Bones of the Moon is a melding of fantasy and literary fiction. I wasn't sure how to read it sometimes. In a straight fantasy novel, being whisked away to another world while asleep would be pretty standard magical stuff, but with the literary fiction influences, one must consider the symbolism. The characters even talk about the possible symbolism of Cullen's dreams, and this made me uncomfortable with the fantasy part of the story, strangely enough. I wanted to just go along with Cullen and Pe...

There is something incredible about Jonathan Carroll. No matter how strange the plots of his books are, no matter how absurd the happenings within them are, he makes them seem real. "Bones of the Moon" is an incredible book that ingeniously weaves together the dreams and realities and how they all intertwine. Everything fits, and yet not so well that both stories don't still contain their own hearts and abilities. Everything works in the end.

There are stories that have me on tenterhooks wondering what happens next, and then there are stories that feel as if they always existed, as if I knew them long before this particular author wrote them down, but I still have to read on, there's still a lot of suspense because there's still an element of chance and I don't know how the given author is going to cut the deck. And in this case because, like any Carroll novel, it's written so well and peopled with quirky, wonderful characters, good,...

Happily married new mother Cullen James begins to have vivid serial dreams about a land called Rondua which she explores with a hat-wearing dog called Mr. Tracey and a young boy named Pepsi. Soon, dreams and reality begin to intersect and overlap in disturbing ways.An interesting, unusual fantasy.

This is the third of Carroll's books that I've read. This time the first person viewpoint is that of a woman, with an unusual name - Cullen - who has a best friend Danny, a basketball player who has gone to work in Italy. Cullen has a relationship with a man she doesn't love, and when she becomes pregnant she has an abortion, but is then hit by depression and writes to Danny. He comes back from Italy and it transpires that he has been in love with her for years. She eventually realises she could...

Picked this off the top of the recent rescued-from-the-transfer-station pile. Next read...Read part one last night and was not at all impressed by the writer's skill(s). I haven't reached the fantasy stuff yet and it's a short book so I'll probably read all of it, but...- The dialogue/narration is far too - cutesy, stilted, sugary and boring. Like an earnest effort by a committed but minimally talented English major at age 19. Cullen and Danny converse like two square 4H youngsters from the fift...

Yet again Jonathan Carroll has completely blown my mind with his writing! I was instantly hooked from the very first page and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see what would happen next in each world that Carroll has so masterfully crafted. This book is just so stunning, it’s been days since I finished it and I still can’t stop thinking about it and that’s a true sign of a remarkable read! I also have to mention that the name Pepsi made me laugh SO much every time I read it, I’m a huge P...

There are many facets of the masculine personality present in Jonathan Carroll’s Bones of the Moon. From the paternal Ward-Cleaver-esque Mr. Tracy, to the brutal and power-hungry Jack Chili; from the perfect husband, to the chauvinist-turned-sycophantic would-be lover, most every male pattern known to exist is incorporated by Jonathan Carroll. Pepsi, arguably the hero of the tale, is a man-child who very quickly learns all he needs to know from his mother in order to succeed in his quest. Culle

I love Jonathan Carroll books; he's what I wish I could write if I were an author. It's the details that he chooses, the way he so fully develops a character, full of flaws and fears and wonder, and the unexpected ways the story moves. Reality and fantasy are fluid, the overall truth of the emotion is where the importance lies and our imagination is expanded to get there.All vagueness I know, but I just don't want to get into plot review. Some random asides: the characters names are so marvelous...

I was very disappointed with this book because I had enjoyed The Land of Laughs so much and, as a result, respected Jonathan Carroll as an author. However, after reading this book, I can't say that any longer because, to me, this reads like pro-life, anti-feminist propaganda masquerading as a fantasy book, which to be honest happens more often than most people probably care to think. My opinion is based on the fact that the story only truly begins after Cullen, the protagonist, has an abortion a...

This was a strange book and I'm not entirely sure I enjoyed it, though I did finish it since I wasn't quite sure how it was going to end. I found the dream world to be interesting, even though the storyline there was rather trite. I did NOT like the main character at all, though. I was totally unsympathetic to her situation since she lies to her oh-so-wonderful husband pretty much through the entire book. I thought the "gay best friend" was such a stereotype that I found myself rolling my eyes a...

I keep hoping this guy will dazzle me like he did with THE LAND OF LAUGHS, but this was just another Carroll book that really crashed and burned for me....UGH!

I don’t believe such magnificently developed imagination is a completely natural asset of the author. Really, how does one come up with all that imagery? Are they born that way? Do they stimulate it, somehow? I don’t know what this guy is taking to stimulate his imagination but whatever it is, it must be good. Basically, I felt in order to right this wonder, the guy must have gotten intimately familiar with all kinds of flora (to put it inconspicuously). Maybe I’m just crazy but all the things t...

I finally picked my first Jonathan Carroll book, after hearing his name for years in different fantasy forums. Maybe the expectations were too high, or maybe Bones of the Moon is not the best entry point, but I feel a bit ambivalent right now. While I love the presentation and the vivid imagination that produced the Rondua dreamland, the actual plot and the ending were a letdown.The first third of the book has very little to do with the fantastic, being a delicately weaved and often funny love s...

I can't quite figure out why I didn't enjoy this one as much as other stuff I've read by Carroll. It has the same warm, sympathetic characters, the same level of invention and imagination, but the story never really pulled me in. It felt a little aimless and meandering, and the protagonist never really seemed to do anything other than survive traumatic events because..what? She's a nice person and we want her to? It wasn't really clear to me how the "real" world and her dream world were able to

I've read Carroll's Land of Laughs and found his characterization very impressive in that particular book, although I felt his plot bottomed out toward the ending as it abandoned those previously established traits.With Bones of the Moon, however, I never really connected with his protagonist, Cullen James, or her friends and family. While they had interesting backgrounds, they simply didn't feel real to me. Because of this, and what I consider awkward dialogue, I couldn't fully immerse myself i...

Bones of the MoonJonathan CarrollCullen tells her own story. How men tell her she’s the most beautiful woman they’ve ever seen, how she was having an okay time in NYC, enjoying a pretty good job, sleeping around. One of her encounters, with a narcissistic photographer, led to a pregnancy and then an abortion. The aftereffects of which are remorse and then dreams. Cullen writes to the only man she ever really connected with, the man her college roommate married. Her roommate has died in a car cra...

I was in quite a quandry about what category to include this book in. It's published by Tom Doherty who publish sf, and there is a lot of fantasy involved but it is also very definitely literary fiction as well, very well written at that. So in the end I put it in both categories. Anyway it's an absolutely brilliant book. My many thanks to Karen yet again, for introducing me to such a treasure. I will definitely be reading all the rest of his books.

Cullen James is married to a wonderful man named Danny, has a baby daughter, and a good friend in her neighbor, Eliot. Cullen begins to have vivid dreams in a land called Rondua. As the dreams progress, they start to intersect with people and events in Cullen's life. This is a wonderful, touching and very unusual fantasy. I got all misty-eyed by the end. Everyone should have a friend like Eliot.

Dreams are a funny thing. They differ from person to person as each unique psyche builds strange and amazing worlds, using reality as the foundation. But often the line between reality and dream is blurred, especially when you’re surrounded by a world that you have become attached to.We’ve all woken up, confused and disoriented, believing that that what just occurred in our heads was real. I often feel the same way when pulling my eyes out of a book. That’s why it was sort of strange reading a n...