The Ghost in Love: A Novel

Author - Jonathan Carroll ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Hardcover Book item from Farrar, Straus and Giroux was reviewed on 16-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0374161860 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. The Ghost in Love: A Novel Reference Book. Classifications : Contemporary Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Literary Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Contemporary Fantasy Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General Fantasy Science Fiction & Fantasy Su . Click the following link to view the cover of The Ghost in Love: A Novel.

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1) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I think I´m a good reader, a reader who can be trusted to follow even the most circuitous of paths to get to a resolution. But asking me to follow those paths just to find a basic plot is a little much. It´s a good thing Carroll is so fun to read, or I might not have made it through. Many fans disagree with me, but I would ask for some momentum to carry me along, in addition to the sentient dogs, confused ghosts and invisible friends.¤

2) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Ben Gould and German Landis are in love. They each believe they´ve found their one true soulmate. Then on his way home from picking up a dog for German, Ben falls and hits his head. He should have died. A ghost was dispatched to take care of loose ends. But Ben didn´t die. Instead many weird things are happening to him and he pushes German away, thinking he may be going crazy and wishing to protect her. The ghost must watch helpless from the sidelines. Ben and German, each in their way reach out to each other but the misunderstanding grows.

Sounds like a fairly standard base for a paranormal romance, doesn´t it? Well, that´s without taking into account that Jonathan Carroll is the author. He sets up the reader with a fairly standard trope than he begins to twist it and slew it until we can barely maintain our balance as we read. Every time you think you know where he´s going he twists it again. With most books you know pretty much what the story will be by the middle -- oh, the details will be unknown but you´ll have a good idea of the destination and the ride is the thing. In The Ghost in Love, you never know -- there is no solid ground. You can´t really anticipate the end because the story keeps twisting and turning out of the expected. It all makes sense within the story´s context but it´s so unanticipated that it makes for an even more exciting adventure than you would have thought from the premise and the title.

So, if you enjoy not knowing where you´ll end up but loving the journey -- this book is for you. And in the end, there is much to think about.¤

3) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Almost as good as "Beetlejuice." Here a man dies but his ghost discovers he is not dead and must now solve the puzzle of why or why not.¤

4) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I thought I lucked out when I chose this book to read. Jonathan Carroll has a knack for creating characters. The romance at the core of the novel features two people so expertly drawn and so sweet, Ben Gould and German Landis, that it was impossible not to fall in love with them too. It´s no surprise that the ghost of the very much alive Ben Gould falls in love with German, too. The novel starts much like a luminous fairy tale and features talking animals who are smarter than your average human, terrible monsters, ghosts, angels, demons, and special powers. But by the middle of the thing I was getting tired of it. It´s as though the concept was everything and execution was nothing. I had lost all my interest in what was happening (the events were getting crazier with every page), and even stopped being interested in whether the ghost of Ben Gould or Ben Gould himself gets to have German in the end. After all, the title of the novel seemed to have very little to do with the central theme of it. It didn´t appear to be terribly important to develop the theme of the love-stricken creature throughout - rather it would be mentioned once in awhile like an afterthought (oh yeah! we have a ghost in love!). J. Carroll appears to be a very talented writer and certainly has marvelous ideas, but getting through the novel to the end, this time, was a drawn out, uninteresting affair. Overall, I was disappointed.¤

5) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. For fans of Tom Robbins´ work (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, or Jiggerbug Perfume), or of Kurt Vonnegut (Cat´s Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5), here is another author who writes in the same surreal, humorous, poignant style. I have never read Carroll´s work before, so he is a new author for me. Therefore, I cant compare THE GHOST IN LOVE, to his other work. I can only relate to it, for what it is. Having finished GHOST IN LOVE, my initial reaction is to say that on its own merits, its a great read. Is it like reading Gunter Grass´s TIN DRUM? Nope. This isnt Nobel prise material. I´m not even sure it breaks open new ground, the way that Borroughs did with his cut and paste experiments, or Vonnegut´s SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, and the way time, as a present, linear literary device, dissolves. However, if you are a huge fan of the STYLE of novels by Tom Robbins, this is a safe bet.

Initially, I was not sure what the plot was doing, or how the characters were trying to relate to each other. Many of the plot devices, almost appeared to be bizarre, for the sake of confusion, or to be wierd, without a greater context for these bizarre plot twists that take up the first half of the novel. In fact, I read half of the book, and put it down for a little while, since I was not sure what to make of it. When it comes to the surreal, the experimental, there is a thin line between wierdness, and what works as literature. A story like this could turn into a "Stoner´s parody" from some late night comedian. "HEY, wouldn´t it be far out, if like, all dogs and animals could talk to each other?" Or, "What if people just stopped dying, and they became friends with their ghosts?" "Yeah, and what if their ghost, was in love with their ex-girl friend?" "Far out, and what if the Grim Reaper lost his powers?" Obviously, these types of comic devices, can become worn out, trite plot pushers. Since the language Carroll employs isnt of an "elevated" sort, nor is style experimented with for its own sake, one can quickly get to the point, where they want to know WHAT the author is really trying to get at. This type of tension isnt the same as "suspence", but rather, "OK, i´m giving you my time. Does this all have a pay off?"

Fortunately, this book pays off in spades. About half way thru, suddenly a lot of diverse elements start to interconnect. From about that point, you cant put the book down. The strangeness of the plot, and the activities of the main characters, begin to focus the parts into a greater whole. Without becoming didactic, the book tackles some interesting, soft core philosophical issues. It takes awhile for the oddness of the premise (people not dying, time travel, multiple versions of the self, angels, ghosts, surreal dog like animals, telepathy between people, ghosts, dogs, etc) to become accepted. Once all these diverse plot devices are accepted, then the wisdom, the simple yet profound message at the end of the book, can also be accepted. You won´t be totally overwhelmed, but then again you wont walk away from the book empty either. The theme that Carroll works in THE GHOST IN LOVE, as been used before. (We walk thru life with the various versions of our past selves still alive, circling in their own timeless paths, inside the depths of our subconscous.) Now, its how that picture is painted into words, that makes all the difference. Who can say how or why a novel can connect with ourselves, with our view of reality, and change it, or challange it? All I can say, is that when that experience occurs in literature, the effect always rewards. Carroll has found a delicate balance between the obtuse, surreal, and dense novels of the most serious of novelists, and the fun, freaky, live-life -for-today type of hip philosophy, cast in the frame of odd ball plots and characters. For me, i´m happy to have the "HERMAN HESSE" writers, and the "TOM ROBBINS" writers. And, for all the reasons I enjoy Tom Robbin´s work, I enjoy Jon Carroll´s work. I´m just hapy I didnt wait for this book to become a Hollywood blockbuster to read it.¤

6) Hardcover Book The Ghost in Love: A Novel by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 13-Nov-2008, 03741618609780374161866, 280-960-650-520-600-801-8

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