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The Other Side of the Mountain
A young man experiences a shipwreck and subsequent landfall with the ship's cook. The pair subsequently travel through a nightmarish landscape of a world seemingly unconnected to our own.
107 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1967
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
December 16, 2025
I wouldn’t say this is the strangest book I’ve read, but it’s probably up there in my top ten within that category. I don’t actually have a weird fiction shelf. Maybe I should create one.
I read the book in English translation. It was originally published with the title La montagne morte de la vie.
Even though this book is only 107 pages it’s divided into two parts. The first sits on the boundary of realism, the second is full-on surreal. In outline the story features a struggle for survival, but beyond that I won’t describe the plot. The novel is so short that to do so would risk spoilers.
Vividly written, but also in a simple, easy to read style, and containing a compelling tale. Everyone will have their own view on what it all means. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
I read the book in English translation. It was originally published with the title La montagne morte de la vie.
Even though this book is only 107 pages it’s divided into two parts. The first sits on the boundary of realism, the second is full-on surreal. In outline the story features a struggle for survival, but beyond that I won’t describe the plot. The novel is so short that to do so would risk spoilers.
Vividly written, but also in a simple, easy to read style, and containing a compelling tale. Everyone will have their own view on what it all means. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
January 30, 2020
What begins as a perilous journey across the sea turns into a safari on alien shores. Two survivors of a shipwreck witness the bizarre rituals of fauna and other surreal occurrences on what seems to be a different planet. The confusion and disbelief of the narrator and his stalwart companion regarding their unusual surroundings are palpable. A short and scary trip to ...
July 16, 2022
It starts with a horrific sea voyage that ends in a shipwreck, and then onto a strange land where almost everything is tainted red. The two ‘heroes’ are confronted by the surreal plant life and strange occurrences as they make their way across the sand towards the mountains and beyond. It is certainly the weirdest book I have read in a long time, and one that leaves you thinking well after its final paragraph. It’s a sort of surreal ‘heart of darkness’. This time read in French by choice, so not wholly sure I didn’t miss something. I’m not really into weird fiction, but it is well worth reading and comes in at less than a hundred pages.
June 29, 2009
Another book where you're better off not knowing anything about it before you read it. Don't read the synopsis on the back of the book. Don't read reviews. Just read it.
June 24, 2021
Dévoration universelle
OST de départ, Cor Anglais in E Minor (Op.3) - Monsieur Mâla
'La Montagne morte de la vie'
mitchellflautt, Red Mountain, 2020, Reddit
'Je venais tout juste d'atteindre mes dix-huit ans, lorsqu'un soir, après boire, la main d'un ami guida la mienne pour signer un engagement d'une année sur un galion.'
Je ne suis pas convaincu par l'esprit catholique qui préside à l'œuvre, je trouve que ça en réduit terriblement les implications, on nous laisse avec quelque chose qui s'apparente à un bête enfer. Un enfer étrangement inquiétant sans doute, un enfer obsédant et mortel, mais un enfer qui suit une impiété ou une perte de foi, un enfer chrétien trop littéral pour moi.
Mis à part ça, cette histoire offre une thématique richement explorée, tout du long : celle de l'instabilité existentielle, celle de l'ambivalence fondamentale des êtres et des choses : les signes, la fonction des objets, la nature, les formes de vie, les hommes. En un clignement de paupière, tout peut se changer en son opposé, ce qui n'est pas fait pour rassurer nos deux explorateurs...
L'univers est diablement riche, mais en définitive, il n'a pas d'autre motif de cohérence interne. Je trouve que ça sonne creux. C'est dommage.
Soulherder - Seb McKinnon
ŒUVRES COUSINES DE 'LA MONTAGNE MORTE DE LA VIE' :
Romans maritimes et typhons :
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
A Descent into the Maelstrom
Manuscript Found in a Bottle
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales
Romans post-apocalyptiques:
La Route
Le Voyageur imprudent
The House on the Borderland
Romans des ténèbres enfouies en soi, romans avec épiphanie du mal :
Heart of Darkness
Le bleu du ciel
Le Temple de l'aube : La mer de la fertilité III
Under the Volcano
Big Sur
L'Œil dans le ciel
Glissement de temps sur Mars
Romans de weird fiction/fantastique :
At the Mountains of Madness
The House on the Borderland
Romans avec régression ou translation de l'homme dans un univers où il est proie :
Le pain éternel
La guerre des mondes
Niourk
Satantango
Stalker: Pique-nique au bord du chemin
Romans où la vie mange la vie :
Au Bonheur des dames (pour l'image de la vie condamné à la dévoration d'autres vies)
The Body Snatchers
Annihilation
Voir : Returnal et Lifeless Planet
Un film auquel ce roman court me fait furieusement penser :
Dreams - Akira Kurosawa (le rêve d'apocalypse 'Mount Fuji in Red', à 1:13:18 pour ceux que ça intéresse)
-----
'Ils ont déchiré Son image'
London Views, 2005 (détail)- Stanley Donwood
Bizarrement, j'ai une préférence marquée pour cette nouvelle qui suit immédiatement 'La montagne morte de la vie'. Son histoire et son cadre rappellent par certains côtés la précédente, et par beaucoup d'autres les textes que je vous propose d'éplucher ci-dessous :) Je ne vous dis rien sur l'histoire, sinon que vous avez une sorte de duel entre un mystique et un marquis, ce serait péché d'en dire plus ;)
ŒUVRES COUSINES DE 'ILS ONT DÉCHIRÉ SON IMAGE' :
La vallée de l'étrange :
L'Arrache-Cœur
Les contrées fantastiques :
Le masque de la mort rouge
Le Roi en jaune
Histoires de massacres :
Diario de la guerra del cerdo
Le K (la nouvelle Entrümpelung)
Le pistolero
Rythme et transitions abruptes et étranges :
The House on the Borderland
La nature et le temps sortent de leurs gonds :
One Hundred Years of Solitude
La carte et le territoire
Dangereuses visions :
Les Chants de Maldoror
Là-Bas
Under the Volcano
Big Sur
London Views, 2005 (détail)- Stanley Donwood
OST:
And It Rained All Night
OST de départ, Cor Anglais in E Minor (Op.3) - Monsieur Mâla
'La Montagne morte de la vie'
mitchellflautt, Red Mountain, 2020, Reddit
'Je venais tout juste d'atteindre mes dix-huit ans, lorsqu'un soir, après boire, la main d'un ami guida la mienne pour signer un engagement d'une année sur un galion.'
Je ne suis pas convaincu par l'esprit catholique qui préside à l'œuvre, je trouve que ça en réduit terriblement les implications, on nous laisse avec quelque chose qui s'apparente à un bête enfer. Un enfer étrangement inquiétant sans doute, un enfer obsédant et mortel, mais un enfer qui suit une impiété ou une perte de foi, un enfer chrétien trop littéral pour moi.
Mis à part ça, cette histoire offre une thématique richement explorée, tout du long : celle de l'instabilité existentielle, celle de l'ambivalence fondamentale des êtres et des choses : les signes, la fonction des objets, la nature, les formes de vie, les hommes. En un clignement de paupière, tout peut se changer en son opposé, ce qui n'est pas fait pour rassurer nos deux explorateurs...
L'univers est diablement riche, mais en définitive, il n'a pas d'autre motif de cohérence interne. Je trouve que ça sonne creux. C'est dommage.
Soulherder - Seb McKinnon
ŒUVRES COUSINES DE 'LA MONTAGNE MORTE DE LA VIE' :
Romans maritimes et typhons :
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
A Descent into the Maelstrom
Manuscript Found in a Bottle
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales
Romans post-apocalyptiques:
La Route
Le Voyageur imprudent
The House on the Borderland
Romans des ténèbres enfouies en soi, romans avec épiphanie du mal :
Heart of Darkness
Le bleu du ciel
Le Temple de l'aube : La mer de la fertilité III
Under the Volcano
Big Sur
L'Œil dans le ciel
Glissement de temps sur Mars
Romans de weird fiction/fantastique :
At the Mountains of Madness
The House on the Borderland
Romans avec régression ou translation de l'homme dans un univers où il est proie :
Le pain éternel
La guerre des mondes
Niourk
Satantango
Stalker: Pique-nique au bord du chemin
Romans où la vie mange la vie :
Au Bonheur des dames (pour l'image de la vie condamné à la dévoration d'autres vies)
The Body Snatchers
Annihilation
Voir : Returnal et Lifeless Planet
Un film auquel ce roman court me fait furieusement penser :
Dreams - Akira Kurosawa (le rêve d'apocalypse 'Mount Fuji in Red', à 1:13:18 pour ceux que ça intéresse)
-----
'Ils ont déchiré Son image'
London Views, 2005 (détail)- Stanley Donwood
Bizarrement, j'ai une préférence marquée pour cette nouvelle qui suit immédiatement 'La montagne morte de la vie'. Son histoire et son cadre rappellent par certains côtés la précédente, et par beaucoup d'autres les textes que je vous propose d'éplucher ci-dessous :) Je ne vous dis rien sur l'histoire, sinon que vous avez une sorte de duel entre un mystique et un marquis, ce serait péché d'en dire plus ;)
ŒUVRES COUSINES DE 'ILS ONT DÉCHIRÉ SON IMAGE' :
La vallée de l'étrange :
L'Arrache-Cœur
Les contrées fantastiques :
Le masque de la mort rouge
Le Roi en jaune
Histoires de massacres :
Diario de la guerra del cerdo
Le K (la nouvelle Entrümpelung)
Le pistolero
Rythme et transitions abruptes et étranges :
The House on the Borderland
La nature et le temps sortent de leurs gonds :
One Hundred Years of Solitude
La carte et le territoire
Dangereuses visions :
Les Chants de Maldoror
Là-Bas
Under the Volcano
Big Sur
London Views, 2005 (détail)- Stanley Donwood
OST:
And It Rained All Night
January 17, 2020
What a wonderful little book – strange, intense, nightmarish, lyrical. I had never even heard of it before someone suggested it for a group read. It was a revelation, although it's very hard to explain why without unleashing spoilers, because something genuinely surprising happens on every page. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, do.
July 23, 2012
I first learned about this book while reading the anthology _The Weird_. I have now just completed reading the novella _The Other Side of the Mountain_ at the public library.
Written in a simple style, the narrator recounts a strange journey. In the first part of the book, recounting the journey on a ship, the terrors are naturalistic: bullying from his fellow sailors, starvation, mutiny, cannibalism, a terrific storm. The only ones to survive are the narrator, who was 18 years old at the time, and his friend, the ship's cook. They reach land.
The second part of the novel describes them voyaging through a land of surrealistic and hallucinatory terrors. The narrator's friend wonders if they are even still on planet Earth.
In my review of the anthology _The Weird_, I conjectured that weird fiction is about the encounter with a super-normal menace. The second part of this book fits that category.
I highly recommend this novella to those interested in weird fiction.
Written in a simple style, the narrator recounts a strange journey. In the first part of the book, recounting the journey on a ship, the terrors are naturalistic: bullying from his fellow sailors, starvation, mutiny, cannibalism, a terrific storm. The only ones to survive are the narrator, who was 18 years old at the time, and his friend, the ship's cook. They reach land.
The second part of the novel describes them voyaging through a land of surrealistic and hallucinatory terrors. The narrator's friend wonders if they are even still on planet Earth.
In my review of the anthology _The Weird_, I conjectured that weird fiction is about the encounter with a super-normal menace. The second part of this book fits that category.
I highly recommend this novella to those interested in weird fiction.
July 9, 2017
The Other Side of the Mountain is a relentless, hallucinatory piece of weirdness that's up there with some of the best weird fiction I've ever read. Like Hodgson's The House on the Borderland it almost defies description; in fact, any summary of the plot is besides the point. Rather, it acquires its force by a remorseless accumulation of horror that has the effect of almost convincing you to accept the hideous suffering of its protagonists as a normal state of existence.
Bernanos was apparently a difficult guy to translate, and I'm sure quite a few things were lost in the version I read (from The Weird: A Compendium), but enough of his style remains to make a few observations. Like Jean Ray, whose short story The Mainz Psalter most resembled this, Bernanos writes in a deceptively straightforward idiom that makes the horrors he's describing all the more shocking since they seem to come so unexpectedly out of left field. Everything is depicted in the same matter-of-fact way. There's little to no reflection by the protagonists, no lingering on the horror of an occurrence or the hopelessness of a situation, just a stoic acceptance of affairs with just enough of an emotional touch to avoid becoming monotonous.
This is counter-pointed by the extreme oddity of the events themselves, events which begin grounded in a realistic if extreme scenario of sailors becalmed at sea and threatened with starvation and thirst, and rapidly take a turn for the surreal. The combination of flat journalistic narration and psychedelic strangeness results in a sense of dislocation that comes close to inducing an almost altered state of consciousness. It's an exhilarating and harrowing experience not to be missed.
Bernanos was apparently a difficult guy to translate, and I'm sure quite a few things were lost in the version I read (from The Weird: A Compendium), but enough of his style remains to make a few observations. Like Jean Ray, whose short story The Mainz Psalter most resembled this, Bernanos writes in a deceptively straightforward idiom that makes the horrors he's describing all the more shocking since they seem to come so unexpectedly out of left field. Everything is depicted in the same matter-of-fact way. There's little to no reflection by the protagonists, no lingering on the horror of an occurrence or the hopelessness of a situation, just a stoic acceptance of affairs with just enough of an emotional touch to avoid becoming monotonous.
This is counter-pointed by the extreme oddity of the events themselves, events which begin grounded in a realistic if extreme scenario of sailors becalmed at sea and threatened with starvation and thirst, and rapidly take a turn for the surreal. The combination of flat journalistic narration and psychedelic strangeness results in a sense of dislocation that comes close to inducing an almost altered state of consciousness. It's an exhilarating and harrowing experience not to be missed.
September 30, 2019
Actual rating: 4.5, but I felt it necessary to round up.
This was a strange and surreal journey. I loved it.
This was a strange and surreal journey. I loved it.
October 21, 2015
A bit about the Author and book: "The Other Side of the Mountain" (La montagne morte de la vie) is known by some as a rare Euro-flavored oddity. Written by Michel Bernanos, the son of French novelist and essayist Georges Bernanos, considered one of the most original Roman Catholic writers of his time. Michel Bernanos writings are a stark contrast to his father's works, which were more faith-minded. Bernanos wrote thrillers and an adventure novel under pseudonyms, (Michael Talbert and Michel Drowin). "The Other Side Of The Mountain" written three years before his death was the only book Bernanos published under his real name.
I would say a poignantly dark, rather short, but hard to forget once you've read it. I feel compelled to throw a bit of caution however, this book is not for everyone. It's the type of literature that creeps into a grown man's nightmares, (no joke). It's a hauntingly raw, very bizarre and immensely disturbing (in a hallucinatory sort of way). A sheer odyssey of horror. Prepare yourself to be utterly shocked as well as terrifyingly fascinated. It bothered me deeply. I was totally astounded by what I will call a rare and eerily unusual but intensely profound tale. I actually had panic attacks while reading this book. The visual impressions that this book conjures are keenly distressing to the mind. I've never read anything quite like this before.
If you find this book intriguing you might also enjoy Ruthven Todd's "The Lost Traveler".
I would say a poignantly dark, rather short, but hard to forget once you've read it. I feel compelled to throw a bit of caution however, this book is not for everyone. It's the type of literature that creeps into a grown man's nightmares, (no joke). It's a hauntingly raw, very bizarre and immensely disturbing (in a hallucinatory sort of way). A sheer odyssey of horror. Prepare yourself to be utterly shocked as well as terrifyingly fascinated. It bothered me deeply. I was totally astounded by what I will call a rare and eerily unusual but intensely profound tale. I actually had panic attacks while reading this book. The visual impressions that this book conjures are keenly distressing to the mind. I've never read anything quite like this before.
If you find this book intriguing you might also enjoy Ruthven Todd's "The Lost Traveler".
October 18, 2015
I found this in Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's "The Weird," which has a whole bunch of great eerie shit. This tale in particular stands out because, one, it's long (the size of a novella, anyway) and, two, it's got a superabundance of weirdness, even by the standards of that collection. It begins on a ship (cuz the narrator wakes up and, BOOM, he's on a ship) and ends... in a dream? It's not written in the hazy, crazy style favored by many interpreters of dreams; Bernanos writes elegantly but to-the-point, a manner that gives the unfortunate arc of his narrator a disturbing sense of destiny. And by "disturbing," I mean this damn thing gave me nightmares after finishing it... Something that, like, never happens to me. Proceed with caution, Halloreaders.
March 13, 2019
Dark, hallucinatory, and utterly weird! A strange masterpiece that seems modern like it was written yesterday and needs to reach a bigger audience. For all of you who loved Vandermeer's Area X this short novel is definitely for you.
January 6, 2020
I'm reading this in the book The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, in a translation by Gio Clairval, herself an author of weird fiction. Her thoughts about the book and her translation can be read here.
The shortish novel is in two parts. The first is a horrific story of a sailing ship drifting without wind to the point where the crew goes mad and cannibalistic. The second part drifts into "weird" territory when the two survivors land in a strange forest with blood-red skies, carnivorous plants, and other oddities and dangers. The descriptions of the mysterious surroundings are good, and are interesting enough. But there isn't enough character development for my tastes.
I would compare this to Annihilation, though it isn't a close match. The dangerous, unreal plants and hallucinatory imagery are similar, but the character motivations and development are different, and "mountain" makes even less attempt to explain the phenomena than "Annihilation" does.
Worthwhile, but not among my favorites.
In book form this is about 116 pages. Inside the collection "The Weird" it is 29 pages, which gives a good indication on how huge the pages in "The Weird" are. They are equal to about 4 normal pages.
The shortish novel is in two parts. The first is a horrific story of a sailing ship drifting without wind to the point where the crew goes mad and cannibalistic. The second part drifts into "weird" territory when the two survivors land in a strange forest with blood-red skies, carnivorous plants, and other oddities and dangers. The descriptions of the mysterious surroundings are good, and are interesting enough. But there isn't enough character development for my tastes.
I would compare this to Annihilation, though it isn't a close match. The dangerous, unreal plants and hallucinatory imagery are similar, but the character motivations and development are different, and "mountain" makes even less attempt to explain the phenomena than "Annihilation" does.
Worthwhile, but not among my favorites.
In book form this is about 116 pages. Inside the collection "The Weird" it is 29 pages, which gives a good indication on how huge the pages in "The Weird" are. They are equal to about 4 normal pages.
June 3, 2022
it's an adventure for sure but not one i would like to partake in
January 2, 2020
Lo acabo de terminar y reconozco que me ha entusiasmado esta novela corta o relato largo. Creo que para llegar a ella lo mejor es no saber nada del argumento, que te pille desprevenido, es la mejor manera de dejarse llevar por esta aventura, terrorífica, misteriosa y totalmente enganchante. Mezcla entre viaje iniciático, aventura y terror, es una obra inmensa. Must read. Relato que se puede encontrar en la antologia Mares tenebrosos: Una antología de cuentos de terror en el mar.
"En ese preciso momento sentí como si estuviera pasando a otro mundo, a otra vida. Aquella rara sensación de tránsito no duró mucho pero supe que jamás la olvidaría hasta el mismísimo día de mi muerte".
"En ese preciso momento sentí como si estuviera pasando a otro mundo, a otra vida. Aquella rara sensación de tránsito no duró mucho pero supe que jamás la olvidaría hasta el mismísimo día de mi muerte".
May 2, 2020
When a ship finds itself dead in the water, desperation runs high as disease, violent seas, and a mysterious, unexplainable island present disquieting implications. A short but dense read which hauntingly illustrates a stygian journey through the unknowable perils of mortality. Bernanos uses a careful and considered hand when depicting the subtler ironies and mysteries of the human perspective, to weave a believable story about impossible, chillingly surreal happenings. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend you do. It's a sailors story that devolves into an unaccountable nightmare across plains of dread of despair, all with the trace of hope and humanity that enriches our connection to the situations and leaves the desolate isolation more devastating than could ever be prepared for. Highly recommend to fans of weird fiction, especially those who enjoyed Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, which I'm convinced was at least partially influenced by this book.
January 14, 2018
Great stuff! Lots of peril and the ending is exceptionally strange and imaginative.
I do have some complaints, particularly in the last third but regardless, I think his one will stick with me for years to come.
I do have some complaints, particularly in the last third but regardless, I think his one will stick with me for years to come.
July 30, 2023
While browsing horrorlit forums looking for new books to buy but not read, I came across a few recommendations for The Other Side of the Mountain, all with the tag line 'Just go in blind. Don't read anything about it, no reviews not even the blurb on the book'. Reluctant to get a book that I had not even the slightest idea of what it was even about, I went to Ronica and told her about my predicament. "Just buy it, it's only $15". "Sold!" I said, and placed an order right away.
It arrived a few days later. I opened the bubble mailer (I hate bubble mailer, just give me a box please) and of course there was slight damage the corner. The book was a lot smaller than anticipated, the size of one of those state park gift shop books about... The state park. I flipped it open and looked through a few pages. Nice size font. Chapters around 5-8 pages long. Yeah. This will do juuuuust fine. But then the fear crept in. This was one of the scariest books I've ever gotten. Not because of the whats in the book, but of what could be in the book. What if I don't like it? What if it has contents I prefer not to read about? So, like every book I get, I set it aside to decontaminate for a few weeks.
So about a month goes by, and I'm back up to my old antics of browsing the forums, looking for, you guessed it, more books to not read. I came across a few more suggestions for The Other Side of the Mountain. Same thing, to not read anything about it. Maybe they were the same topics from before, and it was the same 3 people recommending it I read earlier? It's possible. So I figured, I'll just skim a few pages, just see what it is. And to my pleasant surprise, it was right up my alley! It's like the book was stalking me from Amazon, looking through my search and order history, and posing as random people to recommend itself to me, only because it knew that it was exactly what I wanted. Okay, maybe not, but it is my kind of book.
And the internet loonies are right; don't read anything about it. Especially the back of the book which is basically 90% of the story summed up! You'll just have to take theirs, and now my words for it; that's its a interesting journey. Although I still feel I was spoiled slightly because of the forums topics in which I read about the book that was recommended. I just can't help but wonder how much better it would have been to go in completely blind. Ah c'est la vie.
It arrived a few days later. I opened the bubble mailer (I hate bubble mailer, just give me a box please) and of course there was slight damage the corner. The book was a lot smaller than anticipated, the size of one of those state park gift shop books about... The state park. I flipped it open and looked through a few pages. Nice size font. Chapters around 5-8 pages long. Yeah. This will do juuuuust fine. But then the fear crept in. This was one of the scariest books I've ever gotten. Not because of the whats in the book, but of what could be in the book. What if I don't like it? What if it has contents I prefer not to read about? So, like every book I get, I set it aside to decontaminate for a few weeks.
So about a month goes by, and I'm back up to my old antics of browsing the forums, looking for, you guessed it, more books to not read. I came across a few more suggestions for The Other Side of the Mountain. Same thing, to not read anything about it. Maybe they were the same topics from before, and it was the same 3 people recommending it I read earlier? It's possible. So I figured, I'll just skim a few pages, just see what it is. And to my pleasant surprise, it was right up my alley! It's like the book was stalking me from Amazon, looking through my search and order history, and posing as random people to recommend itself to me, only because it knew that it was exactly what I wanted. Okay, maybe not, but it is my kind of book.
And the internet loonies are right; don't read anything about it. Especially the back of the book which is basically 90% of the story summed up! You'll just have to take theirs, and now my words for it; that's its a interesting journey. Although I still feel I was spoiled slightly because of the forums topics in which I read about the book that was recommended. I just can't help but wonder how much better it would have been to go in completely blind. Ah c'est la vie.
June 9, 2023
Lots of reviewers mention how they discovered this novella so I'll do the same because I learnt of it via a character in Gary Indiana's 'Gone Tomorrow' which, incidentally, is another good reason for my loving that novel.
I loved this novel though what it means, if anything, is hard to know or put into words. It has been described as '...a spell binding novel of the mineral persuasion...' which, while a wonderful phrase would usually annoy me except that it is completely accurate though that only becomes apparent after reading the novel. Normally a description which compares this novel ones by Par Lagerkvists* who I never heard of let alone read would annoy me enough in its pretentiousness to put me off reading the novel but thankfully it didn't and don't let it put you off. This short work is captivating and is back in print in various anthologies. It is probable that there are more people reading Michel Bernanos for pleasure today than read his father George who was a towering figure of French and European literature even when I was a student in the 1970s and because of which Michel, his son, usual used pseudonyms for his books so as not to be accused of piggy backing on his father's fame. Bernanos pere is today, in English language countries, unread and largely forgotten.
I highly recommend this odd and compelling book and wish some of the author's other work (this novel was part of a trilogy) would be made available in English.
*He is Swedish and the winner of the Nobel prize for literature and I hope to readat least one of his books soon.
I loved this novel though what it means, if anything, is hard to know or put into words. It has been described as '...a spell binding novel of the mineral persuasion...' which, while a wonderful phrase would usually annoy me except that it is completely accurate though that only becomes apparent after reading the novel. Normally a description which compares this novel ones by Par Lagerkvists* who I never heard of let alone read would annoy me enough in its pretentiousness to put me off reading the novel but thankfully it didn't and don't let it put you off. This short work is captivating and is back in print in various anthologies. It is probable that there are more people reading Michel Bernanos for pleasure today than read his father George who was a towering figure of French and European literature even when I was a student in the 1970s and because of which Michel, his son, usual used pseudonyms for his books so as not to be accused of piggy backing on his father's fame. Bernanos pere is today, in English language countries, unread and largely forgotten.
I highly recommend this odd and compelling book and wish some of the author's other work (this novel was part of a trilogy) would be made available in English.
*He is Swedish and the winner of the Nobel prize for literature and I hope to readat least one of his books soon.
June 12, 2018
(Lo he leido en Español en "Mares Tenebrosos: Una antología de cuentos de terror en el mar" de la editorial Valdemar. Creo que no se ha traducido en ninguna otra edición)
Escrito en los años 60, "El otro lado de la montaña" está considerado mucha gente un clásico moderno, y constituye una experiencia realmente interesante.
Es mejor acercarse a él sabiendo entre poco y nada, así que mi valoración de 5/5 debería ser suficiente indicativo de que me ha parecido estupendo y totalmente recomendable. El resto de la review lo voy a meter en Spoiler por si acaso.
Una joya.
Escrito en los años 60, "El otro lado de la montaña" está considerado mucha gente un clásico moderno, y constituye una experiencia realmente interesante.
Es mejor acercarse a él sabiendo entre poco y nada, así que mi valoración de 5/5 debería ser suficiente indicativo de que me ha parecido estupendo y totalmente recomendable. El resto de la review lo voy a meter en Spoiler por si acaso.
Una joya.
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March 7, 2022possibly the most insane and unhinged ending to any book i’ve ever read. i’m trembling
March 18, 2024
Oldie but a goodie. A hellish "adventure"
July 1, 2016
I discovered this little gem of a novella in the Weird, an anthology on weird fiction compiled by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer. I would say it falls under a traditional form of weird fiction in a similar mold to stuff like The Willows (Algernon Blackwood), House on the Borderlands (William Hope Hodgson) and the Mainz Psalter (Jean Ray). Although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the aforementioned works this story can still stand well on its own among the pantheon of the best weird fiction because it does add some interesting ideas to the weird tale. It is a surrealist adventure story about the two last surviving members of a crew whose ship was lost and destroyed in a storm. They end up stranded on a strange island where they see and experiences many preternatural things; the trees and plant life appear to be sentient, the stars seem to move from night to night, the vines wrapped around trees will attack you if you touch them, and then most peculiarly there is no animal life which is the aspect of the island that the characters are most curious about. Also there is this mysterious mountain on an island that soon becomes the main goal or obstacle for the characters to achieve, reaching the other side of the mountain. One of the characters believes that on the other side of the mountain will be a more hospitable environment where they can live and be at peace and escape the predicament they currently find themselves. I’m not going to say what they discover in the end or what happens to them for fear of spoiling it so I’ll just say it gets pretty darn weird and it does what weird fiction does best, creep you out and make you feel uneasy.
November 4, 2012
Call it Casual Friday. I took a break from Balzac and Laura Warholic. Last week when I completed The Collaborators I began reading reviews of French authors mentioned in the novel. Georges Bernanos was one of the authors making an appearence. The local library didn't have any works by him, but it did have one by his son, Michel: The Other Side of the Mountain.
A quick glance at reviews told me to read no further or even browse the synopsis on the novel's cover, but to simply read it.
It is bleak and the symbolism existential. Everyone should read this and then go to sleep. Pleasant dreams.
A quick glance at reviews told me to read no further or even browse the synopsis on the novel's cover, but to simply read it.
It is bleak and the symbolism existential. Everyone should read this and then go to sleep. Pleasant dreams.
June 9, 2017
A dull slog of suffering through a series of unrelated events and imagery with no character, imagination, or tone. I wouldn't be so hard on it if it were shorter but it's the longest story in The Weird so far but its offerings are less satisfying than many much shorter stories, even the older ones (though it isn't hard reading compared to some of them). It made sense to me to include stuff like this for its influence earlier in the book but this is well into the part of the chronology with good writing and interesting ideas so it's not clear why this would be seen to merit the pages it takes up.
July 26, 2011
A very quick and well written read (took me one day during my commute). I had no idea what this book was about, and I think it was better that way. A great harrowing tale that I could not stop thinking about before going to bed, reliving the tale over and over in my head. As one reviewer mentioned, you can guess where the book is going around 3/4 through, but it is hard to put it down.
April 27, 2020
has a little bit of amateurishness that might just be a translation thing, but overall this is a very well-done cosmic horror novella with some really cool imagery. eschews a lot of the purple prose inherent to this genre in favor of simpler language, which is greatly to its benefit. an overlooked gem!!
July 5, 2020
Amateurs de littérature fantastique qui voit les choses en grands, allez-y, sans vous renseigner plus en avant.
September 4, 2020
Loved it! It’s actually weird, has cannibals, shipwrecks, psychedelic oppressive carnivorous landscape riff raff. Some wooden father figure. A giant breathing mountain with fire and brimstone. Praying trees. Hell yes. Let’s get mineral.
May 10, 2016
Surreal bizarre novella...great to read with a bottle of wine in a hammock on a summer day and then just kind of walk around in a haze.
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