The Wooden Sea

This is the best JC novel yet for me. Bones of the Moon had been my former favorite(and first by JC for me). I have always found his prose entertaining and fast. Dean Koontz's writing has a similar comfortable voice that moves along. His books are shorter and more terse than most writers. His prose isn't flowery. I find his romantic inclusions in his stories to be entertaining, real, not gushy.Top of my list in this book is that Frannie McCabe is a great character. He is memorable, very real, distinct, likable. His talk and attitude actually made me laugh out loud at some quips--something books never manage to do for me--despite loving comedy in movies and tv. I have read about 5 of JC's books and with this book I realized that he is not merely reusing people or place names from book to book but that there is some story building...a pantheon of characters and places. There is a larger story being told through many novels. Despite playing with a concept (I will not reveal) that I feel has been used to death, especially in SciFi, I still enjoyed the treatment. I was worried at one point that it would just be another of those stories. I was only disappointed the that book ended... I wanted more.

"How do you row a boat on a wooden sea?"Well, for anyone who has ever meditated on koan, this book comes very close to mirroring what happens to the ego as it wrestles with such a question. The book starts innocently enough but then begins its descent into a weird universe as the main character flips back and forth through time trying to answer a question.The characters are certainly not 'normal' in any sense of the word - think PK Dick or perhaps J Lethem - and the situations are certainly run-of-the-mill. But the questions Carroll is trying to wrestle with are not easily asked, let alone trying to come up with answers. Starting from a quite mundane state the main character, McCabe, begins his descent into weirdness that culminates with time-traveling aliens.Carroll always treads a razor-like line between the mundane and the weird, much like Murakami. I still prefer Murakami's stylistic touches, or perhaps I should say, lack of stylistic touches. That is, Carroll appears much less neutral in his role as storyteller than Murakami. Both writers certainly seem to share a fascination with what is always lurking below apparently bland surfaces.It would appear to me that Carroll is trying to allude to some sort of involvement in an Eastern tradition such as Zen. Certainly his novels have a strong current of mysticism and strong warnings about tempering the ego's drive.

I bought this book after hearing a reference to it on an NPR show about "Summer Reading" lists. The person recommending it read a passage from early on -- I think it was a description of the dog Old Vertue -- which struck a chord with me. I thought anything that starts out this odd must get odder and be quite fun in the process. I was right.But I didn't expect to be as sucked in as I was to the story and its various turns and bizarre events. I could not put this book down.. and as soon as I finished reading it I started it again. After the first read I was left with questions -- I think I took some of the more fantastic elements of the plot a bit literally -- the answers to which become more apparent on the second read -- which I approached in terms of looking at the life of Frannie McCabe, much as the first reviewer suggested. But dont see this as a reason NOT to dive into The Wooden Sea. It was well worth the journey!The writing style is a joy: very conversational with a pearl that made me smile every few pages and at least one stunner per chapter. Carroll made me care about these people and I plan to buy his others books as soon as I finish writing this review!And I liked the idea that seemingly odd things would occur that I did not expect -- life throws us wingers every day, okay maybe not as strange as those in the book, but I appreciate the wonder he presents the reader. Its a small book that tells a fun story and packs a lot in besides that if you care to investigate. The notion of our various "selves" at different ages being present to help us out of jams and to consult with about life's problems is a provacative one. Carroll is an author to keep an eye on, no doubt. Read this, again and again.

Like The Marriage of Sticks, The Wooden Sea takes place in the fictional town of Crane's View (which sounds suspiciously like a Western Westchester town like Hastings on Hudson or Ossining). This tale is told through the eyes of the chief of police who during his morning routine suddenly finds strange things happening to him in the town: childhood smells pop up from nowhere, a 3 legged pit bull, a beautiful feather and a bone to name a few. As it turns out, our chief was a hell-raiser as a child, a detail that becomes important as we start to meet different version of his character at different ages. I like the almost Platonic philosophical bent of the latter half of the book - as usual in Carroll's books, we rove through time zones, other realities, and a plot that resists summary. I find this one of his "deeper" books - a kind of Unified Particle Theory view of the world. Now that I found the reissue of his first book, the Land of Laughs, I can say that I've finished all of Carroll's books. The Wooden Sea is definitely one of his better books, although fans should read them all. And buy yourself a hardcover copy because they go out of print fast! Carroll remains one of my all time favorite authors and if you haven't had a chance to try him, don't wait any longer.

If you have never picked up a Carroll book because the terms "fantasy" or "science fiction" scare you, or because you are convinced that "that kind of writing" isn't for you, I urge you to move past the stereotype and give THE WOODEN SEA a chance. Carroll is an amazing novelist, severly underappreciated in this country. Since his first novel, THE LAND OF LAUGHS, he has been introducing his readers to characters who have heart, soul, a sense of wonder, and a sense of humor. His latest work is no exception. Frannie McCabe, Police Chief of Crane's View, is content and happy... until such time as he buries a dead dog only to find that it continues to come back to life. While trying to understand why, McCabe meets past and future versions of himself, is forced to make decisions that will affect those people he cares the deepest about, and searches for answers to questions that we all ask at some point in our lives: "What is life really all about? Are we alone here, or is there some higher power influencing who we are? What is death? And does any of it matter in the end? Carroll leads his readers down a mystical and imaginative path that could only be better if it never had to end. He continues to be one of my favorite authors and his latest work does not disappoint. It is no wonder that authors like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Stanislaw Lem continue to sing the praises of Jonathan Carroll.