3.5; this is one of those books where appreciation outpaces personal enjoyment, as a result of which the rating ends up feeling too low or too high either way however I rank it; contains moments of sublime gnostic otherworldliness, but overall I prefer Harrison's earlier work from the Viriconium era.

It's difficult to write about the inexplicable and make it work. An excellent, literary read. Very thought-provoking. Some may not like this one because there is little that is truly explained, but for those who don't mind a little mystery, this is an excellent novel. Why have I not read any M. John Harrison before?

The world in The Course of The Heart is a lot like ours, only—always present but usually indiscernible outside of seemingly spontaneous moments—magical or markedly metaphysical, the result of unfathomable teleology. Though, the novel reads like a cautionary tale warning against the exploration into the beyond, which is exemplified through the lives of three friends who, while studying at Cambridge, participated in some sort of mysterious ritual led by a bat shit magician—a ritual that none of th...

The Course of the Heart is a weird one. But my guess is, M. Harrison is a weird guy. After reading it, and letting it wash over me, I wonder if a second reading, with greater focus, would illuminate the story more. Did I miss some important detail in the descriptive wording? Would notes have helped peel away a layer of the mystery?Other reviewers have summarized the plot. As for a sincere analysis, should a reader even bother with a book that appears purposely obtuse? Does digging into this stor...

In the most general sense this is the story of an unfortunate couple plagued by the mysterious consequences of a barely eluded-to ritual performed during their college years, told through the eyes of their friend, who was part of their ritual (and who, unlike them, suffers no consequences). The story here seems to be almost beside the point, though, and what we get is a very intricate, extremely idiosyncratic portrait of these two very extreme people. In what little I've read of Harrison (at thi...

Just don't. The book is trying so hard to be a piece of art that any story that may have originally sparked it just gets lost amid the author's "cleverness." (Yes, it did deserve the quotations.)I only made it through the first section and a bit into the second (about 80 pages or so), but I was struggling under the insane amount of description for the sake of description from the very beginning. There were at least three scenes in memory that actually went into detail about the conversations of

This book straddles the line between weird fiction and literary fiction, and for that it comes widely regarded. The front cover has blurbs from two authors I love very much, Iain M. Banks and China Mieville, so in theory I ought have devoured this book with great relish. The problem is that it represents everything I hate about literature, as conceived by those with their literary noses firmly pointed up in the air. It focuses on characters I found utterly unsympathetic and irredeemably annoying...

I’ve written before about the difficulty of finding original things to say about books when you’ve written upwards of a thousand reviews. Every compliment or critique is inevitably a variation of something I’ve written in the past. That includes saying I’ve ‘never read anything like this before’. Unfortunately, however, I must break this particular cliche out again for M. John Harrison’s The Course of the Heart. There is no other way to describe it.It’s not that the setup is especially original....

If I described the plot of this book to you as "Three university students have a magical afternoon that none of them can quite remember afterwards", some people might think that I'm writing a chapter in their biography while others might believe that genre was already perfected with "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist". But if I went further to explain that years later they're unable to shake the sensations from that day and sometimes experience strange visions, maybe you'd think I was describing...

The whole time that I was reading The course of the Heart I had this strange feeling that I was reading something that I shouldn't have. A secret or maybe a deeply personal account. This is a hard book to review. It's one of those books that someone needs to experience. Here the reader will find all of Harrison's usual obsessions. The duality of reality/fantasy, people in need of escaping (but to where and can they?), human relationships, analyzing the human condition, loss, grief and love. In a...

I recently re-read this bizarre, brilliant, poetic and haunting novel. I still don't fully understand it all, and I still struggle to work out the picture that the narrative mosaic gradually assembles. However, it is so moving and imaginative that I find I'm not overly concerned with details. There is some beautiful writing here, and while some of it is a little decorative, the level of observation and insight elsewhere dwarfs that of more acclaimed 'realists'. I had a boyfriend like Yaxley. Tha...

A gnostic tale that hits you like a kick in the gut. Harrison's bleak narrative centers around epilepsy, sex, magic, medieval legend, cancer, car crashes, and how badly fantasy can hurt. If you're the kind of reader whose biggest wish is still to get a letter from Hogwarts, or (more topically) to "find out about your destiny" as the lost heir of an ancient kingdom, etc etc.... then don't read this book. Don't read it unless you want to grow up.Like many readers of this book, when I was finished

Dense almost unbearably sad and horrifying work by Harrison, one of his better novels up there with Light and In Viriconium. Gnostic speculation on unraveling lives, a definate Lynchian feel throughout(I don't mean this as a cop out cheap adjective, I think my comparison holds up). Maybe it is a cop out as I can't even begin to explain this book, so I guess read it and judge, but you should definately read it.

The Course of the Heart is a difficult novel to describe, following four characters who are deeply affected by a ritual they performed together in University. As their lives begin to disintegrate in strange ways, they slowly try to figure out if the ritual actually worked, or if something went horribly wrong.Harrison’s prose and storytelling is simply masterful, weaving different conversations, perspectives, thoughts, and memories together almost seamlessly. His characters come to life in his st...

Beautifully written in that prose that only Harrison can manage: at once pin-sharp and elusive. Like crystallised smoke. One of the very few writers who can create a credible sense of the numinous, the otherworldly. Partly because he's also so acute on the banalities, the slow rot of sad lives. Mesmerising, frightening, transfiguring, awesome. Must read it again.

Eerie and remarkable.

An odd little book -- difficult to get into, at times difficult to follow, and, for me at least, difficult to finish. And yet I'm glad that I stuck with it. It has a dense, poetical rhythm that while sometimes infuriatingly obtuse ended up being greatly affecting. "The Course of the Heart" follows a group of three college friends who, after performing a byzantine magic ritual the precise nature of which none of them can remember, find their lives slowly unraveling over the course of the next twe...

M John Harrison, in an ideal world, would be acclaimed by all and sundry as one of our greatest writers. As it is his works are not as widely known as they should be.Harrison started life as a Science Fiction writer, moved into fantasy with his Viriconium sequence (of which In Viriconium stands as a kind of masterpiece) and then, in the late 80's there was a shift into what I can only call magical realism. The Course of the Heart is of the latter strand and is a quite wonderful book. Harrison, b...

i am not entirely sure what i just read... this was a seriously bizarre book, beautifully written but at the same time kinda ugly and nasty and unseemly too... it took me a while to acclimate to the time shifts and scene shifts and reality shifts, but eventually i just accepted things would get tangential or fantastical or whatever and absorb the shocks... i have always found books set in England to be strangely familiar, though i have never been... Harrison uses a lot of natural phenomena and b...

A Weird Fiction MasterpieceThe consequences of a failed occult ritual to access a metaphysical realm called the Pleroma dogs the three protagonists as they try to impose meaning onto their disconsolate, broken lives. It seems there is a terrible price to be paid for their glimpse of paradise. The Course of The Heart is a poetic novel of luminous moments briefly experienced, fleetingly glimpsed before the despairing shadow of the quotidian world interjects. ‘Beautiful Swimmers’ is a dream book at...