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Vincent Ettrich #1
White Apples
Vincent Ettrich, a genial philanderer, discovers he has died and come back to life, but he has no idea why, or what the experience was like. Gradually, he discovers he was brought back by his true love, Isabelle, because she is pregnant with their child—a child who, if raised correctly, will play a crucial role in saving the universe.
But to be brought up right, the child must learn what Vincent learned on the other side—if only Vincent can remember it. On a father’s love and struggle may depend the future of everything that is.
By turns quirky, romantic, awesome, and irresistible, White Apples is a tale of love, fatherhood, death, and life that will leave you seeing the world with new eyes.
But to be brought up right, the child must learn what Vincent learned on the other side—if only Vincent can remember it. On a father’s love and struggle may depend the future of everything that is.
By turns quirky, romantic, awesome, and irresistible, White Apples is a tale of love, fatherhood, death, and life that will leave you seeing the world with new eyes.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
42 people are currently reading
1465 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Carroll
129 books1,166 followersJonathan Carroll (b. 1949) is an award-winning American author of modern fantasy and slipstream novels. His debut book, The Land of Laughs (1980), tells the story of a children’s author whose imagination has left the printed page and begun to influence reality. The book introduced several hallmarks of Carroll’s writing, including talking animals and worlds that straddle the thin line between reality and the surreal, a technique that has seen him compared to South American magical realists.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
January 1, 2021
Loving every minute of this. JC never disappoints and is always over the top creative.
White apples. Numen-flows.
Some seriously strange cultural mishappenings:
Q:
There's an amazing restaurant called Peasant's Food where you sit at hand-carved wooden tables and drink hot peppery borscht. (c) How do you drink borscht? Peppery borscht is rare. And you can't drink it: it's a very clunky soup with pieces of cabbage and meat and beetroot and potatoes and sweet peppers occasionally. Drinking it would be so very challenging.
Q:
Patience never wants Wonder to enter the house: because Wonder is a wretched guest. It uses all of you but is not careful with what is most fragile or irreplaceable. If it breaks you, it shrugs and moves on. Without asking, Wonder often brings along dubious friends: doubt, jealousy, greed. Together they take over; rearrange the furniture in every one of your rooms for their own comfort. They speak odd languages but make no attempt to translate for you. They cook strange meals in your heart that leave odd tastes and smells. When they finally go are you happy or miserable? Patience is always left holding the broom. (c)
Q:
She just wanted that unexpected wave from a stranger and then return to her life. (c)
Q:
If you are a success in life, there are places you must go and pay to be humiliated. It is an unwritten law that human beings must be tormented throughout their lives in one way or another. If you are fortunate enough to have risen to a social level where no one does it to you for free, then you must pay for the service. Trendy restaurants, exclusive boutiques, any Mercedes-Benz dealer, or your very own personal trainer saying how fat and out of shape you are being a few examples. (c)
Q:
And with no thought, Vincent Ettrich knew that it was the other man's life entering him. This "liquid" flowing up his arm and out of the other was numen, the divine substance, the sacred spirit that lives in a certain place in the body and sustains us all. A moment before, he did not know the word or what it meant. As soon as he felt it enter his arm he knew everything. The man was dying and his numen was entering another who had already died. (c)
Q:
He could read people brilliantly which was one of the reasons for his success in both business and romance. (c)
White apples. Numen-flows.
Some seriously strange cultural mishappenings:
Q:
There's an amazing restaurant called Peasant's Food where you sit at hand-carved wooden tables and drink hot peppery borscht. (c) How do you drink borscht? Peppery borscht is rare. And you can't drink it: it's a very clunky soup with pieces of cabbage and meat and beetroot and potatoes and sweet peppers occasionally. Drinking it would be so very challenging.
Q:
Patience never wants Wonder to enter the house: because Wonder is a wretched guest. It uses all of you but is not careful with what is most fragile or irreplaceable. If it breaks you, it shrugs and moves on. Without asking, Wonder often brings along dubious friends: doubt, jealousy, greed. Together they take over; rearrange the furniture in every one of your rooms for their own comfort. They speak odd languages but make no attempt to translate for you. They cook strange meals in your heart that leave odd tastes and smells. When they finally go are you happy or miserable? Patience is always left holding the broom. (c)
Q:
She just wanted that unexpected wave from a stranger and then return to her life. (c)
Q:
If you are a success in life, there are places you must go and pay to be humiliated. It is an unwritten law that human beings must be tormented throughout their lives in one way or another. If you are fortunate enough to have risen to a social level where no one does it to you for free, then you must pay for the service. Trendy restaurants, exclusive boutiques, any Mercedes-Benz dealer, or your very own personal trainer saying how fat and out of shape you are being a few examples. (c)
Q:
And with no thought, Vincent Ettrich knew that it was the other man's life entering him. This "liquid" flowing up his arm and out of the other was numen, the divine substance, the sacred spirit that lives in a certain place in the body and sustains us all. A moment before, he did not know the word or what it meant. As soon as he felt it enter his arm he knew everything. The man was dying and his numen was entering another who had already died. (c)
Q:
He could read people brilliantly which was one of the reasons for his success in both business and romance. (c)
February 21, 2010
This review might not even be appropriate for goodreads as there are perhaps (my opinion) brighter, less "conservative" readers here, but I'm basically a lazy person, and as I wrote this review for Amazon in response to all the bad reviews of Jonathan Carroll there, I'm just transferring it to here.
I think most people either love Jonathan Carroll or hate him, not much in between. I loved White Apples. Unless you're used to Jonathan Carroll's style, you might, indeed, find this book terrible as some have said. If you are a fan, this is great. It actually is less confusing, less disjointed than other books of Carroll's, which I also love. You just need to learn to go with the flow. Don't resist or protest because things are too weird and confusing. Just let it happen and in the end you'll be given understanding. When I read one of Jonathan Carroll's books that might be considered "more normal", I keep waiting for things to get weird. I'm almost disappointed when they don't. If you want "normal" try Kissing The Beehive. It is an excellent read and you won't believe it's the same author. It reveals the incredible flexibility of a genius mind.
I think most people either love Jonathan Carroll or hate him, not much in between. I loved White Apples. Unless you're used to Jonathan Carroll's style, you might, indeed, find this book terrible as some have said. If you are a fan, this is great. It actually is less confusing, less disjointed than other books of Carroll's, which I also love. You just need to learn to go with the flow. Don't resist or protest because things are too weird and confusing. Just let it happen and in the end you'll be given understanding. When I read one of Jonathan Carroll's books that might be considered "more normal", I keep waiting for things to get weird. I'm almost disappointed when they don't. If you want "normal" try Kissing The Beehive. It is an excellent read and you won't believe it's the same author. It reveals the incredible flexibility of a genius mind.
May 13, 2016
Another book that Neil Gaiman--my favorite author--loved, and that I hated. I really thought this one was going to work for me, too, as it has two of my favorite Dumb Plot Devices: Amnesia! Coming Back From the Dead! Carroll treats both of these premises in unusual ways, but nevertheless I found the narrative scattershot and incredibly unengaging. I think this may have been because Carroll changes the rules constantly, simply throwing in new fantasy elements when he needs them; I felt discombobulated the entire time I was reading, not to mention all-too-aware that I was schlumping through a fictional universe, rather than a world that felt real but wondrous. What gives, Neil?
January 23, 2013
(possible spoilers)
I'm a Jonathan Carroll fan. I am. But the more I read him the more his writing style annoys me. I'm not sure if annoy is the right word, since I still read and enjoy his books. But he likes to tell the reader things. Show don't tell, yes, the old writing adage that everyone (or every writer, anyway) knows and while I think you can certainly be a good writer when you tell your story rather than show (Garcia Marquez, Borges, most Latin American writers when you think about it) Carroll, especially in this book, tells us everything about Victor but we really don't see anything about him. On several occasions, we're told Victor is a great lover or a great father or, well, just a great person all around. But here's the thing. He isn't. I mean, he isn't evil or anything but he's certainly not a good father if his actions in the book are any indication. We barely see him be a father and when we do I felt that he really didn't give a crap about his kid (or was it kids?). And when we're told this near the end of the book, that he was a, and I quote, a "great father" I stopped reading (not the book, just that sentence) and I thought, "What? Since when?"
Of course, the narrator may be telling things that flat out aren't true and leaving the reader to sort it out (ie. unreliable narrator) but I didn't get that feeling. I felt that what the narrator was trying to get across was that, yes, Victor really is all these things I'm telling you he is. See how great he is? He really does deserve a happy ending because he's so great.
Oh, and the "Love Conquers All" ending? It was a "LCA" ending, right? That's the feeling I got. I didn't mind it, really, it's nice to read a happy ending once in awhile, but, I don't know, it just didn't feel right to me.
It's weird. I enjoyed reading it but the more I think about it the less I like it. I don't know if I'll read the sequel.
I'm a Jonathan Carroll fan. I am. But the more I read him the more his writing style annoys me. I'm not sure if annoy is the right word, since I still read and enjoy his books. But he likes to tell the reader things. Show don't tell, yes, the old writing adage that everyone (or every writer, anyway) knows and while I think you can certainly be a good writer when you tell your story rather than show (Garcia Marquez, Borges, most Latin American writers when you think about it) Carroll, especially in this book, tells us everything about Victor but we really don't see anything about him. On several occasions, we're told Victor is a great lover or a great father or, well, just a great person all around. But here's the thing. He isn't. I mean, he isn't evil or anything but he's certainly not a good father if his actions in the book are any indication. We barely see him be a father and when we do I felt that he really didn't give a crap about his kid (or was it kids?). And when we're told this near the end of the book, that he was a, and I quote, a "great father" I stopped reading (not the book, just that sentence) and I thought, "What? Since when?"
Of course, the narrator may be telling things that flat out aren't true and leaving the reader to sort it out (ie. unreliable narrator) but I didn't get that feeling. I felt that what the narrator was trying to get across was that, yes, Victor really is all these things I'm telling you he is. See how great he is? He really does deserve a happy ending because he's so great.
Oh, and the "Love Conquers All" ending? It was a "LCA" ending, right? That's the feeling I got. I didn't mind it, really, it's nice to read a happy ending once in awhile, but, I don't know, it just didn't feel right to me.
It's weird. I enjoyed reading it but the more I think about it the less I like it. I don't know if I'll read the sequel.
Read
December 22, 2017My eyes are too old for the teeny tiny print in my edition of this book. I just can't keep struggling with it, and I won't rate it since I managed only a few pages. Just enough to know that it is an interesting story, and I would love to see what happens.
May 17, 2013
I was just talking to a friend about how I don't often post negative reviews but this one? I just have to vent. This was first posted here:
http://librarianpirate.tumblr.com/pos...
So in one of the first scenes, before the main character, Vincent, knows anything weird is going on, he runs into a friend, Bruno, at a restaurant. While he’s talking to his friend, he gets a phone call from his ex-wife. He excuses himself to take it and his ex-wife tells him that Bruno’s wife just called her to share the news that Bruno had a heart attack and died a few days ago. Vincent absolutely freaks out. He has a full on panic attack. The book doesn't call it that but I recognized the symptoms. If my ex wife called me and told me that a friend who I was talking to right then was dead I would hang up and say to my friend, “OH MY GOODNESS the funniest thing just happened” or whatever, ya know? I would assume misunderstanding or miscommunication first and foremost and save the panic attack until later, ya know?
Yes, so, minor thing but then Vincent realizes he has died and come back to life. He has another minor episode which is totes understandable but then he comes to accept it. Then his girlfriend appears on the scene, tells him she’s pregnant, and then tells him that she’s having conversations with the baby. He decides that girlfriend has gone crazy. He spends a few moments thinking how repulsive his girlfriend is to him now because he knows she’s crazy. Like - you accept that you and Bruno have both died and come back but you can’t accept that your girlfriend is talking to your baby? Whatever.
(Yes, I know that I am first upset at him for too readily accepting the supernatural and then for too readily dismissing the supernatural. Hush.)
THEN there are all these weird new plot points thrown in that bug the poop out of me. Animals are put on this earth to protect humans. Every time an animal mauls a human it’s because the human taunted the animal, not because we’re delicious looking lion food. Zoos are sacred spaces because all these animals are pushed into one small space. This one particular zoo is especially sacred because it’s especially cramped so the animals are in an even smaller space. It’s also one of those books (you know the kind) that loves to make reference to bodily functions just for the sake of being “real” or “with it” or whatever? I mean - I don’t mind a well placed reference to bodily functions. It happens. But maybe it’s a function of listening to an audiobook that I notice when the same words are used again and again? And if I hear the words puke or bowels again I’m going to puke. Right on the author’s bowels.
ALSO The main character is a total philandering poophead. He loves women and he loves seducing them and this is presented in this totally positive light? And whatever - slut it up, guy, but the fact that he left his wife of 16 years and his 2 children because he couldn't stop sleeping around is not a positive thing! If you can’t stop sleeping with other women then don’t enter into a monogamous marriage! Tell your wife or girlfriend that you need an open relationship. And his girlfriend - the great love of his life who is the only girl who can keep him from straying (barf) is a total manic pixie dream girl.
AND THE WRITING STYLE! It’s all tell, over and over, absolutely no show. And the characters all have these ridiculous quirks and then we’re told exactly what to think of this quirk. (Vincent always carries a red spoon in his pocket. It’s his talisman because he ate some really delicious ice cream with Isabelle one time and he needs it to remind him that there is still joy to be had in this world or what the fuck ever. Isabelle has a hyperdeveloped fight or flight response and she always chooses flight! She’s elusive and hard to pin down but that’s just because she’s so perfect!)
Basically I am at the point in reading this book where if anyone ever said to me “Have you ever read White Apples? I love it!” I would probably puke on their bowels and then judge them forever.
(NB4R - if you love White Apples I will still be your friend but I might just judge you for it.)
http://librarianpirate.tumblr.com/pos...
So in one of the first scenes, before the main character, Vincent, knows anything weird is going on, he runs into a friend, Bruno, at a restaurant. While he’s talking to his friend, he gets a phone call from his ex-wife. He excuses himself to take it and his ex-wife tells him that Bruno’s wife just called her to share the news that Bruno had a heart attack and died a few days ago. Vincent absolutely freaks out. He has a full on panic attack. The book doesn't call it that but I recognized the symptoms. If my ex wife called me and told me that a friend who I was talking to right then was dead I would hang up and say to my friend, “OH MY GOODNESS the funniest thing just happened” or whatever, ya know? I would assume misunderstanding or miscommunication first and foremost and save the panic attack until later, ya know?
Yes, so, minor thing but then Vincent realizes he has died and come back to life. He has another minor episode which is totes understandable but then he comes to accept it. Then his girlfriend appears on the scene, tells him she’s pregnant, and then tells him that she’s having conversations with the baby. He decides that girlfriend has gone crazy. He spends a few moments thinking how repulsive his girlfriend is to him now because he knows she’s crazy. Like - you accept that you and Bruno have both died and come back but you can’t accept that your girlfriend is talking to your baby? Whatever.
(Yes, I know that I am first upset at him for too readily accepting the supernatural and then for too readily dismissing the supernatural. Hush.)
THEN there are all these weird new plot points thrown in that bug the poop out of me. Animals are put on this earth to protect humans. Every time an animal mauls a human it’s because the human taunted the animal, not because we’re delicious looking lion food. Zoos are sacred spaces because all these animals are pushed into one small space. This one particular zoo is especially sacred because it’s especially cramped so the animals are in an even smaller space. It’s also one of those books (you know the kind) that loves to make reference to bodily functions just for the sake of being “real” or “with it” or whatever? I mean - I don’t mind a well placed reference to bodily functions. It happens. But maybe it’s a function of listening to an audiobook that I notice when the same words are used again and again? And if I hear the words puke or bowels again I’m going to puke. Right on the author’s bowels.
ALSO The main character is a total philandering poophead. He loves women and he loves seducing them and this is presented in this totally positive light? And whatever - slut it up, guy, but the fact that he left his wife of 16 years and his 2 children because he couldn't stop sleeping around is not a positive thing! If you can’t stop sleeping with other women then don’t enter into a monogamous marriage! Tell your wife or girlfriend that you need an open relationship. And his girlfriend - the great love of his life who is the only girl who can keep him from straying (barf) is a total manic pixie dream girl.
AND THE WRITING STYLE! It’s all tell, over and over, absolutely no show. And the characters all have these ridiculous quirks and then we’re told exactly what to think of this quirk. (Vincent always carries a red spoon in his pocket. It’s his talisman because he ate some really delicious ice cream with Isabelle one time and he needs it to remind him that there is still joy to be had in this world or what the fuck ever. Isabelle has a hyperdeveloped fight or flight response and she always chooses flight! She’s elusive and hard to pin down but that’s just because she’s so perfect!)
Basically I am at the point in reading this book where if anyone ever said to me “Have you ever read White Apples? I love it!” I would probably puke on their bowels and then judge them forever.
(NB4R - if you love White Apples I will still be your friend but I might just judge you for it.)
February 13, 2019
WHITE APPLES is one of my favorite Carroll novels; the sequel is GLASS SOUP, and both contain my favorite characters, Vincent and Isabelle. From his website:
"Vincent Ettrich is in a tight spot. He has died and been brought back to life to help save his unborn son from evil and chaotic forces who want to prevent this son from becoming the savior of the universe. Sound bizarre? Welcome to the surreal and metaphysically massive novel WHITE APPLES by Jonathan Carroll.
In Carroll's world, humans are key threads in a giant tapestry that is being woven as life is lived. But there are dark forces at work who don't want the weaving to continue as is and Ettrich, his beloved Isabelle, and their sentient fetus find themselves standing in the way. Their struggles to merely understand what is happening to them and to stand tall in the very face of darkness makes for a humorous, touching, and thrilling tale with, as is expected, a big bang of an ending. But the most marvelous aspect of the novel is not its far-reaching, mind-blowing metaphysics. It's the wonderfully tragic love story of Vincent and Isabelle that keeps this flight of fancy grounded and beautifully human."
Carl Bromley wrote: " 'In February, the month when suicide always looks good to me, I taught a class in Poe...' This and other strange sentences lace the baroque and iridescent world of novelist Jonathan Carroll. Too fevered and hallucinatory for lovers of popular literary fiction, Carroll's strange hybrids exist in a twilight zone that has both befuddled mainstream publishers and eluded a mass readership. Yet they've won him a string of admirers--including Jonathan Lethem, Pat Conroy, Katherine Dunn, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman."
https://www.thenation.com/article/wha...
And me!
"Vincent Ettrich is in a tight spot. He has died and been brought back to life to help save his unborn son from evil and chaotic forces who want to prevent this son from becoming the savior of the universe. Sound bizarre? Welcome to the surreal and metaphysically massive novel WHITE APPLES by Jonathan Carroll.
In Carroll's world, humans are key threads in a giant tapestry that is being woven as life is lived. But there are dark forces at work who don't want the weaving to continue as is and Ettrich, his beloved Isabelle, and their sentient fetus find themselves standing in the way. Their struggles to merely understand what is happening to them and to stand tall in the very face of darkness makes for a humorous, touching, and thrilling tale with, as is expected, a big bang of an ending. But the most marvelous aspect of the novel is not its far-reaching, mind-blowing metaphysics. It's the wonderfully tragic love story of Vincent and Isabelle that keeps this flight of fancy grounded and beautifully human."
Carl Bromley wrote: " 'In February, the month when suicide always looks good to me, I taught a class in Poe...' This and other strange sentences lace the baroque and iridescent world of novelist Jonathan Carroll. Too fevered and hallucinatory for lovers of popular literary fiction, Carroll's strange hybrids exist in a twilight zone that has both befuddled mainstream publishers and eluded a mass readership. Yet they've won him a string of admirers--including Jonathan Lethem, Pat Conroy, Katherine Dunn, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman."
https://www.thenation.com/article/wha...
And me!
April 14, 2025
I absolutely despised the main characters: Isabelle is the type of woman who will misunderstand a single sentence, make up an image of reality around it, and then act on it refusing to explain anything; Vincent is a guy with two semi-interesting qualities: his improbable luck and ability to win over every woman he sets his eyes on--which is, almost all of them. Oh, and thet he's technically dead. Together they're supposed to become parents for a very special child, and the only reason I survived the first half is because I needed to know why the hell them in particular.
Then things started getting both clearer and more complicated at the same time. I loved almost every piece of cosmology, save for the idealistic image of animals. I especially liked how chaos was too chaotic even for its own agents at times. However, a lot of similar ideas was later used in Bathing the Lion with much better effect.
Then things started getting both clearer and more complicated at the same time. I loved almost every piece of cosmology, save for the idealistic image of animals. I especially liked how chaos was too chaotic even for its own agents at times. However, a lot of similar ideas was later used in Bathing the Lion with much better effect.
February 16, 2025
I think it's safe to say I'm not the target reader for this book, though I am still giving it 3 stars for originality. This is my first Jonathan Carroll book and I found his writing style a bit jarring. There's something a little retro about it, almost like a hard-boiled crime novel of the '50s, without the crime. His tendency towards "telling writing" had me feeling unconvinced in a few places and disengaged in others. In the end, I just didn't care enough for the main character Vincent to be invested in how things turned out for him.
This was first published in 2002 but, because I received a gifted audiobook copy, I gather it's newly releasing on audio. The audiobook production was done very well, and I felt that David DeVries did a great performance on narration. I would be interested in hearing more of his narration work in the future. Thank you to Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for honest review.
This was first published in 2002 but, because I received a gifted audiobook copy, I gather it's newly releasing on audio. The audiobook production was done very well, and I felt that David DeVries did a great performance on narration. I would be interested in hearing more of his narration work in the future. Thank you to Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for honest review.
March 19, 2023
Moje drugie spotkanie z tym autorem i nie zawiodłem się. Jedno jest pewne tu nie ma logiki a chaos nie jest regularny, przewidywalny.
A z chaosu powstał Slayer :-)
A z chaosu powstał Slayer :-)
March 21, 2025
I discovered Jonathan Carroll during the peak Tumblr era. There was an account with immaculate taste which always posted striking images and these unforgettable Jonathan Carroll quotes. It quickly became a steady source of inspiration for me - I had an entire file of favorite Carroll quotes before I had read a single book. Naturally, when I got a chance to listen to White Apples, I eagerly dug in. I should have known there is no way any book could live up to my Tumblr-fueled dreams. The problem, of course, is that every single moment of a novel can't be as exquisite as its best quotes. There have to be normal moments in order to make the special ones sparkly. Once I got over that, White Apples turned into an interesting exploration of love and purpose. The narration fit the story. I will definitely continue to pick up books by the author and I will always treasure my collection of quotes. Thank you to the author, Brilliance Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC.
November 17, 2025
White Apples
by Jonathan Carroll
Review by Galen Weitkamp
As every being contributes the pieces of its’ being to the cosmic mosaic and each continually tinkers with their arrangement, so chaos defaces their art and threatens universal disorder. What can a single human do save the universe? Probably nothing. But, perhaps two humans, through love can lead us to a solution. This is the possibility that Jonathan Carroll explores in his surreal novel about the love between two people.
by Jonathan Carroll
Review by Galen Weitkamp
As every being contributes the pieces of its’ being to the cosmic mosaic and each continually tinkers with their arrangement, so chaos defaces their art and threatens universal disorder. What can a single human do save the universe? Probably nothing. But, perhaps two humans, through love can lead us to a solution. This is the possibility that Jonathan Carroll explores in his surreal novel about the love between two people.
March 31, 2025
Audiobook eARC provided by Brilliance Publishing through Netgalley
Publication date: 25/05/25
I was really hoping this would be a cool dynamic story that was perhaps a bit hard to follow but ultimately a great time. What I got here was, sadly, not that. I would have dropped it almost immediately, if I hadn't made the commitment to review it.
Firstly, the book suffers from a case of "man writing women" - that's obvious from the first scene, in which the protagonist tries to score a chick working in an underwear store and wows her with his clever insights on women and lingerie. This is made worse because all characters, a huge chunk of whom are women the protagonist is or has been romantically and sexually involved with, are extremely flat - they have collections of quirks and traits that don't coalesce into a believable personality.
As the protagonist, Vincent Ettrich isn't written much better than the supproting cast. I think he's meant to be a charming but flawed man who has things to challenge in himself (like the way he treats women) but none of that comes through. He's not charismatic or likeable in any way, and I personally found the portions of the book narrated from his perspective (that is, the majority of the book) painfully annoying.
I've heard that the story was hard to grasp but I personally had no problem following it. It's odd, and the worldbuilding is kind of weird but nothing impossible to understand. I was hoping it to be a bit less straighforward, actually. The problem is any time something odd happens it's almost immideately explained to the reader. I'm not a staunch proponent of "show not tell" but the telling here was too much. There are a scenes where one character straight up gives a "What's Happening for Dummies" lecture to another character, or the narrator explains things about the world and characters directly. I suspect this overexplaining is why the plot felt like 90% set-up with 10% pay-off. As a matter of fact every good idea the author had in terms of the world was either explained in a way that sucked all the life from it, or severely underused.
Basically, if you're in the mood for a story with weird and seemingly erratic worldbuilding, which has a flawed but likeable character and examines the intersection of past, present and future, you're better off picking How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.
Publication date: 25/05/25
I was really hoping this would be a cool dynamic story that was perhaps a bit hard to follow but ultimately a great time. What I got here was, sadly, not that. I would have dropped it almost immediately, if I hadn't made the commitment to review it.
Firstly, the book suffers from a case of "man writing women" - that's obvious from the first scene, in which the protagonist tries to score a chick working in an underwear store and wows her with his clever insights on women and lingerie. This is made worse because all characters, a huge chunk of whom are women the protagonist is or has been romantically and sexually involved with, are extremely flat - they have collections of quirks and traits that don't coalesce into a believable personality.
As the protagonist, Vincent Ettrich isn't written much better than the supproting cast. I think he's meant to be a charming but flawed man who has things to challenge in himself (like the way he treats women) but none of that comes through. He's not charismatic or likeable in any way, and I personally found the portions of the book narrated from his perspective (that is, the majority of the book) painfully annoying.
I've heard that the story was hard to grasp but I personally had no problem following it. It's odd, and the worldbuilding is kind of weird but nothing impossible to understand. I was hoping it to be a bit less straighforward, actually. The problem is any time something odd happens it's almost immideately explained to the reader. I'm not a staunch proponent of "show not tell" but the telling here was too much. There are a scenes where one character straight up gives a "What's Happening for Dummies" lecture to another character, or the narrator explains things about the world and characters directly. I suspect this overexplaining is why the plot felt like 90% set-up with 10% pay-off. As a matter of fact every good idea the author had in terms of the world was either explained in a way that sucked all the life from it, or severely underused.
Basically, if you're in the mood for a story with weird and seemingly erratic worldbuilding, which has a flawed but likeable character and examines the intersection of past, present and future, you're better off picking How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.
April 25, 2016
Jonathan Carroll has done another turn at Magic Realism here, and turned it pretty well. Here is a story of someone sent back from death to the living, to accomplish a mission they do not understand on behalf of someone who has not even been born yet.
It's the sort of thing Neil Gaiman would write (indeed the book is dedicated to Neil Gaiman) and Carroll does almost as good a job as Gaiman would, but not quite.
The fact that the protagonist does not have a full understanding of what he is supposed to be doing is used effectively to heighten the mystery without being a cheap trick - Carroll is an outstanding writer, after all, and works the "show, don't tell" method effectively. In a couple of places though (I'll say zoo as an example and leave it at that to avoid spoilers) he slips a bit towards melodrama. this would not be a fault for many authors, but the rest of the book is written with such an economy of power that these instances really stand out. Still, an excellent read.
It's the sort of thing Neil Gaiman would write (indeed the book is dedicated to Neil Gaiman) and Carroll does almost as good a job as Gaiman would, but not quite.
The fact that the protagonist does not have a full understanding of what he is supposed to be doing is used effectively to heighten the mystery without being a cheap trick - Carroll is an outstanding writer, after all, and works the "show, don't tell" method effectively. In a couple of places though (I'll say zoo as an example and leave it at that to avoid spoilers) he slips a bit towards melodrama. this would not be a fault for many authors, but the rest of the book is written with such an economy of power that these instances really stand out. Still, an excellent read.
March 29, 2015
Vincent Ettrich has just discovered that he's been resurrected. The worst part? He has no idea how he died. And now his mistress is telling him that she's carrying his child. Thus, White Apples begins. Throw in the fate of Order versus Chaos and you have this Jonathan Carroll novel.
This follows up on The Wooden Sea, though not in a directly obvious way. The themes that it carries are similar - chaos versus order, the way that the past changes who we are without us being able to change the past. The book, as most of Carroll's tend to, comes together beautifully in a startling climax at the end.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Glass Soup and seeing what happens next.
This follows up on The Wooden Sea, though not in a directly obvious way. The themes that it carries are similar - chaos versus order, the way that the past changes who we are without us being able to change the past. The book, as most of Carroll's tend to, comes together beautifully in a startling climax at the end.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Glass Soup and seeing what happens next.
April 21, 2016
What if you know you have died, but death is extremely similar as the world we live in now? Things are just slightly off, funny looking people, talking animals, etc. That is chapter 1 of White Apples. What if your love tries to save you from death like Orpheus tried with Eurydice? That is the rest of the novel. Magical-realism at it's finest. Filled with some of the most interesting philosophies i've ever heard on life and death. An Unbelievable read by my favorite author.
December 20, 2015
L'amore è caos ma non soltanto. È vero che si perde il controllo, ma soltanto il proprio. Perché quando c'è l'amore vero, non sei più solo. Si è in due e insieme si crea qualcosa di nuovo, e alla fine è quello che ti salva.
March 28, 2021
Not quite top tier Carroll, but even slightly less great Carroll is better than most. I suspect someone asked him, politely, to try writing something more conventional and plotty because there’s an actual sense of a plot arc here. Sadly this means the book feels a bit awkward and overstuffed. One of the things I like most about Carroll is the sense that he decides on a central theme and then feels his way instinctually through that theme until the book is done. This feels less innovative and surprising, but even then Carroll can’t help but meet those plot beats with incredibly surprising and eye opening detours and striking and strange moments. I’m very intrigued to see where it goes and enjoyed it very much. Even slightly less strange Carroll is brilliant
Final moment: a very Carroll like moment where the heroine starts thinking about the Blue Danube Waltz and that very piece of music starts playing on my CD player at that very moment. I think he’d appreciate that very much
Final moment: a very Carroll like moment where the heroine starts thinking about the Blue Danube Waltz and that very piece of music starts playing on my CD player at that very moment. I think he’d appreciate that very much
March 1, 2020
Unfortunately I read a couple reviews after the fact that summed up my feelings. I picked this one up after reading a blurb by Neil Gaiman exclaiming how good this book was. Ugh. It was terrible. Uneventful. Boring. Uninteresting characters. An absurd plot. Just awful all around.
November 24, 2014
White Apples is the beginning of a new trilogy from Carroll, and with new beginnings he's decided to modify his modus operandi from previous novels. To start with, gone is the first-person, unreliable male narrator; in its place is a third-person omniscient voice that is both strangly familiar and disconcerting. I hesitate to call it Carroll's true voice, because he's shown in previous novels that he can take on differing personas convincingly, and the voice is still filtered here through the impressions of the characters. However, instead of only getting into the thoughts of the primary character lost in Carroll's latest version of Wonderland, this time you get to understand the motivations of three: the male lead, Vincent Ettrich, "a genial philanderer" (as the dust jacket copy labels him); Isabelle, his true love; and Coco Hallis, his guardian angel.
That's the other thing that's different about this new novel. Most of Carroll's novels have something strange and weird about them--the common way I introduce his work to people is to say that it would be labeled magic realism if his last name had been of the Spanish origin. Before White Apples, however, the typical Carroll started off in a world much like our own and only started to look weird halfway through the book when the dog sleeping on the bed starts talking or two characters realize that they share the same dreamworld. In this new novel, Carroll drops us down the rabbit hole in the first chapter when we learn that Vincent is actually dead. Or has died, and now is back, but not in the sense that he was legally dead and the paramedics restarted his heart, but in the Monty Python sense of he had kicked the bucket and was pushing up daisies, and now he's walking his old haunts. No one knows the difference, except for his friend Bruno Mann, but that's because Bruno's dead himself.
It only gets weirder from that.
Carroll's strength is never in the weirdnesses, although every one of his books contains a major element of the fantastic. Instead, Carroll's best writing centers around those integral and important details that make up characters and relationships. I consider the first third of Bones of the Moon to be the best love story I've ever read and think it would have not been out of place had it appeared in The New Yorker. There's no fantasy anywhere in it, either, except the wonder that such a love could ever grow between two people. In White Apples, the reader never gets to see those important details between Vincent and Isabelle, and must instead learn about their character and relationship from the things they tell each other and awkward flackback sequences. In the world of creative writing workshops, we would consider this "telling, and not showing," except that Carroll's an accomplished storyteller and doesn't linger on the telling for that long. If this is your first taste of Carroll, you might not even notice it, but for those fans, it provides enough of a twist to the tale that it is every bit as off-putting as the Twilight Zone cliffhangers at the end of each chapter here.
I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like this book. I read it with the same fervor that I reserve for only a few authors (Carroll, Pat Cadigan, Iain M. Banks, and, recently, J.K. Rowling). But something nagged at me constantly, and I think it was the assumption that the relationship between Vincent and Isabelle was love, beautiful and strong. My suspension of disbelief didn't have any trouble with Vincent back from the dead, but I could never get over the precious way that Vincent and Isabelle reflected on their past. It was like listening to a couple baby-talk with each other thinking that you would hear their words as endearing and not sophomoric.
This is supposedly the first book of a Joyce Cary-like trilogy, where this was from the viewpoint of the man, the next will be from the viewpoint of a woman, and the third from a child. Having heard Carroll read the first chapter of the new book during his recent U.S. tour, I'm already excited by it, and it should be interesting to see how well he gets into the female viewpoint--the sections in White Apples give us a just a taste of that. That first chapter is weirder than anything in this book, and perhaps that is what Carroll is heading to: a book that shows us normal is really the fantasy, the fantastic.
That's the other thing that's different about this new novel. Most of Carroll's novels have something strange and weird about them--the common way I introduce his work to people is to say that it would be labeled magic realism if his last name had been of the Spanish origin. Before White Apples, however, the typical Carroll started off in a world much like our own and only started to look weird halfway through the book when the dog sleeping on the bed starts talking or two characters realize that they share the same dreamworld. In this new novel, Carroll drops us down the rabbit hole in the first chapter when we learn that Vincent is actually dead. Or has died, and now is back, but not in the sense that he was legally dead and the paramedics restarted his heart, but in the Monty Python sense of he had kicked the bucket and was pushing up daisies, and now he's walking his old haunts. No one knows the difference, except for his friend Bruno Mann, but that's because Bruno's dead himself.
It only gets weirder from that.
Carroll's strength is never in the weirdnesses, although every one of his books contains a major element of the fantastic. Instead, Carroll's best writing centers around those integral and important details that make up characters and relationships. I consider the first third of Bones of the Moon to be the best love story I've ever read and think it would have not been out of place had it appeared in The New Yorker. There's no fantasy anywhere in it, either, except the wonder that such a love could ever grow between two people. In White Apples, the reader never gets to see those important details between Vincent and Isabelle, and must instead learn about their character and relationship from the things they tell each other and awkward flackback sequences. In the world of creative writing workshops, we would consider this "telling, and not showing," except that Carroll's an accomplished storyteller and doesn't linger on the telling for that long. If this is your first taste of Carroll, you might not even notice it, but for those fans, it provides enough of a twist to the tale that it is every bit as off-putting as the Twilight Zone cliffhangers at the end of each chapter here.
I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like this book. I read it with the same fervor that I reserve for only a few authors (Carroll, Pat Cadigan, Iain M. Banks, and, recently, J.K. Rowling). But something nagged at me constantly, and I think it was the assumption that the relationship between Vincent and Isabelle was love, beautiful and strong. My suspension of disbelief didn't have any trouble with Vincent back from the dead, but I could never get over the precious way that Vincent and Isabelle reflected on their past. It was like listening to a couple baby-talk with each other thinking that you would hear their words as endearing and not sophomoric.
This is supposedly the first book of a Joyce Cary-like trilogy, where this was from the viewpoint of the man, the next will be from the viewpoint of a woman, and the third from a child. Having heard Carroll read the first chapter of the new book during his recent U.S. tour, I'm already excited by it, and it should be interesting to see how well he gets into the female viewpoint--the sections in White Apples give us a just a taste of that. That first chapter is weirder than anything in this book, and perhaps that is what Carroll is heading to: a book that shows us normal is really the fantasy, the fantastic.
April 2, 2022
That was kind of a mess. I remember Carroll being a better writer; how odd. There were several passages in this novel that felt amateurish, including awkward repetitions. And really there is nothing quite so annoying as a writer constantly tugging your sleeve, saying "Look! Aren't my characters so eccentric? And likable? They are just so likable, and original. Did you see that? Let me show you again how eccentric and special." Sigh.
August 22, 2011
What would it be like to wake up dead, anyway? My kids asked that question just the other day, but unlike Jonathan Carroll, I had no ready answer for them. That's what has happened to reformed womanizer Vincent Ettrich, though, in the first few pages of White Apples... he's dead—no heartbeat, no pulse—but otherwise his life seems to have gone on pretty much as usual.
This isn't as much of a paradox as it may seem, though it is a fundamental mystery, both to Vincent and to Isabelle Neukor, the love of his life (and afterlife). And to us. Vincent and Isabelle get yanked back and forth across the line between the mundane and the surreal—strangeness intruding upon shared Sachertorte in Viennese cafés—sometimes in the space of a single paragraph, and it's impossible to predict what will come at them and try to separate them next.
The neat thing, though, is that Carroll's seamless command of that tightrope walk actually results in answers that make sense, at least in the context of the story. Of course the afterlife would be this way. Of course God is the mosaic, in which each of us is a tile... Of course, Chaos is more greatly to be feared than Death.
I honestly don't know exactly how Carroll does it—how he so deftly mixes mundane events with the bizarre; how he turns such elegantly simple sentences into such aching tenderness, such vertiginous longing—but he does, in novel after novel. White Apples is the precursor to Glass Soup (so yes, I read them backwards, this time around). Though doing so did no damage that I could detect, this novel does now seem to me to be a much tighter book than its successor. Perhaps the focus on two primary characters, as opposed to the larger cast of Glass Soup, made the difference.
And for a book that deals so much with death, there's very little of its ugliness on display in White Apples. However, there was at least one scene, a little more than midway through, that caught me by surprise, angered and disgusted me with what seemed like gratuitous violence. Maybe that was the point, though: by enfolding the raw nature of death in a protective coating of beauty for so much of the novel, Carroll's eventual peeling back of that covering becomes even more effective.
The front-cover blurb on the trade paperback edition of White Apples that I own is from Pat Conroy, an author I've never read. Conroy compares reading Carroll to watching The X-Files or The Twilight Zone as if written by Fyodor Dostoevski or Italo Calvino—a suitably highbrow vs. lowbrow comparison, apparently intended to average out to somewhere in the middlebrow range. I think Conroy might have been reaching, though; I don't see it, myself. To me, White Apples has very few pretensions; it's more of a David Lynch work, unabashedly bizarre, albeit one you can actually trust not to betray you, or like Kate Bush's "The Hounds of Love," the part where she sings so much of a story in a few simple lines:
Your touchstones will most likely be different but, in any case, you shouldn't run away from this book...
This isn't as much of a paradox as it may seem, though it is a fundamental mystery, both to Vincent and to Isabelle Neukor, the love of his life (and afterlife). And to us. Vincent and Isabelle get yanked back and forth across the line between the mundane and the surreal—strangeness intruding upon shared Sachertorte in Viennese cafés—sometimes in the space of a single paragraph, and it's impossible to predict what will come at them and try to separate them next.
The neat thing, though, is that Carroll's seamless command of that tightrope walk actually results in answers that make sense, at least in the context of the story. Of course the afterlife would be this way. Of course God is the mosaic, in which each of us is a tile... Of course, Chaos is more greatly to be feared than Death.
I honestly don't know exactly how Carroll does it—how he so deftly mixes mundane events with the bizarre; how he turns such elegantly simple sentences into such aching tenderness, such vertiginous longing—but he does, in novel after novel. White Apples is the precursor to Glass Soup (so yes, I read them backwards, this time around). Though doing so did no damage that I could detect, this novel does now seem to me to be a much tighter book than its successor. Perhaps the focus on two primary characters, as opposed to the larger cast of Glass Soup, made the difference.
And for a book that deals so much with death, there's very little of its ugliness on display in White Apples. However, there was at least one scene, a little more than midway through, that caught me by surprise, angered and disgusted me with what seemed like gratuitous violence. Maybe that was the point, though: by enfolding the raw nature of death in a protective coating of beauty for so much of the novel, Carroll's eventual peeling back of that covering becomes even more effective.
The front-cover blurb on the trade paperback edition of White Apples that I own is from Pat Conroy, an author I've never read. Conroy compares reading Carroll to watching The X-Files or The Twilight Zone as if written by Fyodor Dostoevski or Italo Calvino—a suitably highbrow vs. lowbrow comparison, apparently intended to average out to somewhere in the middlebrow range. I think Conroy might have been reaching, though; I don't see it, myself. To me, White Apples has very few pretensions; it's more of a David Lynch work, unabashedly bizarre, albeit one you can actually trust not to betray you, or like Kate Bush's "The Hounds of Love," the part where she sings so much of a story in a few simple lines:
"I found a fox
caught by dogs
he let me take him in my house.
His little heart, it beat so fast
and I'm ashamed of running away..."
Your touchstones will most likely be different but, in any case, you shouldn't run away from this book...
June 24, 2014
WARNING: THIS BOOK DEPICTS A SCENE OF BABY ELEPHANT DEATH.
Seriously, a warning probably wouldn't have stopped me from reading it, but once the victim appeared on screen, I would've known to unfocus my eyes in time to avoid that.
As someone whose favorite books/authors are my favorite books, I think very hard before recommending those books. Because if someone ends up hating the book, and it is one of my favorite books, what does that say about me, the friend, or our compatibility?
I may overthink things.
So, the fact that I really didn't like this book, when it was recommended as a favorite author situation by one of my favorite humans, is...very unfortunate.
But I really didn't like this book.
I'm a pretty good swimmer. (Metaphor time! You know I love those.) Took swimming lessons and everything, though I never learned to dive face first. That has nothing to do with this metaphor.
But when it comes to swimming, I am restricted to 8 feet. Anything deeper than 8 feet, and I start to panic. I've tried 12 feet, it was way too far down without touching and I did not care for it at all.
This book is me jumping from a helicopter into the middle of the ocean with no land in sight and the helicopter has just tottered away leaving me alone.
I don't understand what I just read. Or, what I do understand is pieces, not the big picture, and those pieces do not in any way fit together. Lots of corner pieces, no connectors.
This has me concerned, though, because this is the second book in...one month? Maybe two months? That I was left absolutely dumbfounded. I'm worried about my reading comprehension skills. It's making me feel like I'm losing my ability to absorb what I'm reading, and I really am very worried.
The more I didn't understand, the angrier I got with the book. And I would set it down and walk away, and make it think about what it had done, and then I would go back.
If this has not been a recommend from Mina, I think I would've given up. As it was, I did end up giving up, in that I stopped trying to understand what the hell was going on. I just read it to read it. Did this make it easier?
Nope.
Did I understand the big picture?
Nope.
Do I know what a necum/Eef/white apple/King of the Park is?
Ha ha ha ha no.
Do I want to re-read this to try to understand?
::whimper::
I think I liked the characters? But not really? Vincent was kind of a douche, and Isabella was kind of flakey. Oh, I liked Coco. But then she kept coming around again because she was in love with him, but then that just kind of...puttered away and was a hanging thread of nothing?
as the villain was kind of awesome, but also kind of a little bitch, so I had a hard time rooting for him. The elephant-killing-villain part, I'm obviously not a fan. The entire scene circling around that just made me sad.
And then after all this Trust No One/No One Is As They Seem business, for the last 100 or so pages, there are all these characters and suddenly they are all trustworthy and .
Yeah. Sorry, Mina. I really am.
Seriously, a warning probably wouldn't have stopped me from reading it, but once the victim appeared on screen, I would've known to unfocus my eyes in time to avoid that.
As someone whose favorite books/authors are my favorite books, I think very hard before recommending those books. Because if someone ends up hating the book, and it is one of my favorite books, what does that say about me, the friend, or our compatibility?
I may overthink things.
So, the fact that I really didn't like this book, when it was recommended as a favorite author situation by one of my favorite humans, is...very unfortunate.
But I really didn't like this book.
I'm a pretty good swimmer. (Metaphor time! You know I love those.) Took swimming lessons and everything, though I never learned to dive face first. That has nothing to do with this metaphor.
But when it comes to swimming, I am restricted to 8 feet. Anything deeper than 8 feet, and I start to panic. I've tried 12 feet, it was way too far down without touching and I did not care for it at all.
This book is me jumping from a helicopter into the middle of the ocean with no land in sight and the helicopter has just tottered away leaving me alone.
I don't understand what I just read. Or, what I do understand is pieces, not the big picture, and those pieces do not in any way fit together. Lots of corner pieces, no connectors.
This has me concerned, though, because this is the second book in...one month? Maybe two months? That I was left absolutely dumbfounded. I'm worried about my reading comprehension skills. It's making me feel like I'm losing my ability to absorb what I'm reading, and I really am very worried.
The more I didn't understand, the angrier I got with the book. And I would set it down and walk away, and make it think about what it had done, and then I would go back.
If this has not been a recommend from Mina, I think I would've given up. As it was, I did end up giving up, in that I stopped trying to understand what the hell was going on. I just read it to read it. Did this make it easier?
Nope.
Did I understand the big picture?
Nope.
Do I know what a necum/Eef/white apple/King of the Park is?
Ha ha ha ha no.
Do I want to re-read this to try to understand?
::whimper::
I think I liked the characters? But not really? Vincent was kind of a douche, and Isabella was kind of flakey. Oh, I liked Coco. But then she kept coming around again because she was in love with him, but then that just kind of...puttered away and was a hanging thread of nothing?
as the villain was kind of awesome, but also kind of a little bitch, so I had a hard time rooting for him. The elephant-killing-villain part, I'm obviously not a fan. The entire scene circling around that just made me sad.
And then after all this Trust No One/No One Is As They Seem business, for the last 100 or so pages, there are all these characters and suddenly they are all trustworthy and .
Yeah. Sorry, Mina. I really am.
February 17, 2024
У этого автора остается от меня все меньше секретов. Но, кажется, это никак не портит наших с ним отношений. Просто они становятся все более доверительными.
Страницы за страницами переворачиваются, захлопывается очередная обложка, остается уже чуть меньше половины написанных Кэрроллом, но еще непрочитанных мною книг, а мне уже чуточку страшно... Страшно, словно предстоит расставание с хорошим знакомым. Словно ему предстоит уехать куда-то, откуда он не факт, что вернется.
Хотя я, безусловно, желаю Джонатану Кэрроллу еще очень много визитов Музы и как следствие хороших романов.
Хорош ли роман "Белые яблоки"? Сложно быть непредвзятой к автору, будучи с ним хорошо знакомой, но даже мое "фанатское" субъективное мнение оказалось на этот раз не слишком воодушевленным.
Книга не захватила меня так, как, к примеру, "Страна смеха" или "Свадьба палочек", не увлекла в сказочный калейдоскоп, не затянула моментально в водоворот фантазий, ... - но! Но впервые Дж.Кэрролл вдруг показал мне до невозможности серьезное свое лицо - лицо не столько "сказочника для взрослых", сколько глубокомыслящего "аналитика сказок", эдакого задумчивого чародея-философа.
Способность к переплетению снов и реальности Кэрролл воплотил в возможность предоставить читателю шанс задуматься о смысле собственной жизни. И вот я уже не просто слежу за (как всегда сумбурным) развитием сюжета, а примеряю его к себе.
Не странно ли, - примерять к себе день, в который ты однажды просыпаешься мертвым? День, другой, третий ты существуешь на планете, встречаешься со своей любовью, защищаешь нерожденного еще ребенка от высших и несоразмерных по человеческим меркам сил, сражаешься, занимаешься любовью - и все еще остаешься мертвым...
Странно примерять к себе, но я не могу не пожелать этой примерки каждому, кто неравнодушен к Кэрроллу.
"Белые яблоки" - не сказка. Это философский трактат, обернутый в бумагу со звездочками.
Яркая обложка в стиле "женских романов-однодневок" - словно обманка, но "Белые яблоки" - не червивый сюрприз, а хрустящий, словно с мороза, сладкий налив.
Страницы за страницами переворачиваются, захлопывается очередная обложка, остается уже чуть меньше половины написанных Кэрроллом, но еще непрочитанных мною книг, а мне уже чуточку страшно... Страшно, словно предстоит расставание с хорошим знакомым. Словно ему предстоит уехать куда-то, откуда он не факт, что вернется.
Хотя я, безусловно, желаю Джонатану Кэрроллу еще очень много визитов Музы и как следствие хороших романов.
Хорош ли роман "Белые яблоки"? Сложно быть непредвзятой к автору, будучи с ним хорошо знакомой, но даже мое "фанатское" субъективное мнение оказалось на этот раз не слишком воодушевленным.
Книга не захватила меня так, как, к примеру, "Страна смеха" или "Свадьба палочек", не увлекла в сказочный калейдоскоп, не затянула моментально в водоворот фантазий, ... - но! Но впервые Дж.Кэрролл вдруг показал мне до невозможности серьезное свое лицо - лицо не столько "сказочника для взрослых", сколько глубокомыслящего "аналитика сказок", эдакого задумчивого чародея-философа.
Способность к переплетению снов и реальности Кэрролл воплотил в возможность предоставить читателю шанс задуматься о смысле собственной жизни. И вот я уже не просто слежу за (как всегда сумбурным) развитием сюжета, а примеряю его к себе.
Не странно ли, - примерять к себе день, в который ты однажды просыпаешься мертвым? День, другой, третий ты существуешь на планете, встречаешься со своей любовью, защищаешь нерожденного еще ребенка от высших и несоразмерных по человеческим меркам сил, сражаешься, занимаешься любовью - и все еще остаешься мертвым...
Странно примерять к себе, но я не могу не пожелать этой примерки каждому, кто неравнодушен к Кэрроллу.
"Белые яблоки" - не сказка. Это философский трактат, обернутый в бумагу со звездочками.
Яркая обложка в стиле "женских романов-однодневок" - словно обманка, но "Белые яблоки" - не червивый сюрприз, а хрустящий, словно с мороза, сладкий налив.
September 1, 2011
The story was intriguing, the prose poetic and imaginative but the omniscient point-of-view was upsetting, the constant POV switching, sometimes from one paragraph to the next, felt like being on a rollercoaster and made me mildly nauseous.
The ideas were interesting, they didn't always work for me, but they were never boring. Sometimes the writing made me catch my breath it was so magical, but too often Carroll over-thinks; too much description, too much labouring of the point rubs away the sparkle and wonderful ideas become dulled, stodgy and mundane.
My main problem with the book was my intense dislike for the two main characters. It's hard to warm to a narrative when this happens. I developed an early dislike for Isabelle; I understand why she's there, she's just the sort of woman a certain type of man adores, she's blonde and beautiful, with that contrary, pouting, spoiled-Lolita quality so many men seem to find cute and adorable. I found her an annoying bitch, whose darling, untouchable nose I would have taken terrific pleasure in breaking with a cricket bat. But that's just me.
Vincent was no better, he was less obviously designed-to-please than Isabelle, but he was a dreadful shit. The best you can say about this pair was that they were pretty much as bad as each other and certainly deserved to be together. I suppose it's testimony to Jonathan Carroll's skill as a writer that he's created such rounded, and - sadly - all-too-believably human characters, but they did seriously colour my feelings for the book. It's hard to care what happens to people you loathe as much as I loathed Vincent and Isabelle, and when you stop caring about the characters, you've pretty much stopped caring about the book.
I liked the writing, liked the imagination, the writing was startlingly good. I'll definitely read another of Jonathan Carroll's books - one that doesn't have Vincent Ettrich or Isabelle in it.
The ideas were interesting, they didn't always work for me, but they were never boring. Sometimes the writing made me catch my breath it was so magical, but too often Carroll over-thinks; too much description, too much labouring of the point rubs away the sparkle and wonderful ideas become dulled, stodgy and mundane.
My main problem with the book was my intense dislike for the two main characters. It's hard to warm to a narrative when this happens. I developed an early dislike for Isabelle; I understand why she's there, she's just the sort of woman a certain type of man adores, she's blonde and beautiful, with that contrary, pouting, spoiled-Lolita quality so many men seem to find cute and adorable. I found her an annoying bitch, whose darling, untouchable nose I would have taken terrific pleasure in breaking with a cricket bat. But that's just me.
Vincent was no better, he was less obviously designed-to-please than Isabelle, but he was a dreadful shit. The best you can say about this pair was that they were pretty much as bad as each other and certainly deserved to be together. I suppose it's testimony to Jonathan Carroll's skill as a writer that he's created such rounded, and - sadly - all-too-believably human characters, but they did seriously colour my feelings for the book. It's hard to care what happens to people you loathe as much as I loathed Vincent and Isabelle, and when you stop caring about the characters, you've pretty much stopped caring about the book.
I liked the writing, liked the imagination, the writing was startlingly good. I'll definitely read another of Jonathan Carroll's books - one that doesn't have Vincent Ettrich or Isabelle in it.
November 21, 2011
This was my first Jonathan Carroll novel, but I can confidently say that it won't be my last.
Vincent Ettrich is a serial womaniser, advertising executive and also recently dead. Except now he's not. He's been brought back by the love of his life for the sake of their unborn son. A son he knew nothing about. But he can't remember being dead, or why or how he's been brought back. And there are forces at work who want to keep him from ever raising that child.
The scope of imagination on display here is mind boggling. Carroll juggles ideas about the afterlife, the meaning of life, what we are here for and how our actions affect others, while keeping what is at heart a love story moving along at a nice pace.
This is part thriller, part existential treatise, part philosophical tract....and if that sound off-putting, it shouldn't. This is a wonderful book, full of life love and above all ideas. It will make you think, which is no bad thing.
I shall now go and work my way through Mr. Carroll's back catalogue. My only regret is that I didn't discover this author earlier!
Very highly recommended.
Vincent Ettrich is a serial womaniser, advertising executive and also recently dead. Except now he's not. He's been brought back by the love of his life for the sake of their unborn son. A son he knew nothing about. But he can't remember being dead, or why or how he's been brought back. And there are forces at work who want to keep him from ever raising that child.
The scope of imagination on display here is mind boggling. Carroll juggles ideas about the afterlife, the meaning of life, what we are here for and how our actions affect others, while keeping what is at heart a love story moving along at a nice pace.
This is part thriller, part existential treatise, part philosophical tract....and if that sound off-putting, it shouldn't. This is a wonderful book, full of life love and above all ideas. It will make you think, which is no bad thing.
I shall now go and work my way through Mr. Carroll's back catalogue. My only regret is that I didn't discover this author earlier!
Very highly recommended.
March 22, 2015
I really wanted to like this book. Neil Gaiman gave it a rave review, as did many others. But I gave up in disgust about 2/3 of the way through. The protagonist is, we're told, a wildly successful advertising executive who is also a world-class painter in his spare time. All women fall instantly in love with him on sight. He has never let a woman feel used, we're told, but his idea of chivalry seems to be to offer to pay for the cab after one of his numerous one-night stands. We're also told he's a "great father" to the two children he left behind with his ex-wife. He never seems to actually spend any time with either of his children, or - for that matter - go to work at his advertising job or touch paint to canvas. This may be because at the beginning of the book he woke up dead. However, he is still capable of amazing sexual exploits, even without a pulse. His current inamorata, Isabelle, is an exotic leggy blonde whom he has impregnated with a talking fetus who sometimes appears as a large black dog, or, when feeling particularly inventive, as Abraham Lincoln in a tall black hat.
Never mind, I can't go on.
Never mind, I can't go on.
December 3, 2014
Dopo la discussione del gruppo di lettura di ieri sera, mi sento quasi costretta a scrivere due parole:
perch��
ho letto questo libro appena uscito, fregata in pieno dalla recensione radiofonica di una speaker che oltre tutto non sopportavo: ma se non la sopportavo, perch�� mai ho voluto investirla di una certa credibilit�� letteraria?
perch��
ho quindi acquistato la prima edizione e, con il senno di poi, sono stati veramente soldi sprecati.
perch��
non ricordo, neanche alla luce delle rievocazioni della discussione di ieri, assolutamente nulla di questo romanzo, se non l'incipit e le prime dieci/quindici pagine, che poi sono quelle che mi hanno fregato anche nell'acquisto.
se ne deduce che
questo libro �� passato senza lasciare traccia alcuna nella mia vita di lettrice, se non un sano disgusto.
si conclude
che �� stato veramente tempo sprecato.
nota positiva
grazie a dio non ho avuto la tentazione di rileggerlo con il gruppo di lettura!
perch��
ho letto questo libro appena uscito, fregata in pieno dalla recensione radiofonica di una speaker che oltre tutto non sopportavo: ma se non la sopportavo, perch�� mai ho voluto investirla di una certa credibilit�� letteraria?
perch��
ho quindi acquistato la prima edizione e, con il senno di poi, sono stati veramente soldi sprecati.
perch��
non ricordo, neanche alla luce delle rievocazioni della discussione di ieri, assolutamente nulla di questo romanzo, se non l'incipit e le prime dieci/quindici pagine, che poi sono quelle che mi hanno fregato anche nell'acquisto.
se ne deduce che
questo libro �� passato senza lasciare traccia alcuna nella mia vita di lettrice, se non un sano disgusto.
si conclude
che �� stato veramente tempo sprecato.
nota positiva
grazie a dio non ho avuto la tentazione di rileggerlo con il gruppo di lettura!
abandoned
March 18, 2016I was talking about this book with a friend, and he decided to google it to figure out what else the author had written. While looking over his shoulder, I noticed that one of the search results was from Urban Dictionary that said that "White Apples" is a slang term for the drug Ecstasy, aka MDMA, aka Molly.
That fits in well with this book since the whole thing has a very "inspired by a drug trip" feel to it. I've been referring to it as "my Molly book" in conversation ever since.
I really don't care for the hallucinatory vibe, nor do I like the characters - especially Victor's creepy attitude towards women. Ick.
I'm trying to be more willing to abandon books I don't like this year since I just don't have the time to read like I used to - so here's another casualty... Really, the only reason I even decided to try this is because Neil Gaiman produced the audiobook. And that's a laughable reason to keep going.
That fits in well with this book since the whole thing has a very "inspired by a drug trip" feel to it. I've been referring to it as "my Molly book" in conversation ever since.
I really don't care for the hallucinatory vibe, nor do I like the characters - especially Victor's creepy attitude towards women. Ick.
I'm trying to be more willing to abandon books I don't like this year since I just don't have the time to read like I used to - so here's another casualty... Really, the only reason I even decided to try this is because Neil Gaiman produced the audiobook. And that's a laughable reason to keep going.
March 8, 2010
I enjoyed this book, and I'm interested to read more by this author, but the book ultimately left me a little disappointed. The book traces the tale of Vincent Ettrich, who has been ressurected to teach his unborn son unspecified but Very Important Lessons to help the son save the world. The writing was quirky and the characters fun -- it reminded me a bit of Jasper Fforde, Christopher Moore, or Neil Gaimon. But the outlines of the book's universe and the rules of the game never became totally clear either to the characters or to the reader, which made the whole enterprise feel like an incomplete project.
I'm interested enough to want to read the sequel to see if Carroll is able to put something together that really works. He seems to have all the pieces -- good writing, good characters, interesting voices, a wacky universe.
I'm interested enough to want to read the sequel to see if Carroll is able to put something together that really works. He seems to have all the pieces -- good writing, good characters, interesting voices, a wacky universe.
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