Bathing the Lion

by Jonathan Carroll

Neil Gaiman praises as "Brain-smooshing work. As if John Updike were to write a Philip K Dick novel." A surreal apocalypse novel that tackles a world of domestic strife and fragile friendships.
In Jonathan Carroll's evocative, surreal masterpiece, reality is sometimes better left forgotten.
One night five residents of a small New England town all share the same dream. One of them is even on a plane thousands of miles away en route to Europe when it happens. Some of these five know each other, some not. Their dream is crystal clear and confusing at the same time. It is full of wonders—both impossibly beautiful and awful. What it portends for each of them is astounding. Until now, these people have led relatively normal lives. But eventually from the dream they learn that they came here from another place, somewhere unimaginably distant where they once worked to determine the fate of every single thing in the universe.
And now, suddenly, they’re called back...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Book Club, Literature

280 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2013

About the author

Jonathan 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.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josephine was the name Edmonds and his wife had chosen if they ever had a girl, Nevan for a boy. Lola had found the name "Nevan." Edmonds had never heard it before. It meant "little holy one" in Gaelic. It was the sort of thing Lola loved - strange, beautiful, and obscure.

and if that isn't a perfect description of jonathan carroll, i don't know what is. reading a jonathan carroll book is a wonderful experience, and if he clicks for you, that's great, because you always know what to expect: strange and perfect details, arcane facts, character asides and anecdotes that read like little spiritual/philosophical amuse-bouches, bull terriers, great and memorable lines on every other page, like the opening sentence in this one: Most men think they are good drivers. Most women think they are good in bed. They aren't.

carroll is a fabulist of the highest order, and his spells are the kind that trap and delight a reader, transporting them into an irreal, but still recognizable world in which he tackles all the drama of life and relationships with unique examples of how to interpret and navigate them, like a more literary celestine prophecy. his work is recognizable from a mile off; i don't know anyone who spins a story quite like him.

having said all that, if you haven't read him, i wouldn't recommend this one as your jumping-off point.

i know i gave it four stars, but half of one is out of the relief of having a new jonathan carroll novel to read after six years of waiting. and there is some fantastic material in here, but my one fault with his writing is that he rarely writes good endings, and this time, he started floundering a little earlier than usual. for an established jonathan carroll fan, this book is a gift - it's textbook, vintage carroll, and every little thing that is great about him is on display. but to a newcomer, without the weight of associations propping it up with soft "oh there you are - i've missed you" fondness when those carrolly scenes unfold, it might read a bit slight, like a held-breath waiting for a climax that never quite comes.

the parts that are good are very very good, and i was definitely caught up in the book's momentum, but it never came together for me the way his other books have. i am definitely going to buy it when it comes out and reread it in finished form to make sure i'm not just being an overly critical superfan who is holding him to unrealistic standards because of the perfection of books like A Child Across the Sky.

so, for his fans - a must-read. to the newbies - circle back to this one once you've got your carroll-goggles firmly in place. see you in october!

4/9 - is there a WANT TO READ LIKE CRAZY button?

5/8 - I AM HOLDING IT IN MY HAND OH MY GOD



come to my blog!

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Carroll gets all the stars all the time! Take them, take them, take them!!

With that out of the way, I suppose if this was any other author besides Jonathan Carroll, I would have rated this a three and a half or a four star read. But...well...Jonathan Carroll gets five stars no matter what, forever and ever, always, the end, amen.

Carroll is in my top 3 favorite authors of all time ever; The man puts words onto paper like no other I know of -- The way he phrases the every day mundane fascinates me to no end, and even what should be the most boring of situations, Carroll, somehow makes them sound magically extravagant.

I was immediately struck with the familiarity of stepping back into a Carroll novel. Everything that I expected was in place. Its like that feeling you get when you are away from home for an extended period of time, whether it be for business or pleasure, that moment you open your own front door and step back into your home...that exact feeling is what I get when I read a Jonathan Carroll story.

This story, his latest release, is no different.

Bathing The Lion, at its heart is a story about people, or at least it was for me. A tale of relationships and how they intermingle with one another. Nobody writes relationships, both romantic and platonic, with the flair that Carroll does. It is this slow simmering stew-pot of characters and how they relate with one another that is the real foundation of a story that throws a bit of cosmic mystery into our laps.

Really there isn't much more I can tell you that the books official plot synopsis can't. All I really want to do anyways is glow and bask in the warmth of once again reading a new story from one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read a Jonathan Carroll story I strongly urge you to do so. Start with this one, start with an older one, it doesn't really matter, just pick one and go! If you have any appreciation for words and the way they can be powerfully wielded to take you on a journey...Well hell...Jonathan Carroll is your guy!

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Carroll is a heck of a writer. At the start of the book, make yourself a nice cup of tea and begin reading about the lives of a group of strangers and their interactions, feelings, thoughts and emotions. By the time you get to page sixty five or so, it's time go get out the ole bong, cram it full and light up, cus you just went somewhere strange, and you are going to keep going.

A bit of an aside. Remember those movies like The Bishop's Wife, Stairway to Heaven, It's A Wonderful Life ?, and dozens of others that have angles in them that change the course of someone's life for the better. Well, in this book Angels are called Mechanics, they try to fix the wrongs brought about by unexpected Chaos.

When the Mechanics retire after a period of service or are retired due to mistakes they made, their powers of life and death and the power of "miracles" are taken away form them. Their minds are wiped clean, like in the movie "Men In Black" and are sent out to live their retirement. Some retire on earth. Others elsewhere in the universe or other dimensions.

The Mechanics do not necessarily work for the side of good. They try to correct the insanity brought about by the randomness of Chaos, also the Mechanics are not humans.

If you have missed Jonathan Carroll in your reading life, you certainly have some treats to look forward to by seeking out his earlier work. From where I stand there is not enough of his work available.

[patrycja polczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Jonathan Carroll's books is like being suddenly submerged in magic. You step into the world, which is so different and so unique from real world that you simply feel like flying in some thick, pleasant fog. This book is another example of his magic. He just does that. No matter what the story is about, there's always this unique charm in it. And what is this book about? Well, life. As usual. Because life is the most magical and unpredictable thing in this world.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that you finish, put to one side, then scratch your head thinking “What did I just read?” I mean this in an extremely positive way – it was, quite simply, brilliant.

So we’ve got an eclectic cast of characters, some connected, some not so much, who experience a terribly realistic dream together. Upon awakening THEY are the ones scratching their heads and asking what the heck just happened, but at least some of them have an idea. Turns out that perhaps they are not as entirely human as they thought..and at least ONE of them has known this about themselves all along.

It was a marvellously magical read, with a strange and off kilter ambience that pretty much forces you into another world, where things may not be quite as straightforward as they appear and things you catch out of the corner of your eye may have more meaning than is immediately obvious. Despite the fact that it is rather surreal, the characterisation is superb with each individual blossoming as the story pans out, drawing you into their circle of influence and keeping you turning those pages. The dreamlike quality of the entire story is supremely imaginative and will have you speculating on those things we cannot see – overall a really really fun and involving story.

Some whimsical and intelligent writing here, I fell in love with the style, it really did flow so well, every time I put it down I immediately wanted to pick it back up again. As we reached the finale I became more and more into it, I REALLy could not see how it was going to end and did think for a while that perhaps it was going to need a sequel. The action hots up, the author sets you up nicely for the various reveals and it had a highly satisfactory conclusion that explains both everything and nothing. You’ll see.

Anyway, it was a totally cool reading experience for me – I really can’t believe I havent read Jonathan Carroll before, a terrible lack of judgement from me, a person who claims to know a good book when I see one. I shall immediately take steps to change that, a visit to the bookshop is in order I believe.

Highly Recommended.

Happy Reading Folks!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe closer to a 2 1/2 stars. The end left me unsatisfied, like it's was missing a few chapters to truly finish the story. It also felt like it left out a lot of needed explanation, as if the author came up with some basic ideas, but didn't flesh them out while writing the novel.

[Marti · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a NetGalley edition of this title prior to publication.

It started off okay, but I kept wondering how it was going to get around to resembling the publisher's description. When it "took off", the action felt very stilted and just...I don't know. I couldn't get into it. Reading it felt like a chore, and that's when I was I got stolen away by delicious YA awesomeness.

I later didn't feel so bad, when I read another review on Goodreads that basically said if you're new to Jonathan Carroll (which I am), you should read his other stuff before attempting to Bathe the Lion. So there we go.

[C.X. Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

That got weird fast.

[Bruna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must be missing a trick here. This novel has received glowing reviews everywhere and I was truly excited to finally read a book by Jonathan Carroll, who is often recommended to me due to my reading preferences. However, I was left disappointed. It is by no means a terrible book, but it did not resonate with me at all. The characters fall flat and the plot seems to be cut off abruptly in the middle. There are signs of interesting concepts and greater meanings, but they are never fully developed, so we are left with an inoffensive and passable novel, but not much more. There are some beautiful passages and powerful imagery, indicative of an underlying creative imagination, but these are not given enough room to bloom. The novel often feels underdeveloped. I have no problem suspending logic, I am a declared fan of magical realism and fantasy, but this is a shy and colourless addition to the canon.

In Bathing the Lion, unassuming main characters find themselves sharing a dream and must discover the reasons behind it. Two of these characters, Dean and Vanessa, have just decided to get a divorce. Dean’s best friend and business partner, who was having an affair with Vanessa, is also present. These mundane events seem to not matter when reality is turned on its head, but the first half of the book is dedicated to their history and the falling apart of their marriage (which does not make for a very enticing read). But, more importantly, it makes their behaviour after the shared dream seem quite implausible. Call me a cynic, but I believe that even when faced with impossible facts, a petty couple that was bickering previously will continue bickering (or even more, in fact, to try to stabilise their sense of reality).

For full review, please visit The Ballycumbers Review.

[Aphelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second attempt reading this author (the first was Glass Soup) based on Neil Gaiman's recommendations. He has the cover quote on this book, in fact. However, just like the first book, I have no idea exactly what I've just read.

"Surreal" is indeed the best description. I found the first part slow, the middle weird but interesting and nearly understandable, and the ending abrupt and completely unsatisfactory.

We follow the intertwined lives of five people: married couple Dean and Vanessa Corbin, who are on the rocks; Vanessa's boss Jane Claudius; Dean's business partner Kasper Benn, with whom Vanessa is having an affair; and Bill Edmonds, a patron at the bar Jane owns and where Vanessa sings.

Only it turns out, about halfway through the book, that the events that have come thus far are actually all part of a shared dream, one which contains truths and real memories from each person but distorts them, in a sort of psychic soup.

The shared dream is a catalyst, calling them all to wake up. They're retired Mechanics, magical beings with strict specialities and talents who fix problems Chaos causes throughout the entire Universe. Their service is long and difficult, but as a retirement gift, they are given an ordinary mortal second life, remembering nothing of their true natures or existence.

But something is going wrong: Chaos is flipping time in a rare Somersault, and the five people must remember their pasts and set things to rights with the help of Kasper, who alone was granted special permission to keep his memories, but not the powers that would enable him to do anything.

I started to really get into the story at this point, and I really liked the idea of the Mechanics and their quest to find the important elements of human emotions that would allow creation instead of simply maintenance or destruction. I was very intrigued by the ink bottle idea.

But then the twist ending pretty much ruined it for me! Perhaps I should have expected it, as this is the perfect example of unreliable narrators in a story. All five characters were extremely unreliable, and the differences in the way they viewed themselves and others viewed them were stark and striking. So the theme of "nothing is what it seems" is present throughout the book.

But the ending was so anticlimactic and stupid and "Gotcha!" that it felt utterly pointless, a cheap trick to fool the reader. I'm sure it's some sort of philosophical statement that went totally over my head, but nevertheless I was very disappointed that a story with so much promise ended so badly.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a longtime fan of Jonathan Carroll, it pains me to say that this may be it. We may be Breaking Up, once and for all, and never ever getting back together. It isn't that this is a particularly horrible or offensive or boring book in any way. Far from it, actually. But the man is a slow writer, and usually a good writer, one who brings something new and fantastic to the table with every offering, and Bathing the Lion just didn't do that for me. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more were it my second or even third read of Carroll's: it's just that, for the umpteenth time, he seems to be rehashing the same ideas and devices ad nauseam, and it's disappointing when, as a loyal reader, you know he's capable of better because you've seen him do better.

For these reasons, I rate Bathing The Lion with just three stars, but closer to two and a half. It's not a bad story, it's just a bad Jonathan Carroll story. Never have I found myself laboring through something of his, wishing the ending would come quicker, disliking nearly all of the characters. It sounds somewhat harsh to say, but Carroll needs some new ideas, a breath of fresh air, something other than his universe tweaking "architects" and perilous life-altering and changing scenarios in every single book (that always turn out okay, so you never feel conscious of the danger). Because at this point, it feels very overdone and old. Still, average to redundant Carroll is still better than most books, and that's why I'm generously rounding this up from two to three (also, because I can't quite hate Jane; she's the only character here who doesn't blur into all the others, the only reason I didn't give this up completely).

I'll still give him another chance next time, maybe, in a few years, if I can forget and forgive at all. We'll see.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proza Jonathana Carrolla kojarzy się przede wszystkim z historiami obyczajowymi i dramatami jednostek, w które delikatnie, niemal niezauważalnie przesącza się magia. Czasem będzie to mówiący pies, czasem element snu przenikający do rzeczywistości. Z reguły jednak owa fantastyczność odgrywa trzecioplanową rolę, a na jej pojawienie się trzeba cierpliwie czekać przez sporą część utworu. Mając w pamięci te pisarskie zabiegi, trudno nie dać się zaskoczyć najnowszej powieści autora, obdarzonej enigmatycznym tytułem „Kąpiąc lwa”.

Choć początek książki zdaje się zwiastunem prozy typowej dla Jonathana Carrolla — małżeńska kłótnia, zmęczona i odczuwająca do siebie niechęć po wielu wspólnie spędzonych latach para, w tle zdrada żony ze wspólnikiem przeżywającego kryzys wieku średniego męża — historia dość szybko wkracza na zupełnie inne, niespodziewane tory. Zamieszane w nią będą przedziwne istoty z kosmosu, pisany wielką literą Chaos, ożywające przedmioty, nienarodzone dziecko, a nawet krzesło, które rozmawia tylko z kobietami. Przy odrobinie nieuwagi lub przeszarżowania z tej ryzykownej mieszanki mogło powstać coś zupełnie niestrawnego, na szczęście jednak nie trzeba się tego obawiać.

Jonathan Carroll udowadnia, że równie dobrze co z wątkami obyczajowymi radzi sobie z kwestią świadomości, tożsamości, czaso-przestrzennych paradoksów i logiki snu. Fabuła „Kąpiąc lwa” odchodzi od linearnej struktury, przypomina raczej pętlę w pętli albo pożerającego własny ogon Uroborosa — coś już się wydarzyło, ale nie wszyscy o tym pamiętają; coś się powtarza, ale szczegóły przestają się zgadzać. Wreszcie — do ostatniej chwili nie wiemy, kto tu tak właściwie pociąga za sznurki, kto wygrał, a kogo wyprowadzono w pole. Choć autor nie po raz pierwszy pogrywa z czytelnikami, skłaniając ich tym samym do ponownej lektury swojego utworu, to nigdy wcześniej nie robił tego na tak szeroką skalę i w tak spektakularny sposób.

Pod względem stylistycznym pisarz nie wykracza poza znane już jego odbiorcom ramy — natknąć się można zarówno na humorystyczne porównania, celnie punktujące wygląd czy charakter danego bohatera, jak i na bardziej liryczne refleksje wprowadzające w nieco melancholijny nastrój. Nie zabrakło też kilku smaczków dla wytrawnych znawców twórczości Carrolla, jak choćby nawiązań do poprzednich dzieł. Fani autora z pewnością uśmiechną się także na widok dwóch sympatycznych czworonogów goszczących na kartach utworu — przecież dobrze wiedzieli, że tego motywu nie mogło zabraknąć.

Zdecydowanie warto było czekać aż sześć lat na nową powieść Amerykanina. Każda strona „Kąpiąc lwa” rodzi nowe zaskoczenie i zmusza do innego spojrzenia tak na wcześniejsze rozdziały, jak i na twórczość Jonathana Carrolla. Choć porzucenie subtelnego realizmu magicznego na rzecz bardziej dominujących elementów fantastycznych było ryzykowne, to owo posunięcie okazało się krokiem w dobrą stronę. Ośmielę się nawet zaryzykować stwierdzenie, że to najlepsza książka autora od czasu „Krainy Chichów” i „Kości Księżyca”.

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[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would love to review it properly, unfortuntely I have no idea what I just read here.
I picked it up because Neil Gaiman recommends it and I adore Neil Gaiman. When I finished American Gods, I was left with the same feeling of bafflement and incomprehension, but with a major diffrence: Gaiman anchors his magical realism in ancient myths, legends and cultural phenomenon most readers are familiar with. I may not always follow his logic or feel at ease in the worlds he creates but I can connect to them. I couldn't do that in Bathing the Lion. I'm familiar with Gods or with shapeshifting. It's the first thing kids encounter in fairy tales. But how am I supposed to connect to a red elephant wearing a wristwatch that doesn't like to be touched? The only familiar thing was the concept of dreams. Yeah, dreams are weird, I can accept confusing things happening in dreams. But this book whirls you through the timeline on max. speed and it was't even neccessary.
I'm so sad I don't even know where to pour all of this dissappointment into...
The story starts out like a tragic romance. We meet the first "main characters", then jump to the next POV and next and we still can't connect any of them to each other, until all of them share a dream with some weird stuff happening. None, the reader inculded, understand what happens. A new character enters, we jump between the POVS. All of our characters seem to be retired mechanics living their lives out on earth. Mechanics repair..uh, the universe I guess, it is never properly explained. They have several languages, I guess? It's never explained in detail. Just dropped between the lines. Mechanics can be two of a sort, I forgot the clunky names, it doesn't matter anyway, cz it's not expained what either of them do anyway. The adversary is a sommersault which happens to be chaos in form of... well, we don't know, because Carroll just beats around the bush and keeps telling us how much our heros still don't remember and that's why can't comprehend. Great, that's two of us. To make this all a bit more confusing, we lose all of the previous characters, that the book spent so much time bulding, describing in painful details who they are, what happened to them in the past, what they love to eat etc.pp. Our main character now is a side-character, that we lost sight of after his first entrance and hadn't had two decent pages of introduction, aside from mentioning several times how poorly dressed he is. He jumps a bit through the timeline, gains "all the knowledge", meets up with side-kick nr.2 and hands him "all the knowledge", what-ever-in-seven-hells-it-may-be. They share a smug, knowing grin and THE END!

I'm gonna go bake an avocado-nut-cake to drown my sadness.

[Cathi Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

mechanics at work on the universe

First, I had no idea what to expect from this book. The author posts short Medium writings on twitter, which I like very much. So I leapt and bought his latest. The book opens in a very ordinary way, a dissenting couple, arguing, rearranging their world...considering a separation, "oh no, one of those relationship crisis books. Too precious. Too detached from reality ". I thought. Wrong. It is Science Fiction, or should I call it science fixing since it is about mechanics who battle Chaos and adjust reality to fix problems. The book could have been a saga..an epic ten volume tale through millennia with mechanics battling the destruction of chaos, but it ended too soon, a deux ex machine type ending, but really for this book isn't that a perfect ending since mechanics are pulling the strings, working like busy ants to push us in the right direction and do what? Be human? I guess. Or perhaps I really did read a ten volume saga but when I was done and closed the last book, perhaps "they" adjusted my memory so I forgot most of it? Or I flipped to an earlier me who only had read one book? Or?

I have many favorites from the book, I will give you one.
"Time doesn’t fly, it steals . Like some skilled pickpocket or magician, it gets you to look the other way and when you do, it ruthlessly steals your essential things— memories, great moments that end much too soon, the lives of those you love. It knows how to trick you and then steal you blind."


So second, I liked this book a whole lot. Very well written (but I expected that) unexpected (that was a bonus), and exasperating in its shortness. Dean, Ben, Vanessa, Jane...they seem so very human, but aren't? So very important, but aren't? And the most important character? The one we least like. The messenger.

Last quote.
"your memory is always and for everything an unreliable witness. Never trust it to tell you the truth about who you are or how you got here.” Probably also true about most book reviews. But anyhow, thanks Mr. Carroll.

[Ken Hillson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my all-time favourite novels is Jonathan Carroll's Land of Laughs. which is a totally bonkers, surreal read, and it's wonderful. I have read most of the author's output since and have liked them to greater or lesser degrees. Usually, the quirkier the more I enjoy them.

Bathing the Lion is quirky and totally surreal, and yet... For a number of reasons I had to leave off reading this book for a few days and when I came back to it I realised that there didn't seem to be a plot. The story is full of exposition, telling us how this character did that or the other. Frankly, I didn't care about the various protagonists, nor the way the narrative jumped around their heads. Too many POVs for my liking. Yet with a red elephant and angel-like beings, among other things, I should've been engrossed. Sadly not and in the end I gave up at page 103. Pity.

I've given it three stars because I wanted it to be brilliant and maybe, in a few years, I'll give it another go and will be amazed. Fingers crossed.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finish Jonathan Carroll's new book with a sense of optimism about the universe, and my place in it. He is an absolutely unique writer. This book contains some of his best writing to date, for example, the use of a pocketknife as an aid for getting over the grief at the loss of a loved one. 5 stars easy, if I judge this against other fiction available today. 4 stars if I judge it against his other works. That is to say, on the scale I used to be reviewed on at the bank, It exceeded my expectations a great deal of the time. Neil Gaiman compared called it 'brain smooching', I totally agree. And every time I read one of his novels, I find myself this close to getting a dog. In the middle of this novel, for absolutely no reason, I found myself wondering what a Caroll western would be like.

[Meaghanldawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm not smart enough but this book just never did it for me. Now, it grabbed me and had me interested in the beginning so I kept at it, hoping for some clarity and for it to make sense. But it just kept seeming like the author was reaching and stretching beyond what the plot could handle. Reminds me of one of those books that people proclaim as deep and then everyone else is afraid to say they don't get it for fear of looking stupid. Well, call me stupid, but I didn't get it.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the phrase "Bathe the lion" should enter our language, but you need to read this wondrous book to get its true meaning. This is Carroll's strongest novel in years, one filled will his humanism and philosophical richness. For a time it seems a throwback to his debut THE LAND OF LAUGHS and yet it is a mature work, in more ways than one. One reads Carroll partially for the magic, but, in truth, we love him for his romanticism. Whether he is writing about a marriage in trouble, the longing of a widower for his lost wife, or the spontaneous spark of passion, Carroll is the best writer of adult romantic interaction working today. Carroll is a fabulist who has spiritual underpinnings. This novel is about nothing less than humanity's role in a chaotic universe, but Carroll spins this yarn with humor, sensualism, and wit. You don't just bathe this lion, you lose yourself in it.

[Robert Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think Jonathan Carroll knows how to write a bad book. Exceptional writer.

I rolled out of bed at six in the morning on a weekend just so I could finish this book. It's engrossing and thought-provoking and had me contemplating my place in the universe. Again, quite a feat for so early on a weekend morning.

I highly recommend this book and this author. If this is your first Jonathan Carroll book - lucky you! You're about to have a brand new favorite author!

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Home again. With amazing sentences I need to reread, ideas mundane presented in a new light. Wonder around every corner. If you love Carroll this may not be his best ( I did not think so), however it was a fantastic ride. Sit down or more precisely jump into the rabbit hole... enjoy

[Micol Benimeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Le lucciole bloccano il buio per un istante con il loro bagliore, come qualcuno che accende un fiammifero che presto si spegne. Un fuoco fragile e breve. Questo è ciò che rende le lucciole così oniriche e amabili: come creature delle fiabe, che ti intrattengono per un attimo, prima che tu possa tornare alla vita di tutti i giorni’

Cosí sono anche i libri di Carroll, lucciole che bloccano il buio, onirici e amabili.

Il registro fantastico e il registro tradizionale si amalgamano alla perfezione, come in pochissimi altri scrittori (Murakami, Gaiman): il libro si apre sulla scena di un matrimonio finito e si chiude sulla scena di un uomo che coccola un cane. In mezzo ci sta il racconto di un sogno condiviso che risveglia 5 Meccanici in pensione che devono tentare di bloccare il Caos, tra Riavvolgimenti, un gigantesco elefante rosso di nome Muba, misteriose nuvole Aurora Cobb e una sedia parlante uscita da un libro per bambini.

Un racconto che parla di ricordi e di memoria, che parla dei colori della vita umana, che parla di perdita, che parla di morte. Un racconto che è soprattutto un inno alla vita, a una vita ‘semplice ma deliziosa e soddisfacente come una colazione di uova e pancetta’.

[C. McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surreal and fantastic, Bathing the Lion is a puzzle from almost the beginning to the end. I knew this wouldn't be a straightforward linear plot with the usual touch of fantasy; however, the more I read the more of an intricate maze it became.

This was an interesting mental game that I had to finish to satisfy my curiosity.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.danscanon.com/2020/08/bat...

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find myself scrunching my nose when I have to review books like this one. I enjoyed this book but I didn't like it. How does that make sense? More importantly, how do I convey that ambivalence in a review so that it's helpful to other people? Hence, the nose scrunching.

I'll start with what I truly did enjoy. Jonathan Carroll is a fantastic writer and each one of the scenes in this book, regardless of how strange or surreal, felt well-crafted. Even the moments where I thought "this is too unbelievable," Carroll still wrote the setting/dialogue/interactions in such a way where I was left thinking "this is too unbelievable, but I could see how it could happen, I suppose." That's not an easy thing to do.

I also enjoyed the utter randomness of the book. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that one of the important 'characters' is a talking office chair (who only speaks to women, btw). And again, in the context of the story Carroll creates that makes absolute sense despite how weird it sounds.

But sometimes the randomness felt too, well, random. The best way I can explain my distaste (dislike? both words seem unnecessarily strong to convey my feelings here... ugh) for the plot is to use a dream as analogy, which is fitting, I think, given the role of dreaming as a plot device in this book. When you're having a dream, nine times out of ten everything in that dream world makes sense no matter how strange it would be in the Real World. As long as you inhabit that world, conventions of logic and order don't have to be followed. But then you wake up and you realize that the things you dreamed, while interesting at the time, when viewed in the cold light of day actually didn't have a lot of coherence or trajectory.

That's how I felt about my experience with this book. While I was reading it I would get caught up in the story and the characters. If things didn't seem to make sense from the standpoint of plot development or characterization, I just accepted it as part of the world of the story. But now that I'm finished and looking back on the story as a whole, I find myself unsatisfied. In retrospect it's easier to see how characters I thought were deep and interesting were actually kind of stereotypical (the elderly widow who can't see past his own sadness, the fierce, black lesbian who assumes a leadership position, the "bad guy" who realizes he is flawed, etc). Upon reflection I've also realized that the plot just wasn't that interesting. The characters all seemed to be reacting to a growing threat that to me as a reader didn't seem that threatening. I never quite comprehended what the Chaos was or what effect it was supposed to have, especially when it is revealed that the Chaos has actually been wreaking havoc on Earth for sometime but no one noticed. Equally disappointing was the anti-climactic realization amongst the characters that the way to "defeat" the Chaos was by joining their memories together in another mechanic (I think that's what they discovered) and the only consequence would be forgetting that they were mechanics. Essentially, everything would return to normal. Not exactly the suspenseful Armageddon I anticipated going into this book. Perhaps it might have had more emotional residence if the characters fully recovered their lives as mechanics and therefore, knew what they would be losing by having those mechanic memories taken away once again. But since they only seemed to partially recall their mechanic memories, it almost seemed like a good thing to have those memories taken away again.

The blurb also bills the book as a study of relationships and even that felt underdeveloped. We get a glimpse at the troubled lives of the five main characters but there is no sense of growth or resolution on any of their parts. Vanessa never gets called to task for her diva behavior, Dean never confronts Kaspar over Kaspar boinking Dean's wife . It was sort of like the characters you encounter in a dream. You think that you know them really well while in la la land, but when you wake up you realize you didn't actually "know" know them. They certainly didn't have a lot of depth and they certainly didn't change over the course of your dream. The same thing is in effect in the book.

Now, it is very possible that I just don't appreciate this kind of storytelling. Others might find this book compelling in a way that I did not. I mean, it's not like we all dream the same way so it's certainly true that we don't read the same way either.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The past is our only safe refuge from Chaos."
—Jane Claudius, p.233

I actually came very close to being disappointed in Jonathan Carroll's 2013 novel Bathing the Lion—which is, I must say, a first for me.

"Everyone seems to be waiting for something that's not happening."
—Five Dolls for an August Moon, a film by Mario Bava (1970)

As in Carroll's earlier novels, Bathing the Lion is full of people whose lives may seem mundane at first (albeit very well-appointed and comfortable), but upon whom exceptional situations inevitably intrude. Here, though, Carroll's patented dream logic, ordinarily so surreal and compelling, doesn't seem to hang together. The rules that govern the "mechanics" come across as arbitrary, even contradictory—more than once, we're told something never happens, and then it does, somewhere in the next few pages. Even the chapter numbers just disappear into smoke—so perhaps some of this blurriness is intentional, but if so it still didn't really work for me.

Living in one of Jonathan Carroll's novels must be something like this...

The woman who does everything more beautifully than you is named Ellen. Her Olivia von Halle silk pyjamas rustle as she slowly scissors her legs on your beloved four-poster bed. The massive antique bears her shifting weight without a creak. Your great-grandfather hauled that bed out to the coast in his covered wagon, at the expense of other supplies which might arguably have kept him alive long enough to witness your grandmother's first steps, and if it came down to a choice between the bed and Ellen, you would have to think hard before deciding which to keep.

Ellen lets out a fart (yes, she does that more beautifully than you could ever do as well) and laughs merrily.

"This is just like when we were on holiday on Mykonos—do you remember?"

And then, suddenly angry, she goes on,

"Yes, just like when we were in Greece—you ignored the elephant in the room then too."

She's right; you have been ignoring—or perhaps never allowed yourself to see—the elephant standing in the center of the room. The elephant is bright red, like Clifford the Big Red Dog; her name is Muba, and she does not like being ignored...

Muba the elephant is actually a part of Bathing the Lion, by the way, although the rest of the above is pastiche that I could not resist including.


Although its various meandering threads and contradictions do get pulled together, close to the end, Bathing the Lion succumbs to Chaos for all too much of its length... and I was tempted, just this once, to take refuge in past Carrolls instead.

[Jerry Balzano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know, even at his craziest and most unhinged, PKD makes a hell of a lot more sense than this mess did. PKD, granted, was nowhere near the writer that Jonathan Carroll is, but he was so much more of a storyteller it beggars description. Philip K. Dick knew how to handle multiple scattered, random elements in a novel; I'm not at all convinced, from the evidence of this book, that one could say the same for Jonathan Carroll. "Magical Realism" is not a synonym for "A Bunch of Weird Shit". I do think I understand that difference. Again, I'm not at all sure Jonathan Carroll does. I could say more, but Carroll's starry-eyed fan club on here will be sure to dismiss or disregard it, since for them the man can do no wrong. Well, the same problem happens with Wittgenstein fanboys ... you can't have an intelligent discussion with them either because they have too many stars in their eyes. (As a former Wittgenstein fanboy, I sadly do get this.) Even the most profound communication breakdowns should have some rhyme or reason to them; do any of the characters in this book understand one another?

[Cynthia Ann Kazandjian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author's one hundred cylinder imagination is breathtaking. It is my third book out of Jonathan Carroll's massive planet of deliciously renegade fiction and I am already a permanent JC junkie. In ‘Bathing The Lion’ he places his characters into an ever-morphing petri dish of existential possibilities. He has the ability to create, interweave and deliver a complex series of kaleidoscopic narratives to the reader like the most preternaturally skillful midwife. It makes you need to pause, stare at a wall and think for at least 12 hours, and still be unable to get your mind around how he does it. Carroll’s characters range from ordinary human beings to extraordinary beings from other worlds- none of whom are spared the tidal wave of oddities that threaten their situational certainty. Who are they all really when this happens? He explores how the humans, in particular, former other-worldly 'mechanics' fighting Chaos, are able to draw on the power of their human hearts and imagination in a David versus Goliath cosmic battle against the darker forces to help restore order to the universe. Trying to describe the magic of Jonathan Carroll's writing feels like trying to decipher the Rosetta stone. You know the magic is there and like the words to a great opera in a foreign language you don't speak, you don't need to understand the language to appreciate the compelling performance as a whole.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, and most importantly, BUNNY: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. I promise, all the animals survive to the end, but there are *moments* in this one, and you will hate the author for it.

Okay, this is tough for me to say, but I didn't love this. I love *everything* that Jonathan Carroll has written, but this didn't work for me. I can roll with all of the magical realism, all the time, but my head starts swimming when other "worlds" have to be introduced. I don't mean afterlife worlds or Chaos vs. Order (which is a repeated theme), but aliens and ultimately, mechanics.

I got lost in some of it. I LOVED the first 40-50 pages. Then I trudged through another 150 before it picked up enough. The last 80 grabbed me, even though I was still struggling to understand what was going on. Even the strangest work that Jonathan Carroll has published hasn't lost me like this one. I enjoyed it, and I underlined quite a few passages that made me smile and jump out of my chair; Jonathan Carroll has a way with language like no other author I've read. However, I don't think I will be recommending this to new fans, especially to those who got lost on White Apples. (Sorry, Bunny!)

[Eye of Sauron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe I am now a Jonathan Carroll enthusiast.

This book is ... weird. Really weird. It starts out normally, then gradually expands and grows in oddity and surrealism until, at the end, it's hardly recognizable as the same planet. Not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, most definitely not a bad thing.

Under pressure, I heard myself describe the book as a mixture of Inception and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While I'm not sure that's perfectly accurate, it's certainly indicative of the mind-bending otherworldly weirdness of it all.

Some of my favorite sentences that display this weirdness:

"An instant later they were standing in the middle of wide open spaces on an unfamiliar country road with a large black leather desk chair between them."

"This elephant was the by-God brassy red of a candy apple or a clown's nose...The elephant was wearing a gigantic wristwatch on its front left foot."

"Hovering now in the middle of the big room was a blue-gray cloud about three feet wide by four feet high."

There are a few sentences with grammatical mistakes, which surprised me, and some instances of literary cringe (due to word choice and other such things), and he uses more profanity/vulgar dialogue than I'm comfortable with, but otherwise it's remarkably good. Would recommend for anyone who likes to stretch his mind.

[Cayleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows the lives of 5 retired Mechanics who are suddenly thrown into a situation they do not understand after sharing one super long trippy dream. What is a mechanic you ask? Well, I did not know either, this being my first book by Mr.Carroll but, it was great because I learned what a Mechanic is as our protagonists did. Which was fun and made it seem like I was more involved with the story.

I'm only on page 42 but there was just the most masterful switch of voices/povs ever. So smooth I just had to mention it. First book I've read by Carroll and it has a very promising start!

Alrighty, well no I am finished and I'm a bit underwhelmed. Up until when Crebold really came into the story I was super into it. Especially the last few chapters from Jane's pov, the colors and human emotions were very neat. I absolutely love that true love is the color of burnt sienna. I get that. Unfortunately from there the story never climaxed. However, I will try out more of Carroll's books. The idea of the mechanics and their fixing the mistakes of Chaos a cool one and I very much like his writing style. Also Kos and D Train <3!