _think_ we are. (c)
Q:
How do they think these things up? (c)
Q:
We did too many things that day. Walked everywhere, saw this, saw that, ate everything. Both of us knew the whole time that if we kept good and busy, we could temporarily skirt the issue at hand. I think that's what we both wanted. (c)
Q:
Because Greece was the first «Europe» I had ever known, I loved it like you love your first child: you demand everything of it and what you receive swells your heart like a balloon.
When we returned to Italy after those first two weeks, I had the secret fear that nothing could he as good as those first days overseas. Afternoon light couldn't possibly fall on broken walls the same way as it did in Greece. (c)
Q:
And I was right � those things belonged in Greece's house and I gradually learned not to look for them elsewhere. But that was the most wondrous surprise of this new world: you didn't have to look for them, because «elsewhere» you looked out of the window of your _auberge_ in Brittany and saw sheep grazing in salt marshes by the gray ocean. Elsewhere you saw fresh blood on men's faces in Dublin and it made you realize that what you'd once read about the scrappy Irish was true. Elsewhere you felt the cogwheel train carry you up the craggy side of the _Schneeberg_ in Austria; halfway there, the train stopped at a tiny station so they could pour water into the boiler of the turn-of-the-century steam locomotive. (c)
Q:
We got used to each other and I began learning not to be nervous when life wasn't going exactly as planned. (c)
Q:
I just want to freeze everything right now, so nothing will ever change or go wrong with us. (c)
Q:
I forgive nothing. If you stole my orange crayon in the fifth grade, you're still on my hit list, buddy. (c)
Q:
I have said the Lord's Prayer every night for years before I go to sleep, but I rarely pray for anyone or anvthing in particular. I'm convinced God exists, but he doesn't need us to tell him how to run his show. (c)
Q:
Life was certainly precious, but death even more so in some cases. In the quietest whisper, I said, «Let him die.»
He died the next morning.(c)
Q:
That first day we talked, he was so «on» that I thought he was trying out for a part in some show and had mistaken me for the casting director. (c)
Q:
Your daughter is extremely quiet, Cullen. Is she dead? (c)
Q:
Oh Cullen, you really _are_ a vegetarian! I just thought you were slim. But you must give Mae meat, though; I'm totally serious about that. My friend Roger Waterman was brought up vegetarian and he turned into an accountant! (c)
Q:
He took us to gallery openings and to a concert in Soho where thirty-two people listened to six people snip the air with scissors, all thirty-eight of us wearing totally serious expressions on our faces. (c)
Q:
Gregston rarely gave interviews and had allowed this one only because he thought what Eliot Kilbertus had said about his last picture, _How to Put on Your Hat_, was «offensive and interesting. (c)
Q:
All of us take things from our everyday life and stick them right in our dreams � and usually crookedly too. (c)
Q:
Everything _can_ disappear in a second, particularly happiness and structure, but the more you're able to face it square-on, or the more you might even be able to add to the earth that will remain after you've gone, the better. (c)
Q:
It was as if he owned the ocean. (c)
Q:
«_Two_ phone calls! Danny, if I made two phone calls, one of them would be a wrong number! How on earth did you do it?» (c)
Q:
...who is ever prepared for disaster? Life is full of villains and villainous moments, but who wants to think about that? Anyway, what kind of life is it when you are afraid of every knock on the door or every letter in the mailbox? (c)
Q:
Never ask a magician to do his tricks twice in a row. You'll figure them out and they'll lose all their magic that way. (c)
Maybe I’m just crazy but all the things the author has come up with here? I was astonished at the beauty of this book. It’s emotionality and intricateness are way off the chart, any chart! Also, we have quite a variety of topics touched here: love and despair, loss and stability, life and death, development and stagnation, dreams and reality. How would you deal with parallel worlds, had there been any? What about a person, dreadfully wounded, what would you pray about? Kids, how do we deal with them, their presence and absence? Time, what is up? Is magic already here? Have we simply forgot to notice it? What do we take for granted? Should we? Imagination, how healthy is it? Really, how do you take these and many other questions and stuff it into a book, a smallish one, without it becoming an encyclopedia?
The plotline is quite simple. And this book needs no advanced plots, otherwise it might become raving incomprehensible. The way things are presented to us is totally mindblowing! It's not exactly speculative finction. I don't know what it is but it is really good!
The alternate reality is incredible!
Q:
To give us all courage as we moved toward the plains, I began to sing the song of the wooden mice who went to war. I don't know why I remembered it, I didn't even know where it came from, but I certainly knew every word of the song. The others joined in (Pepsi humming after he had listened a while), and we moved a little less apprehensively toward the machines.
...
Wooden mice know what's nice;
Sawdust cheese and maple spice (c)
Q:
Abandoned later because of failed dreams or newer and better combinations, they had been left to stop and die. But they hadn't. Machines don't die . . . they wait. (с)
Q:
...how the mountains had learned to run, why only rabbits were allowed pencils, when the birds had decided to become all one color. (c)
Q:
Bees the size of coffee cans flew silently over the river. It was dusk and the water had abandoned the light (c)
Q:
The fish rose as one to meet us. Their shapes and colors were impossible to describe. You could say that this one looked like a headlight with eyes, that one like a key with fins, but it would be pointless. (c)
Q:
I didn't want him to be frightened, but I had forgotten children's willingness to accept anything, so long as it is wonderful. (c)
Q:
None of us know what it's for, but it does get you places twice as fast. If you want to go and visit Jackie Billows in the Conversation Bath some day, just get on that road and you'll be there a week earlier than you first planned. (c)
Q:
That? That's just the speed of sound. Sometimes, if you're very lucky, you'll be able to see the speed of light go by too, but that's rare. Sizzling Thumb likes to keep as much light as he can in his Stroke. But the speed of sound is so common, and there's so much _of_ it. . . . Most of us just ignore it if we're near. If you wait a minute, you'll hear it and know what I mean. (c)
Q:
Once in a while they'll have a party on it, depending on which Stroke you're in. It's a very good surface to dance on. (c)
Q:
When I slept, I dreamed of a giant black fountain pen writing words across the sky: wrords that made no sense, but were very beautiful nonetheless. (c)
Q:
When we awoke, the sea was completely gone. Even Pepsi was surprised by its disappearance. In its place was an immense meadow full of wild flowers and crazy-colored butterflies. It was very warm and sunny. (c)
Q:
Everything there was unusual, somehow wonderful. The island was named Rondua. The only inhabitants I had seen so far were the big animals: Mr. Tracy, Felina the Wolf, Martio the Camel and others. I learned to set my expectations aside and be open to the waves of new stimulus that were forever washing over me. It was a lesson similar to what I had learned in my waking life with Danny, only Rondua was allowed to be and do whatever it pleased because it lived on the other side of sleep, where all bets were off and giant camels spoke Italian. (c)
Q:
But you've got to be very careful of dogs wearing hats! (c)
Q:
Pepsi was stretched across my lap, his face all wonder and glee.
«And you know all of them, Mommy? You know each one?»
I put one hand on his springy hair and pointed with the other. «Do you see that big dog there?»
«Yes! He's wearing a hat!»
«Well, that's Mr. Tracy. He's the guide. (c)
Q:
I remember when the sea was full offish with mysterious names: Mudrake, Cornsweat, Yasmuda, and there wasn't much to do in a day. Clouds moved like bows over the sky. Their music was silver and sad. Your father drove a fast little sports car that sounded like a happy bee and he drove me wherever I pleased. (c)
And the real reality is astonishing as well:
Q:
You can lose yourself watching rain as easily as you can watching a fire. Both are deliberate yet whimsical, completely engrossing in no time at all. (c)
Q:
Dreams do what they want. You can't put a leash on them and tell them where to walk. (c)
Q:
We want to be loved for what we are, but also for what we want others to _think_ we are. (c)
Q:
How do they think these things up? (c)
Q:
We did too many things that day. Walked everywhere, saw this, saw that, ate everything. Both of us knew the whole time that if we kept good and busy, we could temporarily skirt the issue at hand. I think that's what we both wanted. (c)
Q:
Because Greece was the first «Europe» I had ever known, I loved it like you love your first child: you demand everything of it and what you receive swells your heart like a balloon.
When we returned to Italy after those first two weeks, I had the secret fear that nothing could he as good as those first days overseas. Afternoon light couldn't possibly fall on broken walls the same way as it did in Greece. (c)
Q:
And I was right � those things belonged in Greece's house and I gradually learned not to look for them elsewhere. But that was the most wondrous surprise of this new world: you didn't have to look for them, because «elsewhere» you looked out of the window of your _auberge_ in Brittany and saw sheep grazing in salt marshes by the gray ocean. Elsewhere you saw fresh blood on men's faces in Dublin and it made you realize that what you'd once read about the scrappy Irish was true. Elsewhere you felt the cogwheel train carry you up the craggy side of the _Schneeberg_ in Austria; halfway there, the train stopped at a tiny station so they could pour water into the boiler of the turn-of-the-century steam locomotive. (c)
Q:
We got used to each other and I began learning not to be nervous when life wasn't going exactly as planned. (c)
Q:
I just want to freeze everything right now, so nothing will ever change or go wrong with us. (c)
Q:
I forgive nothing. If you stole my orange crayon in the fifth grade, you're still on my hit list, buddy. (c)
Q:
I have said the Lord's Prayer every night for years before I go to sleep, but I rarely pray for anyone or anvthing in particular. I'm convinced God exists, but he doesn't need us to tell him how to run his show. (c)
Q:
Life was certainly precious, but death even more so in some cases. In the quietest whisper, I said, «Let him die.»
He died the next morning.(c)
Q:
That first day we talked, he was so «on» that I thought he was trying out for a part in some show and had mistaken me for the casting director. (c)
Q:
Your daughter is extremely quiet, Cullen. Is she dead? (c)
Q:
Oh Cullen, you really _are_ a vegetarian! I just thought you were slim. But you must give Mae meat, though; I'm totally serious about that. My friend Roger Waterman was brought up vegetarian and he turned into an accountant! (c)
Q:
He took us to gallery openings and to a concert in Soho where thirty-two people listened to six people snip the air with scissors, all thirty-eight of us wearing totally serious expressions on our faces. (c)
Q:
Gregston rarely gave interviews and had allowed this one only because he thought what Eliot Kilbertus had said about his last picture, _How to Put on Your Hat_, was «offensive and interesting. (c)
Q:
All of us take things from our everyday life and stick them right in our dreams � and usually crookedly too. (c)
Q:
Everything _can_ disappear in a second, particularly happiness and structure, but the more you're able to face it square-on, or the more you might even be able to add to the earth that will remain after you've gone, the better. (c)
Q:
It was as if he owned the ocean. (c)
Q:
«_Two_ phone calls! Danny, if I made two phone calls, one of them would be a wrong number! How on earth did you do it?» (c)
Q:
...who is ever prepared for disaster? Life is full of villains and villainous moments, but who wants to think about that? Anyway, what kind of life is it when you are afraid of every knock on the door or every letter in the mailbox? (c)
Q:
Never ask a magician to do his tricks twice in a row. You'll figure them out and they'll lose all their magic that way. (c)
February 29, 2020
Happily married new mother Cullen James begins to have vivid serial dreams about a land called Rondua which she explores with a hat-wearing dog called Mr. Tracey and a young boy named Pepsi. Soon, dreams and reality begin to intersect and overlap in disturbing ways.
An interesting, unusual fantasy.
October 9, 2013
Cullen James is married to a wonderful man named Danny, has a baby daughter, and a good friend in her neighbor, Eliot. Cullen begins to have vivid dreams in a land called Rondua. As the dreams progress, they start to intersect with people and events in Cullen's life.
This is a wonderful, touching and very unusual fantasy. I got all misty-eyed by the end. Everyone should have a friend like Eliot.
This is a wonderful, touching and very unusual fantasy. I got all misty-eyed by the end. Everyone should have a friend like Eliot.
April 14, 2020
Yet again Jonathan Carroll has completely blown my mind with his writing! I was instantly hooked from the very first page and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see what would happen next in each world that Carroll has so masterfully crafted. This book is just so stunning, it’s been days since I finished it and I still can’t stop thinking about it and that’s a true sign of a remarkable read! I also have to mention that the name Pepsi made me laugh SO much every time I read it, I’m a huge Pepsi addict and it felt like this character was meant for me!
July 6, 2012
I finally picked my first Jonathan Carroll book, after hearing his name for years in different fantasy forums. Maybe the expectations were too high, or maybe Bones of the Moon is not the best entry point, but I feel a bit ambivalent right now. While I love the presentation and the vivid imagination that produced the Rondua dreamland, the actual plot and the ending were a letdown.
The first third of the book has very little to do with the fantastic, being a delicately weaved and often funny love story set in New York and Italy. Cullen is a smart and courageous girl that made it very easy for me to care about her adventures, especially as she initially gets some hard breaks in the relationships department. A couple of traumatic events may or may not have pushed her into mental instability. The ambiguity of her condition is well rendered: it will never be made clear if her refuge into the childhood magical dreamworld of Rondua is real or imagined. Often the narrative will bring elements from Rondua back to the streets of New York. Cullen will visit several psychologists in search of answers ( Everyone works out their troubles in their dreams. says one of them), but she will ultimately have to rely on her inner strength to gain some closure.
Of the two parrallel storylines, the relationship between Cullen and Danny forms the sunnier side of the novel, helped along by a gay neighbour (Eliott) and a rather gratuitous second love interest in the person of a movie director. For all the happy moments , Cullen is wary of past misfortunes, and has some reservations:
Loving someone is easy. It's your car and and all you have to do is start the engine, give her a little gas and point the thing wherever you want to go. But being loved is like being taken for a ride in someone else's car. Even if you think they'll be a good driver, you always have the innate fear they might do something wrong: in an instant you'll both be flying through the windshield toward imminent disaster. Being loved can be the most frightening thing of all. Because love means good-bye to control; and what happens if halfway or three quarters of the way through the trip you decide you want to go back, or in a different direction, and you're only the codriver?
The arrival of her daughter Mae, should bring some stability in her life, but instead the Rondua dreams get darker and darker.
Rondua was allowed to be and do whatever it pleased because it lived on the other side of sleep, where all bets were off and giant camels spoke Italian.
Initially whimsical, multicolored and lackadaisical, the land of Rondua reverts to monochrome black and will be beset with danger and death. Cullen is accompanied on her journey here by a small boy who claims he is her son (Pepsi) and several giant talking animals (camel, dog, fox) . The Bones of the Moon are actually part of this realm, bestowing magical powers on the bearer. This is the part where the author lost my interest with the classical fantasy trope of the fellowship on a quest and an archenemy at the end of the journey. The realm of Rondua itself was interesting but underdeveloped, sketchy, lacking continuity and coherence. This may be deliberate, as dreams rarely follow the rules of the waking world, in which case it could be a point in favor for Carroll's treatment. It is also possible, the land of Rondua is left for further exploring in the following books the author based on the setting.
Like I said, the ending was underwhelming for me - predictable and contrived. Otherwise i would have rated the book 4 stars. I understand The Land of Laughs receives better reviews, so I will pick this as my next Jonathan Carroll book, instead of continuing with the Rondua stories.
The first third of the book has very little to do with the fantastic, being a delicately weaved and often funny love story set in New York and Italy. Cullen is a smart and courageous girl that made it very easy for me to care about her adventures, especially as she initially gets some hard breaks in the relationships department. A couple of traumatic events may or may not have pushed her into mental instability. The ambiguity of her condition is well rendered: it will never be made clear if her refuge into the childhood magical dreamworld of Rondua is real or imagined. Often the narrative will bring elements from Rondua back to the streets of New York. Cullen will visit several psychologists in search of answers ( Everyone works out their troubles in their dreams. says one of them), but she will ultimately have to rely on her inner strength to gain some closure.
Of the two parrallel storylines, the relationship between Cullen and Danny forms the sunnier side of the novel, helped along by a gay neighbour (Eliott) and a rather gratuitous second love interest in the person of a movie director. For all the happy moments , Cullen is wary of past misfortunes, and has some reservations:
Loving someone is easy. It's your car and and all you have to do is start the engine, give her a little gas and point the thing wherever you want to go. But being loved is like being taken for a ride in someone else's car. Even if you think they'll be a good driver, you always have the innate fear they might do something wrong: in an instant you'll both be flying through the windshield toward imminent disaster. Being loved can be the most frightening thing of all. Because love means good-bye to control; and what happens if halfway or three quarters of the way through the trip you decide you want to go back, or in a different direction, and you're only the codriver?
The arrival of her daughter Mae, should bring some stability in her life, but instead the Rondua dreams get darker and darker.
Rondua was allowed to be and do whatever it pleased because it lived on the other side of sleep, where all bets were off and giant camels spoke Italian.
Initially whimsical, multicolored and lackadaisical, the land of Rondua reverts to monochrome black and will be beset with danger and death. Cullen is accompanied on her journey here by a small boy who claims he is her son (Pepsi) and several giant talking animals (camel, dog, fox) . The Bones of the Moon are actually part of this realm, bestowing magical powers on the bearer. This is the part where the author lost my interest with the classical fantasy trope of the fellowship on a quest and an archenemy at the end of the journey. The realm of Rondua itself was interesting but underdeveloped, sketchy, lacking continuity and coherence. This may be deliberate, as dreams rarely follow the rules of the waking world, in which case it could be a point in favor for Carroll's treatment. It is also possible, the land of Rondua is left for further exploring in the following books the author based on the setting.
Like I said, the ending was underwhelming for me - predictable and contrived. Otherwise i would have rated the book 4 stars. I understand The Land of Laughs receives better reviews, so I will pick this as my next Jonathan Carroll book, instead of continuing with the Rondua stories.
January 23, 2013
I was very disappointed with this book because I had enjoyed The Land of Laughs so much and, as a result, respected Jonathan Carroll as an author. However, after reading this book, I can't say that any longer because, to me, this reads like pro-life, anti-feminist propaganda masquerading as a fantasy book, which to be honest happens more often than most people probably care to think. My opinion is based on the fact that the story only truly begins after Cullen, the protagonist, has an abortion after a failed relationship. The story, in its most basic description, is about Cullen having dreams about a world, Rondua, in which she helps her aborted son, Pepsi, find Bones of the Moon to rule Rondua. That's basically everything you need to know about the story... she helps the son she gave up reach, what she imagines is, his full potential.
Now, that in and of itself does not necessarily make this all pro-life and anti-feminist, except that Jonathan Carroll doesn't write this woman as having a personality or even a sense of humor. Everything that happens in the book and all of the interactions she has with her husband and best friend all just happen to her. The only thing pushing the story forward are the Rondua dreams that also just happen to her. She makes no actual decisions, except for the one at the very beginning, to have an abortion, and she is repeatedly punished throughout the whole book for making that one decision.
As I previously mentioned, Cullen does not have a personality or sense of humor. She doesn't have any hobbies or a job . She speaks and thinks like a man and while it's totally reasonable to have a non-feminine woman as your protagonist (as there are non-feminine women everywhere, including me), there are plenty of men who can write from a woman's perspective and not only do they create believable characters, they also don't leave the reader wondering "Is this guy really this oblivious to what women are actually like?" or "Is Cullen really just a flawed, subservient character or does Jonathan Carroll really dislike women this much, especially women who have abortions?"
Honestly, if I had the option of removing this book from my memory, I would gladly do it. The story is so riddled with cliched phrases and mentions of mundane tasks you have to wonder why so many of those exist when there is such a serious lack of description and emotion.
And, one last thing, I have to mention that when it first dawned on me that this book must be pro-life propaganda, I mentioned it on my GR status after I updated what page number I was on, and that was shared on Twitter. Guess who responded to that tweet... (I removed my Twitter name for privacy.)
18 Jan
On page 140 of 224 of Bones of the Moon, by Jonathan Carroll: I'm going to guess that Jonathan Carroll is pro-life....
Jonathan Carroll
@JSCarroll You're wrong. To me BONES is about getting rid of one's guilt through action and personal courage. It is not about abortion.
What action and personal courage? She doesn't even save herself at the end of the book...
I'm willing to read other books written by Jonathan Carroll but probably not for a while.
Now, that in and of itself does not necessarily make this all pro-life and anti-feminist, except that Jonathan Carroll doesn't write this woman as having a personality or even a sense of humor. Everything that happens in the book and all of the interactions she has with her husband and best friend all just happen to her. The only thing pushing the story forward are the Rondua dreams that also just happen to her. She makes no actual decisions, except for the one at the very beginning, to have an abortion, and she is repeatedly punished throughout the whole book for making that one decision.
As I previously mentioned, Cullen does not have a personality or sense of humor. She doesn't have any hobbies or a job . She speaks and thinks like a man and while it's totally reasonable to have a non-feminine woman as your protagonist (as there are non-feminine women everywhere, including me), there are plenty of men who can write from a woman's perspective and not only do they create believable characters, they also don't leave the reader wondering "Is this guy really this oblivious to what women are actually like?" or "Is Cullen really just a flawed, subservient character or does Jonathan Carroll really dislike women this much, especially women who have abortions?"
Honestly, if I had the option of removing this book from my memory, I would gladly do it. The story is so riddled with cliched phrases and mentions of mundane tasks you have to wonder why so many of those exist when there is such a serious lack of description and emotion.
And, one last thing, I have to mention that when it first dawned on me that this book must be pro-life propaganda, I mentioned it on my GR status after I updated what page number I was on, and that was shared on Twitter. Guess who responded to that tweet... (I removed my Twitter name for privacy.)
18 Jan
On page 140 of 224 of Bones of the Moon, by Jonathan Carroll: I'm going to guess that Jonathan Carroll is pro-life....
Jonathan Carroll
@JSCarroll You're wrong. To me BONES is about getting rid of one's guilt through action and personal courage. It is not about abortion.
What action and personal courage? She doesn't even save herself at the end of the book...
I'm willing to read other books written by Jonathan Carroll but probably not for a while.
July 3, 2016
Bones of the Moon
Jonathan Carroll
Cullen tells her own story. How men tell her she’s the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen, how she was having an okay time in NYC, enjoying a pretty good job, sleeping around. One of her encounters, with a narcissistic photographer, led to a pregnancy and then an abortion. The aftereffects of which are remorse and then dreams.
Cullen writes to the only man she ever really connected with, the man her college roommate married. Her roommate has died in a car crash. The husband, Danny James, is a pro basketball player who opted for a less stressful version of the sport by playing in Italy. He hears of Cullen’s sadness and flies to New York from Italy the next day. He listens, sympathizes, supports her decision, and then confesses rather beautifully that he’s been in love with Cullen for a very long time. They marry. He turns out to be one of the really good guys in all of fiction. They go back to Italy and have a wonderful life there� until Danny is injured and has to give up his career. No big deal, Danny finds a good job back in New York. But that’s when Cullen’s dreams really take off.
Cullen finds herself in the land of Rondua where she’s on a quest accompanied by a giant dog, a camel, several even more fantastic creatures, and a little boy named Pepsi who keeps calling Cullen “Mom.� Turns out he’s the child she would have had but for the abortion.
The man in the apartment below Cullen and Danny’s kills his mother and sister with a machete, then convinces the court-appointed doctors where he’s being treated, to allow him to write to Cullen. He sounds rational and reasonable in his letters, but eventually, he works his way into Rondua, and that’s not good.
The quest Cullen and Pepsi follow is to gather the bones of the moon. Whoever can find all of them will end up ruling Rondua. Their adventures are wonderful at first and gathering the bones seems rather easy. But then things get much darker. Cullen realizes that the current evil ruler (their deadly adversary) one Jack Chili, is someone she knows in real life. That’s when events from reality begin to seriously cross into her dream world and, worse than that, the dark events from the dream world start showing up in reality.
This is a beautifully written story. The fantasy world of Rondua, its lands and creatures are drawn with deft skills that remind me of the work of Maurice Sendak. The major characters are not described in great detail, but we are often able to see into their hearts and that makes many of them (Danny, Cullen, their neighbor Eliot, and Pepsi) especially memorable. As for one of the central issues of the book, it strikes me that even men who have come face to face with and had to participate in decisions about abortion can’t begin to grasp the emotional complexity of the issue for the women involved. But in some ways, this book opens doors and offers insights and that’s extremely valuable and necessary.
Jonathan Carroll
Cullen tells her own story. How men tell her she’s the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen, how she was having an okay time in NYC, enjoying a pretty good job, sleeping around. One of her encounters, with a narcissistic photographer, led to a pregnancy and then an abortion. The aftereffects of which are remorse and then dreams.
Cullen writes to the only man she ever really connected with, the man her college roommate married. Her roommate has died in a car crash. The husband, Danny James, is a pro basketball player who opted for a less stressful version of the sport by playing in Italy. He hears of Cullen’s sadness and flies to New York from Italy the next day. He listens, sympathizes, supports her decision, and then confesses rather beautifully that he’s been in love with Cullen for a very long time. They marry. He turns out to be one of the really good guys in all of fiction. They go back to Italy and have a wonderful life there� until Danny is injured and has to give up his career. No big deal, Danny finds a good job back in New York. But that’s when Cullen’s dreams really take off.
Cullen finds herself in the land of Rondua where she’s on a quest accompanied by a giant dog, a camel, several even more fantastic creatures, and a little boy named Pepsi who keeps calling Cullen “Mom.� Turns out he’s the child she would have had but for the abortion.
The man in the apartment below Cullen and Danny’s kills his mother and sister with a machete, then convinces the court-appointed doctors where he’s being treated, to allow him to write to Cullen. He sounds rational and reasonable in his letters, but eventually, he works his way into Rondua, and that’s not good.
The quest Cullen and Pepsi follow is to gather the bones of the moon. Whoever can find all of them will end up ruling Rondua. Their adventures are wonderful at first and gathering the bones seems rather easy. But then things get much darker. Cullen realizes that the current evil ruler (their deadly adversary) one Jack Chili, is someone she knows in real life. That’s when events from reality begin to seriously cross into her dream world and, worse than that, the dark events from the dream world start showing up in reality.
This is a beautifully written story. The fantasy world of Rondua, its lands and creatures are drawn with deft skills that remind me of the work of Maurice Sendak. The major characters are not described in great detail, but we are often able to see into their hearts and that makes many of them (Danny, Cullen, their neighbor Eliot, and Pepsi) especially memorable. As for one of the central issues of the book, it strikes me that even men who have come face to face with and had to participate in decisions about abortion can’t begin to grasp the emotional complexity of the issue for the women involved. But in some ways, this book opens doors and offers insights and that’s extremely valuable and necessary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2022
Jonathan Carroll entreteje en Bones of the Moon dos hilos narrativos: el relato cotidiano de Cullen, una mujer que se enamora, se casa y tiene una hija, y el de los sueños que comienza a tener durante los cuales vive aventuras junto a un variopinto grupo de personajes en Rondua, un mundo de fantasía. La manera en que se conectan y realimentan ambos planos es la gracia de la novela, y a medida que comienzan a verse los sentidos, su gran caballo de batalla. Es inevitable dejarse llevar por una interpretación alegórica muuyyyy problemática que Carroll se preocupa de subrayar a base de guiñarte el ojo y darte codazos con insistencia. Pero es que además Cullen parece sacada de una revista pulp de los años 30: siente una atracción estúpida por un fulano que se ha comportado con ella como un energúmeno, le oculta todo a su marido, pone en riesgo a su mejor amigo (y a su hija)... Estas cuestiones se realimentan con que las aventuras que se viven en Rondua tiran a muy naifs y tienen una finalidad demasiado terapéutica.
También, las descripciones de un escenario tan surrealista son brillantes y, a pesar de lo cuestionable de varias situaciones y el personaje de Cullen, Carroll sabe llevar las relaciones y las conversaciones. En este sentido es fácil ver la influencia en Gaiman, particularmente en el arco A game of you. Además vuelve a demostrar que sabe crear imágenes hermosas siempre conectadas con una visión de la vida, por ejemplo sobre lo que supone tener un hijo y verle madurar.
Todo esto me lleva a una pequeña reflexión. Después de cinco libro suyos leídos sigo buscando lo que me ofreció con El país de las risas y, salvo en El mar de madera, apenas he vuelto a encontrar retazos de ello. ¿Es el momento reconocer que no es él sino que soy yo?
También, las descripciones de un escenario tan surrealista son brillantes y, a pesar de lo cuestionable de varias situaciones y el personaje de Cullen, Carroll sabe llevar las relaciones y las conversaciones. En este sentido es fácil ver la influencia en Gaiman, particularmente en el arco A game of you. Además vuelve a demostrar que sabe crear imágenes hermosas siempre conectadas con una visión de la vida, por ejemplo sobre lo que supone tener un hijo y verle madurar.
Todo esto me lleva a una pequeña reflexión. Después de cinco libro suyos leídos sigo buscando lo que me ofreció con El país de las risas y, salvo en El mar de madera, apenas he vuelto a encontrar retazos de ello. ¿Es el momento reconocer que no es él sino que soy yo?
June 8, 2017
Picked this off the top of the recent rescued-from-the-transfer-station pile. Next read...
Read part one last night and was not at all impressed by the writer's skill(s). I haven't reached the fantasy stuff yet and it's a short book so I'll probably read all of it, but...
- The dialogue/narration is far too - cutesy, stilted, sugary and boring. Like an earnest effort by a committed but minimally talented English major at age 19. Cullen and Danny converse like two square 4H youngsters from the fifties determined to sound hip and cool.
- Cullen? Haven't encountered many Cullens in my life: Edward Cullen, William Cullen Bryant, Cullen Bryant(CU/Rams football player of the 70's), Bill Cullen, Alice Cullen(?)...
- Cullen complains that boyfriend Peter won't make eye contact and then complains a page or so later that her boyfriends were all too good at making eye contact! Was this book edited?
- Shouldn't "naivety" be "naivete'"?
- Danny's just to icky and perfect - a sensitive new-age guy.
- Cullen's a smoker - she'd be off my list immediately. Nervous and jerky...
- If this book has an American author and is set in America, then why the British spelling????
As I'd hoped, the story gets better as the dreams begin.
Still reasonably engrossing as it goes but it's taking too long to get to the "meat" of the fantasy world and Cullen's real world is plenty boring. She's not the most likeable person either. Kind of immature and self-absorbed, and one might say somewhat undeserving of all the love and attention(for being good looking) she gets(according to the palm reader).
- One sentence starts out plural and becomes singular. The author's use of English is decidedly awkward at times. "Nappy" is not American usage(for instance). Cullen's mother calls her "Dear"? That went out long ago... Then there's a Columbian race car driver named "Pedro Lopez" - how original! How are watching rain fall and a fireplace fire burn "whimsical"? The verbal non-sense just gets a bit annoying after a while: First it says that Weber had made only three films in ten years and a while it later refers to "all those films," which implies more than three. Careless editing...
- So... a bone to pick: an early-aborted fetus is NOT a "dead child"(in my opinion). Neither is a late-aborted fetus for that matter, but it is closer to being a dead child. Still... the common expression is "going to have a baby". "Had a baby" means the child was born and therefore assumed a different status = baby. Anti-abortionists/pro-lifers love to trample on common sense linguistic logic in their fervor to make women feel bad about wanting/needing abortions. I am not in favor of abortion(s) and I don't think abortion should be commonly used as after-the-fact birth control, but I am in favor of women having a choice. I am not religious and do not "believe" that there is any compelling evidence that humans are qualitatively different than other higher life forms. Such as chimpanzees, deer, eagles, polar bears, crocodiles etc. We kill them, eat them, wound them, poison them, run over them with our cars and more ALL THE TIME!
- People generally don't use tire chains in the winter any more. At least not in NYC!
- What happened to the husband? He barely gets mentioned lately.
Getting close to the end now and still semi-enjoying the fantasy stuff and wondering what the big reveal is going to be at the end. You know... what's the connection between the real world and the fantasy world(besides Pepsi being Cullen's aborted child - that was obvious anyway). Certainly it seems very likely that it has to do with the filmmaker guy. I forgot my notes so I'll do more whining tomorrow. I feel confident that this will wind up as a 2.75* book.
- Baby cuts hand in the suburbs of NYC... no trip to the ER, and a local doctor says come on over!? Maybe in the 50's...
- It takes Cullen being told by Pepsi what we readers had already figured out LONG before?
- Uses the word "google" - 1987!
- Cullen is now a liar to her husband - VERY bad and unsympathetic. I can't like or respect her at all.
- Cullen fears her husbands lack of "understanding" about her secret semi-relationship. The coat lie... I'm beginning to loathe her.
- James Salter gets a shout out by a sideways mention "a sport and a pastime."
- More British lingo; aeroplane??? - "Mr" spelled w/o a period.
- So far any attempt to realistically link Rondua to the outside/ waking world is shaky. My dreams can be very vivid and entertaining but I never remember or experience them so clearly that I can tell stories based on them.
- She's still smoking...
And so to the end... Enough carping! The book seems a bit incomplete and the ending is vague, enigmatic and underwhelming. Perhaps it's best that Cullen is not particularly likeable... whatever. A sort-of comforting soft-core religious message comes in at the end: there IS a spirit world(or something) out there where some redemptive outcomes are possible. Too bad for Eliot, but at least he gets to "live" on - sort of.
- The overall set-up is reminiscent of "Don't Look Now"(the movie - I've never read the book). Maybe the author was inspired by it.
- I found out yesterday that the author went to the same prep school I did - about 2-3 years behind me. This happened several weeks/books ago too!
Read part one last night and was not at all impressed by the writer's skill(s). I haven't reached the fantasy stuff yet and it's a short book so I'll probably read all of it, but...
- The dialogue/narration is far too - cutesy, stilted, sugary and boring. Like an earnest effort by a committed but minimally talented English major at age 19. Cullen and Danny converse like two square 4H youngsters from the fifties determined to sound hip and cool.
- Cullen? Haven't encountered many Cullens in my life: Edward Cullen, William Cullen Bryant, Cullen Bryant(CU/Rams football player of the 70's), Bill Cullen, Alice Cullen(?)...
- Cullen complains that boyfriend Peter won't make eye contact and then complains a page or so later that her boyfriends were all too good at making eye contact! Was this book edited?
- Shouldn't "naivety" be "naivete'"?
- Danny's just to icky and perfect - a sensitive new-age guy.
- Cullen's a smoker - she'd be off my list immediately. Nervous and jerky...
- If this book has an American author and is set in America, then why the British spelling????
As I'd hoped, the story gets better as the dreams begin.
Still reasonably engrossing as it goes but it's taking too long to get to the "meat" of the fantasy world and Cullen's real world is plenty boring. She's not the most likeable person either. Kind of immature and self-absorbed, and one might say somewhat undeserving of all the love and attention(for being good looking) she gets(according to the palm reader).
- One sentence starts out plural and becomes singular. The author's use of English is decidedly awkward at times. "Nappy" is not American usage(for instance). Cullen's mother calls her "Dear"? That went out long ago... Then there's a Columbian race car driver named "Pedro Lopez" - how original! How are watching rain fall and a fireplace fire burn "whimsical"? The verbal non-sense just gets a bit annoying after a while: First it says that Weber had made only three films in ten years and a while it later refers to "all those films," which implies more than three. Careless editing...
- So... a bone to pick: an early-aborted fetus is NOT a "dead child"(in my opinion). Neither is a late-aborted fetus for that matter, but it is closer to being a dead child. Still... the common expression is "going to have a baby". "Had a baby" means the child was born and therefore assumed a different status = baby. Anti-abortionists/pro-lifers love to trample on common sense linguistic logic in their fervor to make women feel bad about wanting/needing abortions. I am not in favor of abortion(s) and I don't think abortion should be commonly used as after-the-fact birth control, but I am in favor of women having a choice. I am not religious and do not "believe" that there is any compelling evidence that humans are qualitatively different than other higher life forms. Such as chimpanzees, deer, eagles, polar bears, crocodiles etc. We kill them, eat them, wound them, poison them, run over them with our cars and more ALL THE TIME!
- People generally don't use tire chains in the winter any more. At least not in NYC!
- What happened to the husband? He barely gets mentioned lately.
Getting close to the end now and still semi-enjoying the fantasy stuff and wondering what the big reveal is going to be at the end. You know... what's the connection between the real world and the fantasy world(besides Pepsi being Cullen's aborted child - that was obvious anyway). Certainly it seems very likely that it has to do with the filmmaker guy. I forgot my notes so I'll do more whining tomorrow. I feel confident that this will wind up as a 2.75* book.
- Baby cuts hand in the suburbs of NYC... no trip to the ER, and a local doctor says come on over!? Maybe in the 50's...
- It takes Cullen being told by Pepsi what we readers had already figured out LONG before?
- Uses the word "google" - 1987!
- Cullen is now a liar to her husband - VERY bad and unsympathetic. I can't like or respect her at all.
- Cullen fears her husbands lack of "understanding" about her secret semi-relationship. The coat lie... I'm beginning to loathe her.
- James Salter gets a shout out by a sideways mention "a sport and a pastime."
- More British lingo; aeroplane??? - "Mr" spelled w/o a period.
- So far any attempt to realistically link Rondua to the outside/ waking world is shaky. My dreams can be very vivid and entertaining but I never remember or experience them so clearly that I can tell stories based on them.
- She's still smoking...
And so to the end... Enough carping! The book seems a bit incomplete and the ending is vague, enigmatic and underwhelming. Perhaps it's best that Cullen is not particularly likeable... whatever. A sort-of comforting soft-core religious message comes in at the end: there IS a spirit world(or something) out there where some redemptive outcomes are possible. Too bad for Eliot, but at least he gets to "live" on - sort of.
- The overall set-up is reminiscent of "Don't Look Now"(the movie - I've never read the book). Maybe the author was inspired by it.
- I found out yesterday that the author went to the same prep school I did - about 2-3 years behind me. This happened several weeks/books ago too!
November 9, 2011
I've read Carroll's Land of Laughs and found his characterization very impressive in that particular book, although I felt his plot bottomed out toward the ending as it abandoned those previously established traits.
With Bones of the Moon, however, I never really connected with his protagonist, Cullen James, or her friends and family. While they had interesting backgrounds, they simply didn't feel real to me. Because of this, and what I consider awkward dialogue, I couldn't fully immerse myself in Bones of the Moon.
I would like to note that Carroll had an incredible concept. I especially enjoyed the role of abortion in the novel and the psychological undertones that resulted. Carroll did a remarkably nice job of leaving the specifics of the fantasy world that his main character travels to rather vague. At one point, you think that she is slipping into Rondua during her dreams, but then you suspect that it's just the opposite: that Cullen is sliding into our world from Rondua. But then, just when you've about made up your mind one way or the other, Carroll hints that perhaps this is all simply in her head--the mind's way of dealing with an unhealed emotional scar. And then the end of the novel arrives, and all three of these possibilities converge, and you're left with no answers at all.
If this sounds complicated, it is. And, had the dialogue been just a little more practical, I think things might have been different for me. But the dialogue tended to teeter on the edge of hyperbole, and this took me right out of the novel.
I won't give up on Carroll, though. The two novels I've read by him have had some extraordinary qualities and it's obvious that his imagination is superb. Perhaps I'll try one of his more recent works and see what I think since the two I've read were from before 1988.
It should be noted, by the way, that Carroll had rave reviews for Bones of the Moon by none other than Stephen King himself, so take that into consideration.
With Bones of the Moon, however, I never really connected with his protagonist, Cullen James, or her friends and family. While they had interesting backgrounds, they simply didn't feel real to me. Because of this, and what I consider awkward dialogue, I couldn't fully immerse myself in Bones of the Moon.
I would like to note that Carroll had an incredible concept. I especially enjoyed the role of abortion in the novel and the psychological undertones that resulted. Carroll did a remarkably nice job of leaving the specifics of the fantasy world that his main character travels to rather vague. At one point, you think that she is slipping into Rondua during her dreams, but then you suspect that it's just the opposite: that Cullen is sliding into our world from Rondua. But then, just when you've about made up your mind one way or the other, Carroll hints that perhaps this is all simply in her head--the mind's way of dealing with an unhealed emotional scar. And then the end of the novel arrives, and all three of these possibilities converge, and you're left with no answers at all.
If this sounds complicated, it is. And, had the dialogue been just a little more practical, I think things might have been different for me. But the dialogue tended to teeter on the edge of hyperbole, and this took me right out of the novel.
I won't give up on Carroll, though. The two novels I've read by him have had some extraordinary qualities and it's obvious that his imagination is superb. Perhaps I'll try one of his more recent works and see what I think since the two I've read were from before 1988.
It should be noted, by the way, that Carroll had rave reviews for Bones of the Moon by none other than Stephen King himself, so take that into consideration.
December 11, 2008
I can't quite figure out why I didn't enjoy this one as much as other stuff I've read by Carroll. It has the same warm, sympathetic characters, the same level of invention and imagination, but the story never really pulled me in. It felt a little aimless and meandering, and the protagonist never really seemed to do anything other than survive traumatic events because..what? She's a nice person and we want her to? It wasn't really clear to me how the "real" world and her dream world were able to interact, and, in spite of a suitable bloody and dramatic climax, it felt like it just kind of fizzled out. Still, much of it was vivid and powerful.
August 4, 2013
Bones of the Moon is a melding of fantasy and literary fiction. I wasn't sure how to read it sometimes. In a straight fantasy novel, being whisked away to another world while asleep would be pretty standard magical stuff, but with the literary fiction influences, one must consider the symbolism. The characters even talk about the possible symbolism of Cullen's dreams, and this made me uncomfortable with the fantasy part of the story, strangely enough. I wanted to just go along with Cullen and Pepsi's quest for the bones, but in the back of my mind, I had to wonder about the psychological significance of a hat-wearing dog, and if any of this was actually real (in the story). I like my magic to be real in the story at the very least. I hate nothing more for the big reveal to be some mundane thing like on an episode of Scooby-Doo.
Actually, this reminded me strongly of Barbie's story in Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novel A Game of You. I loved that story with it's whimsy and mystery. I didn't keep that sense in Bones of the Moon with Cullen, maybe because Cullen and her friends were just too introspective. I wonder if Gaiman read Bones of the Moon and lifted a little for A Game of You. The characters and story are pretty different, but certain things are startling similar, like the talking animals, both feature a woman dreaming the fantastical world, and they both have large dogs.
I just googled Gaiman and Carroll, and it appears they are friends. Gaiman writes in his online journal about Carroll. There's no mention of A Game of You and Bones of the Moon in his entry, but the similarities seem very striking, and Carroll's novel came out a few years before A Game of You. Either Gaiman was tipping his hat to Carroll with all of the similar details, or both stories were inspired by the gestalt of the time. Or maybe it all harks back to Alice in Wonderland.
Actually, this reminded me strongly of Barbie's story in Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novel A Game of You. I loved that story with it's whimsy and mystery. I didn't keep that sense in Bones of the Moon with Cullen, maybe because Cullen and her friends were just too introspective. I wonder if Gaiman read Bones of the Moon and lifted a little for A Game of You. The characters and story are pretty different, but certain things are startling similar, like the talking animals, both feature a woman dreaming the fantastical world, and they both have large dogs.
I just googled Gaiman and Carroll, and it appears they are friends. Gaiman writes in his online journal about Carroll. There's no mention of A Game of You and Bones of the Moon in his entry, but the similarities seem very striking, and Carroll's novel came out a few years before A Game of You. Either Gaiman was tipping his hat to Carroll with all of the similar details, or both stories were inspired by the gestalt of the time. Or maybe it all harks back to Alice in Wonderland.
June 24, 2023
Why I read it: Book rec from the same friend whose favourite book was Witches of Eastwick, which I abhorred. You'd think that would mean I wouldn't accept further book recs from her, but everyone is allowed a stinker or two.
Thoughts: I'm not sure what the fuck this book is, but at least it ain't a stinker.
Easy stuff first: from a technical standpoint, solid effort. Two interwoven stories, two interwoven worlds, two interwoven lifetimes. I can dig it. It was gripping from the get go and the human characters are all supremely lovable. The Rondua characters are all whatevers, other than the negnugs, who are now supreme overlords of my heart. And just to get this out of the way: the entire Rondua storyline itself was kind of whatever, except for the ways in which it was affected by and the way in which it affected Cullen's waking life. Parts of the Rondua storyline were pretty goshdarned good, however, especially towards the end, as Cullen and Pepsi reach the end of their long journey and all their trials, and what they're faced with is Cullen's world, Cullen's building, Cullen's apartment, Cullen's life. Inexplicably, the idea that everything just lead to that gave me chills and reminded me of Stephen King's Dark Tower at its spookiest (which to me were the moments of eerie suspense, especially in the later books in the series).
The human characters were oh-so-human and oh-so-delightful, the sort of people I would like to know and hang out with in real life. The story of Cullen's life is the sort of story I would love to hear someone tell me over the course of a long flight or train ride. Entirely mundane (love, marriage, travel, children, friends, work, life) and completely uninteresting, except for the fact that it's not my own life, and therefore extremely interesting. All the details of a life that's not my own are juicy and mesmerising, so I completely understood Eliot's fascination with and adoration of Cullen and Danny.
And beyond Cullen's nightly adventures, all the human characters were just regular people. Boring and interesting in equal parts, and with their own lives and interests. Eliot was completely sweet. I thought Weber Gregston was a bit over the top in his sudden and overwhelming interest in Cullen, but then again Cullen is described as incredibly beautiful, a real showstopper, etc., so is his interest all that surprising? Either way, I actually had to stop and google his name the first time he came up, because I was kind of hoping he'd be a real film director -- the movie he made about the man who thinks he's his own wife would've been an interesting watch.
But other than his strange movies, the most interesting -- and annoying -- thing about Gregston was his connection to Rondua. If he'd only showed up as someone who's in love with Cullen for whatever reason, that would've been enough, and I would've assumed that the entire Rondua thing was, as Eliot theorises throughout the book, a way for Cullen to work through her life's stresses and disappointments and joys. Using that to frame the ending, I would've considered the story to be satisfying, overall. I would've rated it a 4 out of 5, as a smart thriller that happens half in the real world, and half in the imaginary. But the fact that he shared the nightly visitations to Rondua and offered details about it before Cullen prompted him with names, and knew things Cullen didn't know about the world... that's fucked up. And to be honest, it kinda tarnished the charm of the story, because it firmly places the whole thing in this sort of vague realm of magical realism. It's sort of fantasy, sort of horror, but also sort of not, and I just... don't really like that sort of thing. I don't willingly pick it up, and it's hard for me to get invested in it, because it's unpredictable.
I don't know how to explain why magical realism is so deeply unsatisfying to me. But if, say, Cullen would have somehow subliminally picked up on the imminent danger throughout the book, processed all that through her dreams, and fended off the danger at the end simply because of her instincts and self-actualisation...that would have been a great book. But the existence of the Gregston subplot means all of that was just...real. It happened the way it happened. Pepsi really was a real child, and at the end he does save Cullen, and the whole book becomes an anti-abortion tract, which is the sort of shit I don't take from cis men.
Also, not to humblebrag... Oh, who am I kidding, this is a full brag: I 100% picked up on the danger partway through the book, and Dr Lavery came across as completely irresponsible and reprehensible.
Overall, no regrets and no complaints other than what I've outlined here and the fact that it left me with a "what the fuck did I just read" aftertaste, but not necessarily in a good way. While trying to work out just what it is that I did read, I looked up some of Carroll's other works and came across a review for another of his novels, which is connected to Bones of the Moon by Weber Gregston. The reviewer quite deftly explains Carroll's style as follows: "He is a first-rate entertainer, producing the kind of engaging genre fiction that makes Stephen King seem like a creator of comic books for adults, although it's not really King but Vonnegut who comes to mind after reading Carroll."
I disagree with the ranking of Carroll vs King, but I do see the similarities -- and above that, I kind of get what the reviewer is saying about Vonnegut. After all is said and done, Bones of the Moon seems to me, like my brief foray into Vonnegut, to be equally dreamy and nightmarish, a story rooted in trauma and hope. And sometimes surviving and having hope is the most traumatic thing of all, because it means getting up after being knocked down, and being brave enough to try living again.
Would I read a sequel: Hahaha. No.
Thoughts: I'm not sure what the fuck this book is, but at least it ain't a stinker.
Easy stuff first: from a technical standpoint, solid effort. Two interwoven stories, two interwoven worlds, two interwoven lifetimes. I can dig it. It was gripping from the get go and the human characters are all supremely lovable. The Rondua characters are all whatevers, other than the negnugs, who are now supreme overlords of my heart. And just to get this out of the way: the entire Rondua storyline itself was kind of whatever, except for the ways in which it was affected by and the way in which it affected Cullen's waking life. Parts of the Rondua storyline were pretty goshdarned good, however, especially towards the end, as Cullen and Pepsi reach the end of their long journey and all their trials, and what they're faced with is Cullen's world, Cullen's building, Cullen's apartment, Cullen's life. Inexplicably, the idea that everything just lead to that gave me chills and reminded me of Stephen King's Dark Tower at its spookiest (which to me were the moments of eerie suspense, especially in the later books in the series).
The human characters were oh-so-human and oh-so-delightful, the sort of people I would like to know and hang out with in real life. The story of Cullen's life is the sort of story I would love to hear someone tell me over the course of a long flight or train ride. Entirely mundane (love, marriage, travel, children, friends, work, life) and completely uninteresting, except for the fact that it's not my own life, and therefore extremely interesting. All the details of a life that's not my own are juicy and mesmerising, so I completely understood Eliot's fascination with and adoration of Cullen and Danny.
And beyond Cullen's nightly adventures, all the human characters were just regular people. Boring and interesting in equal parts, and with their own lives and interests. Eliot was completely sweet. I thought Weber Gregston was a bit over the top in his sudden and overwhelming interest in Cullen, but then again Cullen is described as incredibly beautiful, a real showstopper, etc., so is his interest all that surprising? Either way, I actually had to stop and google his name the first time he came up, because I was kind of hoping he'd be a real film director -- the movie he made about the man who thinks he's his own wife would've been an interesting watch.
But other than his strange movies, the most interesting -- and annoying -- thing about Gregston was his connection to Rondua. If he'd only showed up as someone who's in love with Cullen for whatever reason, that would've been enough, and I would've assumed that the entire Rondua thing was, as Eliot theorises throughout the book, a way for Cullen to work through her life's stresses and disappointments and joys. Using that to frame the ending, I would've considered the story to be satisfying, overall. I would've rated it a 4 out of 5, as a smart thriller that happens half in the real world, and half in the imaginary. But the fact that he shared the nightly visitations to Rondua and offered details about it before Cullen prompted him with names, and knew things Cullen didn't know about the world... that's fucked up. And to be honest, it kinda tarnished the charm of the story, because it firmly places the whole thing in this sort of vague realm of magical realism. It's sort of fantasy, sort of horror, but also sort of not, and I just... don't really like that sort of thing. I don't willingly pick it up, and it's hard for me to get invested in it, because it's unpredictable.
I don't know how to explain why magical realism is so deeply unsatisfying to me. But if, say, Cullen would have somehow subliminally picked up on the imminent danger throughout the book, processed all that through her dreams, and fended off the danger at the end simply because of her instincts and self-actualisation...that would have been a great book. But the existence of the Gregston subplot means all of that was just...real. It happened the way it happened. Pepsi really was a real child, and at the end he does save Cullen, and the whole book becomes an anti-abortion tract, which is the sort of shit I don't take from cis men.
Also, not to humblebrag... Oh, who am I kidding, this is a full brag: I 100% picked up on the danger partway through the book, and Dr Lavery came across as completely irresponsible and reprehensible.
Overall, no regrets and no complaints other than what I've outlined here and the fact that it left me with a "what the fuck did I just read" aftertaste, but not necessarily in a good way. While trying to work out just what it is that I did read, I looked up some of Carroll's other works and came across a review for another of his novels, which is connected to Bones of the Moon by Weber Gregston. The reviewer quite deftly explains Carroll's style as follows: "He is a first-rate entertainer, producing the kind of engaging genre fiction that makes Stephen King seem like a creator of comic books for adults, although it's not really King but Vonnegut who comes to mind after reading Carroll."
I disagree with the ranking of Carroll vs King, but I do see the similarities -- and above that, I kind of get what the reviewer is saying about Vonnegut. After all is said and done, Bones of the Moon seems to me, like my brief foray into Vonnegut, to be equally dreamy and nightmarish, a story rooted in trauma and hope. And sometimes surviving and having hope is the most traumatic thing of all, because it means getting up after being knocked down, and being brave enough to try living again.
Would I read a sequel: Hahaha. No.
January 31, 2011
There are stories that have me on tenterhooks wondering what happens next, and then there are stories that feel as if they always existed, as if I knew them long before this particular author wrote them down, but I still have to read on, there's still a lot of suspense because there's still an element of chance and I don't know how the given author is going to cut the deck. And in this case because, like any Carroll novel, it's written so well and peopled with quirky, wonderful characters, good, bad and confused.
I may replace this with a more detailed review at some point.
I may replace this with a more detailed review at some point.
March 29, 2015
There is something incredible about Jonathan Carroll. No matter how strange the plots of his books are, no matter how absurd the happenings within them are, he makes them seem real. "Bones of the Moon" is an incredible book that ingeniously weaves together the dreams and realities and how they all intertwine. Everything fits, and yet not so well that both stories don't still contain their own hearts and abilities. Everything works in the end.
August 20, 2013
Dreams are a funny thing. They differ from person to person as each unique psyche builds strange and amazing worlds, using reality as the foundation. But often the line between reality and dream is blurred, especially when you’re surrounded by a world that you have become attached to.
We’ve all woken up, confused and disoriented, believing that that what just occurred in our heads was real. I often feel the same way when pulling my eyes out of a book. That’s why it was sort of strange reading a novel centered around dreams.
The book follows Cullen James, who when pregnant, starts to dream of Rondua, a strange Salvador Dalí-esque fantasy world, where her and her son are tasked with find the five bones of the moon in order to save the world from an evil and mysterious ruler. While bizarre, the dreams don’t affect her normal life in NYC with her loving husband and gay best friend. But then unexpectedly her fantasies start to seep into her reality and threaten everything she holds dear.
Every time I closed the pages of that book, it was like I was surfacing from a deep sleep. Everything about the story had total engulfed me in such a complete way that it was like I had plunged into my own dreams.
But unlike dreams, where things never truly make sense, this novel was crafted almost to perfection. The plot was woven brilliantly, pulling in all aspects of the story into a pattern that was both original, and heartbreakingly beautiful. It was somewhere where reality was tilted and you were never quite sure what was real and not.
However, what really seized my whole attention were the characters. They felt so real and true. I empathized with them, felt their anxiety, took pleasure in their happiness, and quaked in their fear. It was especially so with Cullen, someone so beautiful, flawed, and at times achingly normal that she would fill my head, making all her thoughts my own. And all of this made the less than rosy ending even more upsetting.
I couldn’t think when I finished, much less sleep, the book has taken me so completely. It was amazing really. And now, hours later, it feels so much like a dream. And in that way, I guess a good book truly is like a dream. A brilliant story can blur the line between its plot and reality. And while the words may be the same for everyone, what the reader takes from is differs from person to person as their minds add their own reality to the pages. Yes, books are funny things.
We’ve all woken up, confused and disoriented, believing that that what just occurred in our heads was real. I often feel the same way when pulling my eyes out of a book. That’s why it was sort of strange reading a novel centered around dreams.
The book follows Cullen James, who when pregnant, starts to dream of Rondua, a strange Salvador Dalí-esque fantasy world, where her and her son are tasked with find the five bones of the moon in order to save the world from an evil and mysterious ruler. While bizarre, the dreams don’t affect her normal life in NYC with her loving husband and gay best friend. But then unexpectedly her fantasies start to seep into her reality and threaten everything she holds dear.
Every time I closed the pages of that book, it was like I was surfacing from a deep sleep. Everything about the story had total engulfed me in such a complete way that it was like I had plunged into my own dreams.
But unlike dreams, where things never truly make sense, this novel was crafted almost to perfection. The plot was woven brilliantly, pulling in all aspects of the story into a pattern that was both original, and heartbreakingly beautiful. It was somewhere where reality was tilted and you were never quite sure what was real and not.
However, what really seized my whole attention were the characters. They felt so real and true. I empathized with them, felt their anxiety, took pleasure in their happiness, and quaked in their fear. It was especially so with Cullen, someone so beautiful, flawed, and at times achingly normal that she would fill my head, making all her thoughts my own. And all of this made the less than rosy ending even more upsetting.
I couldn’t think when I finished, much less sleep, the book has taken me so completely. It was amazing really. And now, hours later, it feels so much like a dream. And in that way, I guess a good book truly is like a dream. A brilliant story can blur the line between its plot and reality. And while the words may be the same for everyone, what the reader takes from is differs from person to person as their minds add their own reality to the pages. Yes, books are funny things.
February 19, 2012
This was a strange book and I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed it, though I did finish it since I wasn't quite sure how it was going to end. I found the dream world to be interesting, even though the storyline there was rather trite. I did NOT like the main character at all, though. I was totally unsympathetic to her situation since she lies to her oh-so-wonderful husband pretty much through the entire book. I thought the "gay best friend" was such a stereotype that I found myself rolling my eyes almost every time he appeared in the story. And, most of all, I was put off by the "this is the child I killed" take. (Though it *is* rather appropriate that I happened to read this right now when my state (Virginia) just passed a bill declaring that life starts when the egg is fertilized and, therefore, human rights apply to the "person" from that moment forward.) Even though the character "still thinks abortion is okay for other women", it felt like someone jumping up and down on one of my hot buttons. I was also irked that Cullen calls a waitress a "cretin" for not glancing at her baby in a coffee shop. (OMG, the nerve of a busy waitress to ignore an infant!) I also felt the story ramped up and up and up and then got bundled up in a tight, fast, bundle in an entirely unbelievable way, even for a fantasy-esque novel. Teenaged axe murderer escapes the institution he's in? I *SO* don't think so.
All that being said, I did find Carroll to be a very fluid writer. I read the book quickly and enjoyed the story-telling aspect of it. I also appreciate that he leaves a fair amount up to the imagination in a lot of ways. So even though this particular story sat with me a little funny, I think I'd like to try something else by him.
All that being said, I did find Carroll to be a very fluid writer. I read the book quickly and enjoyed the story-telling aspect of it. I also appreciate that he leaves a fair amount up to the imagination in a lot of ways. So even though this particular story sat with me a little funny, I think I'd like to try something else by him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2010
I was in quite a quandry about what category to include this book in. It's published by Tom Doherty who publish sf, and there is a lot of fantasy involved but it is also very definitely literary fiction as well, very well written at that. So in the end I put it in both categories. Anyway it's an absolutely brilliant book. My many thanks to Karen yet again, for introducing me to such a treasure. I will definitely be reading all the rest of his books.
April 21, 2025
Oryginalna powieść, w której inny świat okazuje się (prawdopodobnie) trwać i rozwijać w nas samych. Bardzo udana kreacja narratorki.
April 25, 2016
This is the third of Carroll's books that I've read. This time the first person viewpoint is that of a woman, with an unusual name - Cullen - who has a best friend Danny, a basketball player who has gone to work in Italy. Cullen has a relationship with a man she doesn't love, and when she becomes pregnant she has an abortion, but is then hit by depression and writes to Danny. He comes back from Italy and it transpires that he has been in love with her for years. She eventually realises she could come to feel the same, and when he returns to Europe, she joins him, initially in Greece and then in Italy, where his basketball career is cut short by injury. They marry and she becomes pregnant, then starts dreaming about a fantasy land called Rondua where she is mother to a little boy, Pepsi. It is obvious that this must be the son she would have had if not for the abortion, but it is a long way into the book before this finally dawns on her.
She is told that she was in Rondua as a child, and was in effect a 'chosen one' who would find all five of the Bones of the Moon and become the country's ruler, defeating a villain who is eventually identified as Jack Chili. Chili does ghastly things just for the fun of it, such as imprisoning orphans in a madhouse and using the monsters in their dreams as his troops. Cullen eventually learns that she collected four of the bones but failed in the final confrontation with Chili as she was afraid and used them to save herself and (who she believed to be) her parents. Pepsi is now the hope of all those who oppose Chili and during the dreams, which continue after she gives birth to a daughter, he is shown growing in maturity and understanding. They travel all over Rondua meeeting strange creatures, animals and people, with odd names, in the course of finding the bones. Some of this is skipped over and we learn of it in retrospect, such as the gaining of the third bone. Losses start to pile up among their giant animal companions and Cullen comes to dread the confrontation with Chili.
Meanwhile, in the real world, and now living back in New York, she ends up exchanging letters with an axe murderer who lived downstairs and murdered his mother and sister due to his deranged beliefs, and is now in a mental hospital. She makes friends with Eliot, a gay man who lives in her building and is wealthy and a convenient baby sitter. And a film director becomes fixated on her after she rejects the pass he makes, and then uses Rondua energy to repel him as he tries to hit her in retaliation. He later tells her he has been having Rondua dreams too, which would counter the possibility that Rondua is all in her mind.
As with all of Carroll's novels that I've read so far, it is well written from the point of view of the prose, and there is a lot of imagination in the descriptions of the fantasy land. However, some aspects don't really gell. Cullen has no real personality and is characterised mainly it seems by the fact that she smokes. Her lack of candour towards Danny is unattractive - after her daughter is born and the Rondua dreams return, she keeps them secret from him. She confides in Eliot, and later even tells the film director all about hers when he tells her about his dreams, but she keeps quiet where her long suffering husband is concerned, even when the dreams become disturbing. Danny meanwhile is an absolute star, generous, forgiving, and an all round nice guy. So Cullen comes across as not such a nice person. When staying with her parents, in the vicinity of the film director's beachhouse (he sent her a key), she and Eliot go out one day and drive to the beachhouse for a snoop around although they don't get up the nerve to go in. For once, Danny is grumpy about them staying out late, and again she says nothing about the reason for their absence, because she is also keeping the director's infatuation a secret. She is even a bit attracted to the director who comes across as a rather unpleasant character. And she does very little in terms of driving the action of the story; she finds the first bone for Pepsi but is then told that she has to take a back seat to him. In the real world, she seems very passive apart from taking care of her daughter, which she has help from others with anyway.
As with the previous books by Carroll that I've read, the ending is weak. It is rushed and rather unbelievable, both the bits in Rondua and in the real world; I won't say more, but I was expecting the main event in the everyday world from quite early on in the story.
She is told that she was in Rondua as a child, and was in effect a 'chosen one' who would find all five of the Bones of the Moon and become the country's ruler, defeating a villain who is eventually identified as Jack Chili. Chili does ghastly things just for the fun of it, such as imprisoning orphans in a madhouse and using the monsters in their dreams as his troops. Cullen eventually learns that she collected four of the bones but failed in the final confrontation with Chili as she was afraid and used them to save herself and (who she believed to be) her parents. Pepsi is now the hope of all those who oppose Chili and during the dreams, which continue after she gives birth to a daughter, he is shown growing in maturity and understanding. They travel all over Rondua meeeting strange creatures, animals and people, with odd names, in the course of finding the bones. Some of this is skipped over and we learn of it in retrospect, such as the gaining of the third bone. Losses start to pile up among their giant animal companions and Cullen comes to dread the confrontation with Chili.
Meanwhile, in the real world, and now living back in New York, she ends up exchanging letters with an axe murderer who lived downstairs and murdered his mother and sister due to his deranged beliefs, and is now in a mental hospital. She makes friends with Eliot, a gay man who lives in her building and is wealthy and a convenient baby sitter. And a film director becomes fixated on her after she rejects the pass he makes, and then uses Rondua energy to repel him as he tries to hit her in retaliation. He later tells her he has been having Rondua dreams too, which would counter the possibility that Rondua is all in her mind.
As with all of Carroll's novels that I've read so far, it is well written from the point of view of the prose, and there is a lot of imagination in the descriptions of the fantasy land. However, some aspects don't really gell. Cullen has no real personality and is characterised mainly it seems by the fact that she smokes. Her lack of candour towards Danny is unattractive - after her daughter is born and the Rondua dreams return, she keeps them secret from him. She confides in Eliot, and later even tells the film director all about hers when he tells her about his dreams, but she keeps quiet where her long suffering husband is concerned, even when the dreams become disturbing. Danny meanwhile is an absolute star, generous, forgiving, and an all round nice guy. So Cullen comes across as not such a nice person. When staying with her parents, in the vicinity of the film director's beachhouse (he sent her a key), she and Eliot go out one day and drive to the beachhouse for a snoop around although they don't get up the nerve to go in. For once, Danny is grumpy about them staying out late, and again she says nothing about the reason for their absence, because she is also keeping the director's infatuation a secret. She is even a bit attracted to the director who comes across as a rather unpleasant character. And she does very little in terms of driving the action of the story; she finds the first bone for Pepsi but is then told that she has to take a back seat to him. In the real world, she seems very passive apart from taking care of her daughter, which she has help from others with anyway.
As with the previous books by Carroll that I've read, the ending is weak. It is rushed and rather unbelievable, both the bits in Rondua and in the real world; I won't say more, but I was expecting the main event in the everyday world from quite early on in the story.
December 16, 2013
There are many facets of the masculine personality present in Jonathan Carroll’s Bones of the Moon. From the paternal Ward-Cleaver-esque Mr. Tracy, to the brutal and power-hungry Jack Chili; from the perfect husband, to the chauvinist-turned-sycophantic would-be lover, most every male pattern known to exist is incorporated by Jonathan Carroll. Pepsi, arguably the hero of the tale, is a man-child who very quickly learns all he needs to know from his mother in order to succeed in his quest. Cullen plays the traditional male role of master and guide throughout Pepsi’s adventure in seeking the five bones of the moon.
Cullen, the protagonist of Bones of the Moon, is a feeble play by Carroll to include the feminine in his work; however, Cullen is less a genuine aspect of femininity and more of a caricature. She is technically needed to get pregnant and then have the abortion which produces Pepsi in the dream world of Rondua. As the story begins, Cullen is capricious and willing to submit herself to her suitors in order to satisfy her own desires. She is selfish and exhibits little responsibility, and once she discovers her pregnancy, is easily persuaded into getting an abortion. The reader is not permitted to see her properly address her resulting emotions, but instead gets to pretend along with Cullen that the procedure was as everyday as wallpaper.
The supporting female cast includes Falina, a giant she-wolf who is mostly silent and provides bedding and transport throughout Rondua, that is, until she dies; Dr. Anna Zegna, who plays the “liberating�, feminist shrink that tells Cullen she is fine and not to let her husband dictate her dream-life; Mae, Cullen’s child who happens to be a young girl and little else; and Carmesia the negnug, who acts as a guide, but is referred to as an “it,� and the only feminine characteristic present is its name. Any other female characters in the book are buried so deeply in the background that not only do they not matter to the story; they barely matter to the characters in the story.
The greatest source of the feminine in the Bones of the Moon is the nurturing and compassionate Eliot. More than her husband Danny, Eliot Kilbertus provides the support, solace, and companionship that Cullen needs to keep herself together. He is empathetic, emotive, and indulging. He is also the source of unlimited funds, which thereby grants him the role of provider. Eliot is often guilty of enabling Cullen’s juvenile requests by taking responsibility for Mae at less than a moment’s notice, and by tacitly approving and supporting her every move, regardless of the potential consequences.
Because Eliot is portrayed as a stereotypical gay man, the reader is treated to scenes in which he plays the role traditionally given to women. For example, he reacts to Mae’s accident in the kitchen with hysterics, while the calm and focused Danny attempts to keep the situation from further unraveling. In another scene, Eliot shares and supports Cullen’s victory over a typical and random, threatening and anonymous male advance in the streets. He acts as if he was a woman and finds the whole of masculinity despicable.
Finally, Eliot is sacrificed at the end of the novel, because of his relationship with Cullen. He was ever by her side; her protector and guardian, her friend and counsel, and needed to be removed before Jack/Alvin could fully threaten her. Eliot is brutally murdered and silenced, leaving Cullen to finally assume the role of Mae’s protector. The reader is left wondering whether Eliot’s spirit of femininity is truly passed on to Cullen, and whether she will ever fully accept the roles of mother, wife, daughter, and woman.
Cullen, the protagonist of Bones of the Moon, is a feeble play by Carroll to include the feminine in his work; however, Cullen is less a genuine aspect of femininity and more of a caricature. She is technically needed to get pregnant and then have the abortion which produces Pepsi in the dream world of Rondua. As the story begins, Cullen is capricious and willing to submit herself to her suitors in order to satisfy her own desires. She is selfish and exhibits little responsibility, and once she discovers her pregnancy, is easily persuaded into getting an abortion. The reader is not permitted to see her properly address her resulting emotions, but instead gets to pretend along with Cullen that the procedure was as everyday as wallpaper.
The supporting female cast includes Falina, a giant she-wolf who is mostly silent and provides bedding and transport throughout Rondua, that is, until she dies; Dr. Anna Zegna, who plays the “liberating�, feminist shrink that tells Cullen she is fine and not to let her husband dictate her dream-life; Mae, Cullen’s child who happens to be a young girl and little else; and Carmesia the negnug, who acts as a guide, but is referred to as an “it,� and the only feminine characteristic present is its name. Any other female characters in the book are buried so deeply in the background that not only do they not matter to the story; they barely matter to the characters in the story.
The greatest source of the feminine in the Bones of the Moon is the nurturing and compassionate Eliot. More than her husband Danny, Eliot Kilbertus provides the support, solace, and companionship that Cullen needs to keep herself together. He is empathetic, emotive, and indulging. He is also the source of unlimited funds, which thereby grants him the role of provider. Eliot is often guilty of enabling Cullen’s juvenile requests by taking responsibility for Mae at less than a moment’s notice, and by tacitly approving and supporting her every move, regardless of the potential consequences.
Because Eliot is portrayed as a stereotypical gay man, the reader is treated to scenes in which he plays the role traditionally given to women. For example, he reacts to Mae’s accident in the kitchen with hysterics, while the calm and focused Danny attempts to keep the situation from further unraveling. In another scene, Eliot shares and supports Cullen’s victory over a typical and random, threatening and anonymous male advance in the streets. He acts as if he was a woman and finds the whole of masculinity despicable.
Finally, Eliot is sacrificed at the end of the novel, because of his relationship with Cullen. He was ever by her side; her protector and guardian, her friend and counsel, and needed to be removed before Jack/Alvin could fully threaten her. Eliot is brutally murdered and silenced, leaving Cullen to finally assume the role of Mae’s protector. The reader is left wondering whether Eliot’s spirit of femininity is truly passed on to Cullen, and whether she will ever fully accept the roles of mother, wife, daughter, and woman.
May 7, 2018
Surrealism or magical realism, what a story. It weaves between the real world and dream world, the two worlds influence each other and sometimes overlap surprisingly or ominously. Found it in the used sci-fi and fantasy section and could tell from the cover and blurb that it was not going to be typical genre fiction. It sure wasn't.
June 14, 2011
„Kości Księżyca� to trzecia powieść autorstwa Jonathana Carrolla, a zarazem moje siódme spotkanie z twórczością tego pisarza. Spotkanie niezwykle udane, dodajmy. „Kości Księżyca� prezentują wizję krainy tak niezwykłej i nadrealistycznej, iż porównywać można ją jedynie z absurdalną Krainą Dziwów, wykreowaną przez Charlesa Lutwidge’a Dodgsona, bardziej znanego jako Lewis Carroll. Ta zbieżność nazwisk zdecydowanie nie może być dziełem przypadku! Raczej cudownym ukłonem tego świata w kierunku miłośników literatury.
Początek powieści nie zwiastuje żadną miarą opowieści niezwykłej. Poznajemy główną bohaterkę i narratorkę w osobie Cullen James, która po okresie problemów natury sercowej i dokonaniu aborcji znajduje szczęście u boku ukochanego mężczyzny, odbywa podróż po Europie, a następnie zostaje mamą Mae. Opis codziennego sielankowego życia rodziny Jamesów w Nowym Jorku nie byłby jednak ani trochę interesujący czy porywający, gdyby nie sny nawiedzające Cullen. Co najbardziej niezwykłe, tworzą one całość, a historia rozgrywająca się w sennych marzeniach jest logiczna i zachowuje ciągłość. Problem zaczyna się dopiero wówczas, gdy elementy świata rzeczywistego i wyśnionego zaczynają się przenikać, a Cullen odkrywa, iż jej misja w magicznym świecie Rondui jest szansą na odpokutowanie za czyny z przeszłości.
Podczas coraz lepszego poznawania Rondui trudno oprzeć się wrażeniu, iż jedyną barierą w kreowaniu tego świata była wyobraźnia autora. W sennej krainie natkniemy się na olbrzymie mówiące zwierzęta, mężczyzn przebranych za warzywa, płonące buty wielkości wieżowców, równinę pełną maszyn czy wreszcie tytułowe Kości Księżyca o magicznych właściwościach. Bohaterowie, jak to zwykle bywa w snach, doskonale wiedzą, dokąd zmierzają czy co robić dalej, a pojawianie się elementów, których istnienie przeczy zdrowemu rozsądkowi, nie jest dla nich zaskakujące. Podobnie jak odnajdywanie odniesień do rzeczywistości. Dużo większe zdziwienie wywołuje magia Rondui, która wydostaje się do realnego świata � znajomi Cullen, czy tego chcą, czy nie, zamieszani są w jej wędrówkę przez krainę snów.
Jonathan Carroll po raz kolejny udowadnia, iż zgrabne łączenie świata rzeczywistego z elementami magicznymi nie jest dla niego żadnym problemem. Zachowuje przy tym idealne proporcje jednego i drugiego � wraz z postępami w lekturze dowiadujemy się coraz więcej o Rondui, coraz bardziej pociąga nas ten niezwykły świat i losy wędrowców szukających Kości Księżyca. Autor doskonale zdaje sobie tego sprawę � początkowo krótkie, stanowiące dodatek do realnego życia sny, pod koniec powieści dominują, są coraz dłuższe, a fragmenty ukazujące rzeczywistość Cullen to jedynie wzmianki. Zaś cała opowieść wydaje się nie mniej prawdopodobna, niż gdyby koncentrowała się tylko na wydarzeniach z Nowego Jorku.
„Kości Księżyca� są równie dobrą jak „Kraina Chichów� pozycją do rozpoczęcia swojej przygody z twórczością Carrolla. Pewne podobieństwa między nimi można dostrzec głównie za sprawą ostatnich kilkunastu stron, kiedy narasta napięcie, a odłożenie książki staje się niemożliwe. Początkowo płynące dość leniwie wydarzenia nabierają rozpędu, a groza i niepokój czają się za każdym rogiem. Podobnie też jak w „Krainie ...� ostatnie kilka zdań potrafi wryć się w pamięć na wiele godzin, zaś końcowa scena powieści staje przed oczami jak żywa. A może ta literatura oddziałuje w ten sposób jedynie na mnie? O tym każdy musi przekonać się sam.
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Zarówno tę recenzję, jak i wiele innych tekstów znajdziecie na moim blogu: Serdecznie zapraszam!
Początek powieści nie zwiastuje żadną miarą opowieści niezwykłej. Poznajemy główną bohaterkę i narratorkę w osobie Cullen James, która po okresie problemów natury sercowej i dokonaniu aborcji znajduje szczęście u boku ukochanego mężczyzny, odbywa podróż po Europie, a następnie zostaje mamą Mae. Opis codziennego sielankowego życia rodziny Jamesów w Nowym Jorku nie byłby jednak ani trochę interesujący czy porywający, gdyby nie sny nawiedzające Cullen. Co najbardziej niezwykłe, tworzą one całość, a historia rozgrywająca się w sennych marzeniach jest logiczna i zachowuje ciągłość. Problem zaczyna się dopiero wówczas, gdy elementy świata rzeczywistego i wyśnionego zaczynają się przenikać, a Cullen odkrywa, iż jej misja w magicznym świecie Rondui jest szansą na odpokutowanie za czyny z przeszłości.
Podczas coraz lepszego poznawania Rondui trudno oprzeć się wrażeniu, iż jedyną barierą w kreowaniu tego świata była wyobraźnia autora. W sennej krainie natkniemy się na olbrzymie mówiące zwierzęta, mężczyzn przebranych za warzywa, płonące buty wielkości wieżowców, równinę pełną maszyn czy wreszcie tytułowe Kości Księżyca o magicznych właściwościach. Bohaterowie, jak to zwykle bywa w snach, doskonale wiedzą, dokąd zmierzają czy co robić dalej, a pojawianie się elementów, których istnienie przeczy zdrowemu rozsądkowi, nie jest dla nich zaskakujące. Podobnie jak odnajdywanie odniesień do rzeczywistości. Dużo większe zdziwienie wywołuje magia Rondui, która wydostaje się do realnego świata � znajomi Cullen, czy tego chcą, czy nie, zamieszani są w jej wędrówkę przez krainę snów.
Jonathan Carroll po raz kolejny udowadnia, iż zgrabne łączenie świata rzeczywistego z elementami magicznymi nie jest dla niego żadnym problemem. Zachowuje przy tym idealne proporcje jednego i drugiego � wraz z postępami w lekturze dowiadujemy się coraz więcej o Rondui, coraz bardziej pociąga nas ten niezwykły świat i losy wędrowców szukających Kości Księżyca. Autor doskonale zdaje sobie tego sprawę � początkowo krótkie, stanowiące dodatek do realnego życia sny, pod koniec powieści dominują, są coraz dłuższe, a fragmenty ukazujące rzeczywistość Cullen to jedynie wzmianki. Zaś cała opowieść wydaje się nie mniej prawdopodobna, niż gdyby koncentrowała się tylko na wydarzeniach z Nowego Jorku.
„Kości Księżyca� są równie dobrą jak „Kraina Chichów� pozycją do rozpoczęcia swojej przygody z twórczością Carrolla. Pewne podobieństwa między nimi można dostrzec głównie za sprawą ostatnich kilkunastu stron, kiedy narasta napięcie, a odłożenie książki staje się niemożliwe. Początkowo płynące dość leniwie wydarzenia nabierają rozpędu, a groza i niepokój czają się za każdym rogiem. Podobnie też jak w „Krainie ...� ostatnie kilka zdań potrafi wryć się w pamięć na wiele godzin, zaś końcowa scena powieści staje przed oczami jak żywa. A może ta literatura oddziałuje w ten sposób jedynie na mnie? O tym każdy musi przekonać się sam.
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Zarówno tę recenzję, jak i wiele innych tekstów znajdziecie na moim blogu: Serdecznie zapraszam!
February 15, 2008
Jonathan Carroll, one of the greatest American fantasists had a bit of a dud in Bones of the Moon. For most authors, it would be reasonably accomplished, but for him, it wasn't quite up to snuff. The book uses the overlapping of a classic good vs. evil fantasy quest with the real world to illustrate how people can cope with loss. The fantasy world was too unrealized and bizarre to have any appeal and the characters were on the thin side.
William Browning Spencer's Zod Wallop is the book that Bones of the Moon could have been. In it, the author of the dark children's book Zod Wallop is wallowing in depression when a number of lunatic asylum escapees, who believe they are characters in the same book, seek to involve him in a heroic quest. Most people who be terrified, but the author is more bemused, as he wrote the book at the same asylum from whence they escaped and knows all the escapees. He is convinced something may be afoot when beasts from his novel start appearing.
The main character lost his daughter and he wrote Zop Wallop as a means of dealing with it. Unfortunately, he did not deal well with it, and he continues in a downward spiral. The quest of the book is really for him to accept life once more and move forward.
The characters are fairly stock, with a few particularly evil ones and few particularly good ones. They are meant to appear as they would in a children's fantasy novel and their reality in the pages is not always clear. There is quite a bit of humor in the book, as well as all kinds of bizarre set pieces. Spencer is nothing if not inventive.
Spencer hasn't written any novels since the 90s, but continues to write short stories. After Zod Wallop, I plan to read more starting with Resume with Monsters.
William Browning Spencer's Zod Wallop is the book that Bones of the Moon could have been. In it, the author of the dark children's book Zod Wallop is wallowing in depression when a number of lunatic asylum escapees, who believe they are characters in the same book, seek to involve him in a heroic quest. Most people who be terrified, but the author is more bemused, as he wrote the book at the same asylum from whence they escaped and knows all the escapees. He is convinced something may be afoot when beasts from his novel start appearing.
The main character lost his daughter and he wrote Zop Wallop as a means of dealing with it. Unfortunately, he did not deal well with it, and he continues in a downward spiral. The quest of the book is really for him to accept life once more and move forward.
The characters are fairly stock, with a few particularly evil ones and few particularly good ones. They are meant to appear as they would in a children's fantasy novel and their reality in the pages is not always clear. There is quite a bit of humor in the book, as well as all kinds of bizarre set pieces. Spencer is nothing if not inventive.
Spencer hasn't written any novels since the 90s, but continues to write short stories. After Zod Wallop, I plan to read more starting with Resume with Monsters.
June 15, 2017
Bien que ce texte ait trente ans et que certains détails peuvent paraître vieillots (par exemple, pas d’euro, mais des lires, des francs et des drachmes) au lecteur d’aujourd’hui, la magie de cette histoire est intemporelle. On y suit Cullen James, une jeune américaine, narratrice du récit. Au début, tout se met en place: les personnages sont assez peu nombreux, et le lecteur apprend qu’avant de se mettre en couple avec Danny, son mari, elle a traversé une épreuve assez difficile, seule, et qui l’a profondément affectée. Elle commence à faire des rêves étranges lorsqu’elle tombe enceinte. Ces rêves ont la particularité d’avoir une chronologie, de se suivre comme des épisodes d’une série. Dans ce monde onirique, elle se lance dans la quête des os de lune.
Jonathan Carroll parvient à nous immerger dans cette histoire, à nous faire croire à Rondua de façon si naturelle que s’en est troublant. L’auteur fait osciller son récit entre rêve et réalité, jouant avec les frontières qui les séparent. Il n’y a pas vraiment d’action, mais cela n’est pas nécessaire pour rendre cette histoire prenante. Alors que Cullen semble vivre deux existences, l’une réelle, l’autre rêvée, on sent peu à peu que rêve et réalité semblent liés, par un étrange personnage, plutôt menaçant. Mais le rêve est-il vraiment un rêve? N’est-il pas comme un monde parallèle? Comme une autre réalité? Toujours est-il que ces passages de l’un à l’autre rendent les barrières plus fines.
C’est un roman que j’ai beaucoup aimé. Abordant l’avortement et la culpabilité qui peut en découler, la projection de l’enfant qui ne naîtra jamais, la maternité, c’est une histoire d’amour, autant qu’un récit d’aventures fantastiques. C’est beau et doux, comme l’amour d’une mère.
Jonathan Carroll parvient à nous immerger dans cette histoire, à nous faire croire à Rondua de façon si naturelle que s’en est troublant. L’auteur fait osciller son récit entre rêve et réalité, jouant avec les frontières qui les séparent. Il n’y a pas vraiment d’action, mais cela n’est pas nécessaire pour rendre cette histoire prenante. Alors que Cullen semble vivre deux existences, l’une réelle, l’autre rêvée, on sent peu à peu que rêve et réalité semblent liés, par un étrange personnage, plutôt menaçant. Mais le rêve est-il vraiment un rêve? N’est-il pas comme un monde parallèle? Comme une autre réalité? Toujours est-il que ces passages de l’un à l’autre rendent les barrières plus fines.
C’est un roman que j’ai beaucoup aimé. Abordant l’avortement et la culpabilité qui peut en découler, la projection de l’enfant qui ne naîtra jamais, la maternité, c’est une histoire d’amour, autant qu’un récit d’aventures fantastiques. C’est beau et doux, comme l’amour d’une mère.
August 13, 2018
Devo dire che Jonathan Carroll mi fa un effetto strano. Mi fa paura perché so che nei suoi romanzi ci sono risvolti imprevedibili e strani. Scrive molto bene, quindi la lettura è scorrevole, ma allo stesso tempo sento che mi sfugge più dell'80% del significato simbolico del romanzo.
Cullen incontrerà anche Weber Gregston, il regista che sarà protagonista de , anche lui coinvolto nei sogni di Rondua, e ci sarà anche qualche riferimento a , e sicuramente anche ad altri romanzi di Carroll che non ho letto.
Cullen incontrerà anche Weber Gregston, il regista che sarà protagonista de , anche lui coinvolto nei sogni di Rondua, e ci sarà anche qualche riferimento a , e sicuramente anche ad altri romanzi di Carroll che non ho letto.
April 22, 2009
Probably my least favourite Jonathan Carroll novel to date. I will admit that I almost always take issue with his deus ex machina ending. However, that was the least of my complaints for Bones of the Moon. The fantasy element was thinned out to be almost non-existent until the last few pages. Oddly enough, this ending was probably his most earned since no one steps in from out of nowhere to save the day that hasn't been built up. It is his least fulfilling ending, though. It feels rushed and not earned in the least.
I also found most of the characters other than Cullen and Eliot to be 2 dimensional at best, throw away at worst. In the 2 dimensional category falls Weber and Pepsi. They don't develop or expand as the story progresses. They just trudge through the plot and react, never learning.
In the throw away corner is Danny James. He seems put there to be perfect and supportive but then 2/3 of the way through the book vanishes completely. He had no function other than to be furniture in Cullen's perfect home life.
I usually Read Carroll's novels not for the plot (as I mentioned, his endings never fail to fell pointless) but to watch interesting characters be put through extraordinary situations. Bones of the Moon lacked both interesting characters as well as extraordinary situations.
I also found most of the characters other than Cullen and Eliot to be 2 dimensional at best, throw away at worst. In the 2 dimensional category falls Weber and Pepsi. They don't develop or expand as the story progresses. They just trudge through the plot and react, never learning.
In the throw away corner is Danny James. He seems put there to be perfect and supportive but then 2/3 of the way through the book vanishes completely. He had no function other than to be furniture in Cullen's perfect home life.
I usually Read Carroll's novels not for the plot (as I mentioned, his endings never fail to fell pointless) but to watch interesting characters be put through extraordinary situations. Bones of the Moon lacked both interesting characters as well as extraordinary situations.
June 2, 2009
The Bones of the Moon is an interesting little book about Cullen James. Cullen is happy with her life. She has a wonderful husband, a healthy baby daughter, and loving friends. Everything seems very wholesome and normal until Cullen begins to have very clear and sequenced dreams of a journey through a magical land with a boy named Pepsi. Her dreams in this land become a second life, of sorts, as she finds herself on a hero’s quest. Strangely, the dreamworld and the waking world begin to collide as the quest peaks in its intensity.
It’s easy to describe The Bones of the Moon simply as magical realism. It starts out as realism with a hint of magic, but slips further and further to become almost pure fantasy by the end. Although I don’t think that Bones of the Moon is Carroll’s best book, I did enjoy it. Carroll’s ability to create this fantastic dream world, which could easily read like an overly wacky children’s novel or fantasy epic, and writes a restraint that keeps both Cullen’s waking life and her dreamlife connected. It’s a quick and simple read that kept me entertained for the most part. Although I would say that there are some part that lag, I would recommend this book to readers seeking a fiction with a bit of magic or fantasy. Carroll fans will approve.
It’s easy to describe The Bones of the Moon simply as magical realism. It starts out as realism with a hint of magic, but slips further and further to become almost pure fantasy by the end. Although I don’t think that Bones of the Moon is Carroll’s best book, I did enjoy it. Carroll’s ability to create this fantastic dream world, which could easily read like an overly wacky children’s novel or fantasy epic, and writes a restraint that keeps both Cullen’s waking life and her dreamlife connected. It’s a quick and simple read that kept me entertained for the most part. Although I would say that there are some part that lag, I would recommend this book to readers seeking a fiction with a bit of magic or fantasy. Carroll fans will approve.
February 1, 2008
Yet another novel that I have had on my list for over 10 years but has eluded me on every search. Well, I just about dropped dead when it caught my eye in the most unlikely of places, a retail book store. Bones of the Moon is back in print.
You can well imagine how excited I was to finally get the chance to read this. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was completely disappointed with the story, it went along quite fascinatingly for the most part, but it deserved a much better ending.
It's a wonder that a writer with an imagination as rich as this couldn't come up with one.
Regardless, it is still very much worth tracking down.
You can well imagine how excited I was to finally get the chance to read this. I wouldn't go so far as to say I was completely disappointed with the story, it went along quite fascinatingly for the most part, but it deserved a much better ending.
It's a wonder that a writer with an imagination as rich as this couldn't come up with one.
Regardless, it is still very much worth tracking down.
August 14, 2016
Very few male authors can write well as a female character. Jonathan Carroll isn't one of them. Poorly written tripe. Managed about a quarter of the book then flung it across the the room after more abortion guilt nonsense.
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