The Ghost in Love ~Jonathan Carroll
–published 2008
–Sarah Crichton Books, 308 pages
–3.75/5 stars
What happens when you are supposed to die? When one day a sudden, pointless accident ends your life? If you are Ben Gould then the unexpected happens: you do not die as was your fate. Your ghost appears and falls in love with your ex-girlfriend. Your dog can talk to your ghost revealing the interconnected, communicative nature of the animal kingdom. The Angel of Death appears and warns of a glitch in the system. Your entire life begins to unravel at the seams…
If you have ever read a Jonathan Carroll book then you have some idea of just how impossible they are to classify. I suspect that his books are most often placed in the general fiction/literature sections of bookstores simply because it is easier than trying to figure out what genre to place them in. The Ghost in Love is no exception. It is a quirky roller coaster ride of fantasy, magic realism, suspense, science fiction, horror and romance. Above all The Ghost in Love is a philosophical examination of life and death, of pre-destination and of choosing one’s own fate.
The Ghost of Love is a difficult novel to review without revealing too much about the plot and thus rendering reading it a less rewarding experience. If you stick to the quotes on the back of the book you cannot help entering into the story with the right level of excitement and expectation. However if you read the inside jacket flap, something I chose not to do until the end of the story, you find out way to much, in my opinion, about the plot of this book. I do not fault the person whose job it was to come up with the copy for the inside dust jacket summary…to me it speaks of the hardship of trying to “sell” the book without ruining the story for the reader.
Suffice it to say that The Ghost in Love was, for me, both a wonderful and a frustrating read. By the end of the opening chapter I was lost. Jonathan Carroll is nothing short of a major talent and as such his command of language is a site to behold. In fact I would go so far as to defy you not to fall in love with his characters and his work during the introductory chapters to The Ghost in Love. The writing is that good. Last December I read The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier and in that review I described how the opening chapters of the book, particularly that in which Brockmeier introduces us to his world, drew me in and compelled me to keep reading. The opening chapters of The Ghost in Love did the same thing and I found myself drifting back to my feelings on Brief History as I became lost in the lives of Carroll’s protagonists throughout the weekend. I cannot say enough how much I loved these opening chapters, Carroll is really at the peak of his game. And that description holds true for at least the first half of the novel. The events…the wild, wacky, sometimes unbelievable events…grip you tight and will not let go. You simply have to keep reading. If you have been reading between the lines, you may sense a “but” coming. And you would be correct.
The comparison with The Brief History of the Dead is not a random comparison. For those who read my review you know that I was very disappointed with the second to last chapter which was the denoument for one of the main characters in the book. That chapter devolved into an existential narrative that meandered, bogged down the story, and marred what would have been a perfect book for me. While The Ghost in Love does not go to that extreme, it does suffer from some of the same problems that Brief History does. As the story progresses things become increasingly more weird for Carrol’s characters and increasingly suspenseful for the reader. The animals begin talking with the humans, otherworldly creatures stalk the night, and Ben Gould begins reliving events from his past. Where I feel the story begins to bog down is around the three quarter mark when Carroll begins to explain more and more about what is going on through the voice of his characters. In this explanation lies the philosophical crux of The Ghost in Love and rather than hinting and letting the reader figure it out on his/her own I feel that Carroll makes the mistake of explaining way too much, the mistake of over-preaching his message. In Carroll’s defense the explanation is not the exercise in frustration that chapter 14 of Brief History of the Dead is. The reader can indeed follow along with what Carroll is trying to say and there is some interest and entertainment to be had even in these portions of the novel. However it all just went on too long for me and by having two separate characters go through similar “ah, this is what it is all about!” moments Carroll takes a very tight, page-turning tale and allows it to begin to unravel. Fortunately for me the story continues past those moments and has a fun, satisfying ending that makes me want to go back and read the other Jonathan Carroll books that I haven’t read.
I went on Amazon to gauge other reader’s experiences with the novel and the response is overwhelmingly positive. At least one reviewer expressed his frustration that it appears that the Carroll faithful are less than thrilled with anything but a 4 or 5 star review for The Ghost in Love. I can certainly understand that. I do not like reading less than stellar reviews of books from authors that I love and Jonathan Carroll has that kind of following and does so deservedly. His books Land of Laughs and The Bones of the Moon are among my favorites and I would definitely describe myself as a fan. In fact it was difficult for the fan in me to resist bumping up this review to 4 stars instead of 3.75. This is a very, very good book, but for me it falls short of being great. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood for the message it was trying to convey (a very good one by the way) but I have the feeling this book would have been a 5 out of 5 star review had the later half of the story been as charming as the first part.
The bottom line becomes, should you read this book? I would answer that question this way. First and foremost, if you are a fan of Jonathan Carroll then this book is a must read. His writing is very, very…very, good. As the narrator reveals in the introductory chapters just why the ghost happens to be in love with Ben’s ex-girlfriend, German Landis, the reader cannot help but fall in love with her as well. Carroll’s writing is flawless in these descriptions. He creates these characters in a way that they are so very real that you want to go out and meet them. If you are a fan of animals, particularly dogs, then this book could classify as a must read. Pilot is an absolutely wonderful old dog and when he begins talking he reveals insights to the animal world that are engaging and thought-provoking and fun. If you are a fan of fiction that cannot be easily pigeonholed in any one genre but instead pulls from many genres at the same time then this is a must read.
Like Brief History of the Dead I highly recommend this book but I do so with an asterisk–that being that you may come to a place where you feel the story bogs down under the weight of its own message. If you do feel that way, know that this too shall pass and the ending will be a satisfying one. If, however, you read this book and you do not feel the same way I do about the later stages of the story then kudos to you for you are have just experienced one heck of a ride!
Jonathan Carroll is an author of particular talents and I must admit that it was quite fun for me to read Gaiman and Carroll back to back, particularly since it was a Neil Gaiman quote on the cover of Land of Laughs that opened the door to my discovery of his Carroll’s mastery of language and ability to tell a unique, compelling story.
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This has been a R.I.P. III Challenge read.
*unrelated note: If you are interested in the results of the BAFAB Week giveaway of Neil Gaiman’s novel, The Graveyard Book, please see the comments section of that review.
Interesting review, but I have to strongly disagree with you about one thing :
(Spoiler Alert!).
I think the longish explanation in the story 3/4 of the way through that you disliked is essential. The two characters have decided to go in separate directions, so to say, with what they have learned about their fates. Consequently, they must tell us why they’re doing what they’re about to do and what caused that decision. That way we can fully understand why Ben goes in one direction and Danielle in another. Without these details from them, it would be easy to wonder why they didn’t come to the same conclusion and act accordingly. I want to know why characters act they way they do in a story. If I don’t have that information, or the author leaves those things out, I’m feel either cheated or confused.
I agree Dagmar with the jist of what you are saying. I didn’t mean to imply that these character’s motivations or that their figuring out of what was going on with them wasn’t necessary…and I probably didn’t make that clear…and I generally am not a fan of open-ended, “what the hell just happened” writing (Murakami and Auster being a bit of an exception to that rule). But I just felt like it went on too long and dragged the story down. It felt like those parts of the book were more of an info dumping session that slowed the pace of the story down considerably.
Again I don’t think I disagree with you at all in regards to what you are saying, I just don’t think the execution was as well written as the other 3/4ths of the book was. And I’m fully willing to admit that this is just my own personal experience with this book and with an author whose work I do really enjoy.
A book that I read this year and really loved was After Dark by Haruki Murakami. I had a similar situation reading that that I did reading Ghost in Love. There was one story line in After Dark that was interesting, but was not nearly as interesting as the other story line. I found myself wanting to speed read through the lesser chapters to get back to the story I really liked. I felt that same way with this section of Ghost. I like Danielle well enough but I just wanted to get back to Ben and German and had Danielle’s revelation not been too long, in my opinion, I probably wouldn’t have felt that Ben’s was a bit of ‘oh, here we go again’ if that makes any sense.
Murakami is one of my most unfavorite writers, so I’m not a good one to judge. The fact he and Carroll are often discussed together makes my blood boil. But on a nicer subject, Neil Gaiman said in an interview on a San Francisco radio station the other day that he thinks THE GHOST IN LOVE is one of Carroll’s best books, right up there with A CHILD ACROSS THE SKY.
Dagmar, I think authors like Carroll, Murakami, Paul Auster and others can be and are lumped together in a very broad category in that they all write stories that cross several genres at once and all have written books that challenge the reader to be really engaged in the process and to draw some of their own conclusions from the story while at the same time producing a narrative that has a definite structure and story to tell. As a species we love to categorize things to make sense of the world and I’m as guilty as the next person in sharing how various books/authors remind me of other authors. I certainly see why people would make that comparison with Murakami with Ghosts because of the way food is treated in both Ghost and in Murakami’s work. Of course one can find similarities in anything if they really want to, I just don’t find it a huge stretch in this instance. That is something I really didn’t mention in my review. I enjoy it when books make me want to go out and have a good meal!
I haven’t read A Child Across the Sky. The next Carroll I want to read is White Apples mostly because I started it once and got distracted and was really enjoying it. I probably will always consider Land of Laughs my favorite Carroll book the same way I consider Neverwhere my favorite Gaiman because those were the first novels I read by each author respectively and they caused me to consider each author among my favorites. Both have written critically/structurally better books…I think Bones of the Moon is a better book and better than Ghost in Love if I am being honest…but Laughs is still my favorite.
In case you haven’t discovered it yet, Carroll keeps a wonderful daily blog on his website http://www.jonathancarroll.com. It’s full of all kinds of interesting things– poetry he likes, reading suggestions, great quotes from other writers… Really a good site.
Thanks for the reminder Dagmar, I all too frequently forget about his blog and I love the design of it. He is definitely one of the authors who knows how to use a blog and use it well to keep some connection with the fans.
I didn’t read the previous comments because I haven’t read this one yet but I do have a couple Carroll books on my shelf and after your review I can’t wait to get to them!!
Jonathan Carroll is certainly an author who defies classification. And it really is hard to talk about his books without giving too much away. I had the same problem when I reviewed Voice of Our Shadow a couple of months ago.
Your review really reminds me of my reaction to his White Apples. I was completely in love with it at first. I couldn’t have liked the characters more. And then the “but” came. The “but” is that towards the end the book took a turn that seem to be a bit strange, and also that he did seem to be insisting on his message a little too much. But even with those problems, which I’d normally think of as serious ones, I still found the book a really, really enjoyable read.
Thanks for the review Carl. I’m torn on this author. I need to read Land of Laughs before I really deceide if Carroll is an author for me or not. I read and enjoyed Bones of the Moon when I read it two years ago. While I liked the journey in reading the book I can’t honestly remember liking the ending. I suppose that’s why even though I have two others of his novels I haven’t picked up either of them yet to read. I also didn’t didn’t really dig the Tokyo Murakami short story I read so I’m not sure if either of these authors are really for me.
your blog is fixed!!! hooray!!
I’ve only read the first paragraph (I’m spoiler-phobic you know) but this sounds excellent. Have added it to the tbr list
Deslily: Not sure if it was something my guy did (still haven’t heard from him) or if on your end things just worked themselves out but I am glad either way. 🙂
Fence: I completely understand. I do try to write spoiler free reviews but I think it is easy to spoil stuff that one doesn’t even realize. I look forward to your review whenever you get to that point on you tbr pile.
Jeff: I honestly think you will really, really like Land of Laughs. I could be wrong (what??! me?!?!) but it certainly is a more complete story with a more straight forward ending and it is both fantastical and creepy at the same time. It has been long enough now that I really should reread it.
Nymeth: I agree, I think there are some authors whose writing ability is so enjoyable that it is easier to forgive and overlook the things one sees as flaws in their work.
Kristina: I hope you come back and let me know when you’ve read and reviewed your Carroll books because I would love to see what your thoughts are.
The first I ever heard of Johnathan Carroll was from Nymeth’s review of Voice of Our Shadow. It was one of those reviews that had me popping over to the library website immediately to put a hold on the book. (Nymeth has me doing that a lot, you know.) But unfortunately they didn’t have it. So it ended up on “wish mountain” where it has since been buried among all the other fabulous sounding books you all keep talking about. I’m so glad you reminded me of him…he sounds like such a unique, intriguing writer. Which of his books would you recommend as a first read?
For me it is and always will be Land of Laughs though I suspect others who are more well read with Carroll would select others. Land has more of a suspense/horror element to it. I can also say that I really enjoyed Bones of the Moon as well which is a little more fantastical and has a mother/son relationship going on in it. Either are books I would think would be a good start.
You had me at The Brief History of the Dead. Sold!
Must… get… book…
I’m very excited, but also understand exactly what you mean about it possibly getting lost. I’ve found that with some Carroll novels, however much I love them! Some are perfect books and others just don’t quite make it for me. I’m slightly worried about about the Neil Gaiman grouping of The Ghost in Love and A Child Across The Sky, as I still don’t quite get the ending of ACATS! I agree whole heartedly with your recommendation of The Land of Laughs as a first Carroll read, Carl, but would add Sleeping In Flame to Bones of the Moon as well.
Excellent review, thanks!
Stormfilled: I love Neil Gaiman, I really do, and he personally has steered me towards many wonderful reads by his name and a quote being on the front or back of a book. But he doesn’t bat a thousand. There are some books I’ve read that Neil has postively quoted that are not as good to me as they were to him. All that shows me is just one more example that we all have different experiences with books depending on how we read them, when we read them, etc. This may be Carroll’s best book yet. I cannot judge because I haven’t read them all, but the parts where he was really ‘on’ were brilliant and overall the book is quite good.
Les: You crack me up!
Finally read it! Wooo! It’s only taken me, erm, ages. Agree with your review entirely Carl, wonderful writing, but there’s the BUT. For me it began to sound slightly, well, preachy with its message, which I resented. And though German was wonderfully written, I couldn’t find enough of Ben to like, he seemed far too much a vehicle for the story than a true Carroll character. When I compare him to Hugh from The Marriage of Sticks, or Walker from Sleeping in Flame, he’s just not as independent. I did cry when ***SPOILER*** the parts of Pilot and German that loved Ben appeared to help out ***SPOILER END*** One thing that a Jonathan Carroll novel inevitably inspires though is dog-broodiness!
I’m reading this right now, and not really loving it. I didn’t *love* Land of Laughs either, although that doesn’t mean I don’t think they are good books. Maybe Carroll isn’t my sort of thing, after all. I don’t know if I’ll continue with it.
I really enjoyed Land of Laughs and also enjoyed Bones of the Moon, but this book really disappointed, especially after I was in such anticipation for it. I wouldn’t fault you for giving it up.