Monday, July 12, 2010

Glass Soup - Book Review


I found this book during a random trip to Goodwill. Most of the times I've gone there I'll come out with a couple books that end up being nice additions to my collection. Most times, though, I usually don't find books that are just spot-on for my taste using this method. Living in the Bible Belt, there aren't just a whole lot of second hand books with metaphysical and surreal themes. Jonathan Carroll is known for his magical realism, which if you know me, you know I love some magic (read: any fantastic stories, not just witch/troll/fairies etc). However, I really don't like when authors go overboard with saccharine characters and perfectly predictable plots which end up with everything exactly as it should and all are happy and woodland critters help you clean your room and sing Disney songs to you... If you feel me.

In this book the afterlife is created out of the dreams and subconscious thoughts a person had while they were alive. Danger is following a living woman named Isabelle and her unborn child, whose birth will effect all of existence and the balance of power between Chaos and Order. The only person who can help her is a dead man who may not even know he is dead yet. 

I made the mistake of reading this book without knowing it is actually a sequel to another book by Carroll, called White Apples. I had no idea it was a sequel until after I was done but it really didn't matter. This book is fine as an independent and worked well as a stand-alone, and I think that says something. (Although I will now be finding White Apples and reading it asap if its half as good as this one - but I hear its even better!)

Rating: 4 stars


7 comments:

  1. Gotta love Goodwill, Maegan ! I have purchased more crappy vinyl records from that establishment than any one person should ever own or be forced to listen to in a single lifetime. Will be curious to read your review of the 'prequel', now that your mind has splintered into a future reality hapily without it ! (kind of like seeing the movie version before reading a great book ? time'll tell)

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  2. Oh man! I love Goodwill and places of the like. In high school I worked at a place called savers which works off the same principles and would end up getting a whole new wardrobe for like $20. Insane.

    I am excited to read the first book, but it may be a little while before I get to it. I've got almost an entire library of reading material waiting for my attention in my living room. Also, when I find an author I really love I try to purchase future works in hardcover, which can get more pricey, especially for older titles...and for a college gal like myself, there are always more pressing things to be bought than books. (Unfortunately, but if I could live off books without having to buy groceries things would be going much differently)

    I'll be sure to review it as soon as I get my little grubby hands on a copy though!


    Would you like to know a secret I don't tell most people? Sometimes I actually prefer seeing a movie before I read the book. My reasoning is that its too easy to ruin a story by reading the book and then seeing the (usually not half as good) film version. You never get let down if you see the movie and then read the book!

    I've just had so many movies get ruined for me because they weren't true to the original version. Also, I like seeing a movie first because I am a very visual person and when I see the characters fleshed out like that it makes the mental pictures much more vivid when I go to read it. And there are no "I saw this person a completely different way in my head so now it'll bother me through the whole movie" moments. So I always try to wait to read a book if I know a movie is the works for it. Sometimes it works out, then there are other times when it just can' be avoided cause no one can tell the future, especially not Hollywood's. haha.

    But you know, maybe I'm just crazy. : )

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  3. Maegan,

    I should've realized you'd have a kick ass blog! I dunno why I didn't think to look until Lysdexicuss up there turned me on to it, but I'm so glad he did!

    I can tell we have a lot of the same tastes in books. I LOVE magical realism. Aimee Bender kicks butt, and of course Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the master...

    I'll definitely put this one on my library list!

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  4. Oh, and have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?

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  5. Love your line of reasoning on seeing the movie before reading the book Maegan ! It really does make sense. I too am a visual nut-job (more like the Geicco Caveman however), and, before writing a screenplay full force (after note-taking the story), I will cast the movie in my head with a weird combination of real Actors & people I know. They become my Muses. On several occasions, Friends & Family have read the final script & told me they imagined some of the same Stars in the lead parts ! Like, demon possession- I guess I was able to successfully inhabit certain individuals on occasion.

    The only film I have ever seen that was BETTER than the book, is Elia Kazan's 1945 version of 'A Tree Grow's In Brooklyn'; absolutely brilliant. The book was o-kay, but very Sophmoric. The film has a depth & breadth that to this day, even though I have seen it dozens of times, still makes me cry like a baby !

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  6. I've never heard of Bender, Marquez, Norrell, or Strange!! What a sheltered life I've been living!!! lol... Well thank you for pointing me in the direction of good authors. I have a harder time finding new stuff thats my cup of tea as time goes on, its so good to find other readers good recommendations! Thanks!

    And thank you also for coming to read my blog, I'll try not to disappoint! : )

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