The Marriage of Sticks by
Jonathan Carroll
hbk out May 99
Published by Gollancz
at £16.99
Two statements of fact:
1) Jonathan Carroll is one of the best writers working today.
2) THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS is not one of his best novels.
Carroll is hardly a secret these days, but he remains depressingly
little-known and underpraised given his manifest talent. A new
Carroll novel should receive at least as much attention as anything
from Rushdie or Self or Lessing. But it doesn't. Carroll's
problem, as with many good writers, is that his work falls between
the publishing cracks. The horror and fantasy elements in his books
put off literary snobs (not that it bothers them in Rushdie, Self or
Lessing) and the unusual and original things he does with those
elements puts off many in the genre community (though it seems to me
that he's earned more accolades there than in the mainstream world).
Carroll's work is enormously easy to read - one suspects that works
against him in certain circles - yet takes some effort to digest.
He is invariable a complex and compelling writer, but as in THE
MARRIAGE OF STICKS, not always an entirely satisfying one.
You may at this point suspect that I'm avoiding discussing the plot
of THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS. Okay, you got me. This, too, is part of
the difficulty with Carroll, because for one thing his books read
better than they describe, and for another it's hard to discuss a
Carroll plot without giving away too much. THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS
concerns Miranda Romanac, a woman who discovers that not only her
life, but the fabric of the world itself, is entirely different to
what she'd always assumed it to be. This path to discovery opens up
to her when her first true love, dead for three years, appears in
the street before her. From this point on everything she knows is
ripped apart as she delves into the past and the truth of her curious
existence.
As is ever the case with Carroll, voice triumphs over all. Literary
voice, that is. Carroll's stories always meander a bit, but tight
plotting is not what his novels are about. I know of no other
writer, in or out of genre, who can so utterly command a reader's
attention through the purity of that voice. My favourite writers,
often mentioned in these reviews, tend to be "voice" writers - Howard
Waldrop, Joe Lansdale, Michael Marshall Smith - but Carroll's mastery
of voice astounds because of the simplicity of his language and the
lack of writerly tricks employed. His plots may not force you to
turn the page, but his voice sucks you in and carries you away like a
warm current.
That said, no book can live by voice alone, and while THE MARRIAGE
OF STICKS starts out very well indeed, Carroll has somewhat
under-egged the narrative here. The mystery of what is happening to
Miranda, as more dead characters appear to come back to life, is not
satisfyingly resolved, and Carroll resorts to some annoyingly New
Age style explanations of the universe. This world view is not a
million miles away from the tone of some of Carroll's other books,
but it feels insifficiently explicated here and a little too pat.
Carroll saves things a bit in a structurally clever ending, albeit
one that is typically shaggy dog-ish and may thus infuriate some
readers. THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS reminded me a bit of Thomas
Tessier's excellent FOG HEART, another novel in which authorly skill
rescues a story from questionable plotting and weak use of genre
conventions. (Tessier is another writer who deserves a bigger
audience than he's found.) THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS is not likely to
be the book which blows thing open for Carroll, but even with its
various failings, merits serious attention.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
The Marriage of Sticks by
Jonathan Carroll