Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll
I know Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll has gotten really good reviews, and is supposed to be the source material for the Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman, but 50 pages in to the story, I didn’t care about any of the characters and the only fantastical thing that had happened was the main character, a self-involved woman named Cullen, started having weird serial dreams about a talking dog and a young boy named Pepsi.
Not caring about any of the characters is bad enough, but I also didn’t care enough about the setting — switching back and forth between a sterile New York and an idyllic Europe that felt like a pretentious foreign film starring the kind of people that like pretentious foreign films. I also had a problem with Cullen having an abortion for reasons of convenience, which is just an issue of mine that other readers may not have problems with.
Taken together we have flat characters and a boring setting with a complete lack of magic — both metaphorical and literal. Life’s too short to read bad books, and this one got sent back to the library unfinished.
I thought this book looked kinda interesting despite your less than glowing review, Ruth, so I read the first few pages on Amazon. And then almost burst out laughing when I read “the thought of that murderous creep snoozing below us still made my fanny tingle”. Certainly doesn’t have quite the same meaning this side of the Atlantic ;)
:laugh:
Stephen King and I disagree with you. I suppose some things are matters of opinion but you’d be monumentally outnumbered by those who found this story rather unique, and quite frightening….The dreams Cullen was having also reminded me of the nightmares I used to have as a kid where I was lying in the sand on the beach having pleasent conversations with the sun, until it turned on me chasing me into my parents bedroom late at nights where I would eventually fall asleep on the floor and waking up in the mornings not remembering how I got there. It’s a long, long time since I’ve read it, but I remember it making a huge impact on me.