The Land of Laughs

by Jonathan Carroll

For schoolteacher Thomas Abbey there was no writer to equal Marshall France, a legendary author of children's books who hid himself away in the small town of Galen and died of a heart attack at the age of forty-four. Tom and his girlfriend Saxony, wanting to write France's biography, arrive in Galen, where they discover the writer's fiercely protective daughter Anna is waiting for them. Before long, they realise that this idyllic little town and its inhabitants - both human and animal - are not quite what they seem: France's magic has spread beyond the printed page ...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Magical Realism, Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Novels

241 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 1980

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

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

”The Land of Laughs was lit by eyes that saw the lights that no one’s seen.”


Jonathan Carroll

Thomas Abbey is a prep school English teacher who is weighed down with loneliness, boredom, and a lackluster attitude about the direction of his own life. He has three passions: one, he likes to collect unusual masks from around the world; two, he loves the books of Marshall France; three, he hates (loves) his famous father.

He has been defined his whole life as the son of….

Things begin to change for him during a chance encounter in a bookstore. Bookstores, in my experience, are sometimes the best settings for life changing moments. Thomas finds a first edition book by France he has never seen before, only to be told by the bookseller that the book has already been sold. A piece of his collector’s soul goes up in flames. He decides to wait to meet the person who has bought the book to offer her more than she paid for it. His father has left him with means, the bastard, and so the price of the book is irrelevant in regards to the pleasure he will achieve in owning it.

This is how he meets Saxony. He has masks on his walls. She has puppets. He loves Marshall France and so does she. As it turns out, she will provide the spark that will set him on a new course. No one has ever successfully written a biography of Marshall France. Saxony is good at research, and Thomas is a pretty decent writer; maybe between the two of them they can bring Marshall France back to life.

Back to life? Interesting choice of words there, Mr. Keeten.

Thomas takes a semester off, and he and Saxony decide to make the pilgrimage to Galen, Missouri, which is where France had lived until his sudden death at the age of 44. I don’t know if Jonathan Carroll picked 44 on purpose or not, but that number resonates with me because it was the age of two of my favorite writers when they died: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Robert Louis Stevenson. In fact, one might say I’m a little leary of the number 44.

There is one hurdle that must be leaped for Thomas to have a chance at writing this book about his favorite writer. France’s daughter, Anna, has the keys that unlock all the doors with the treasure troves of information to make the book a definitive biography.

Anna has that “Lauren Bacall-deep ‘if-you-need-anything-just-whistle’ voice” which gives Thomas an ”eleven-foot-long erection.”

Maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. He has been knocking boots with Saxony, so this is a new wrinkle that could potentially blow the whole project sky high. To the discerning collector, having sex with your favorite writer’s daughter is the ultimate in obtainable collectible items.

All that I have discussed is the set up for the main plot, which leads up to the twisty, eyebrow raising, mouth dropping conclusion. Things really start to get wiggy when Thomas hears the Bull Terrier, named Nails, talking in his sleep. I didn’t say barking. I said talking.

What the hell is going on? I mean...what the hell?

Soon Thomas is wrestling with the concept of whether his idol was...God or Frankenstein?



The thing I’ve always enjoyed about Jonathan Carroll is how his plots always start out so normal, and he just keeps adding elements. Some of them are a bit odd, but still within the scope of the lives we all lead. He sucks us in, makes us invested in the characters, and then he starts leading the reader into more and more unfamiliar territory, but still at a pace that the reader has to keep going to find out where Carroll is taking them. Then he hits you with the great reveal that is a bit wicked, a bit deviant, and always brimming with originality. I recently read Pat Conroy’s book “My Reading Life”, and he devotes the final pages of that book discussing how much he enjoys Carroll’s work. Conroy inspired me to reread Carroll’s books for the pure joy of having a chance to revisit his writing, but also a chance to review these books that have given me so much pleasure over the years. If you haven’t had the chance to read Jonathan Carroll, I can’t recommend him highly enough.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cult classic--a bigger hit in Poland than in the author's native USA--is a strange novel, and a very interesting one. At the beginning, it seems to be a piece of realistic fiction, narrating the efforts of a high school English instructor in his 30's and his researcher girlfriend to write the biography of a deceased children's book author they idolize. But when they get to the author's hometown, things get weirder and weirder--and the book itself gets stranger and stranger. Unlike many books that develop this way, however, the ending does not disappoint. This is a good novel, well worth your time.

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

jonathan carroll's books are like gourmet jellybeans. even his shittiest flavors are better than most regular jellybeans, and who doesn't like jellybeans? (alfonso claims that only white people eat jellybeans, which is untrue, but it's such an odd racial stereotype i feel compelled to add it here).

you know how there is some music that no matter what mood you are in, it just happens to be the right music?? jonathan carroll is like that for me. he's just...wonderful, like a new crush you can't stop gushing over. he's definitely a high fabulist, but in the best sense of the term. let's compare: better than graham joyce, more charming than millhauser, slightly less ambitious than robertson davies, but always always entertaining. i would name-drop alasdair gray, but so few people have read him, it's not even worth it. stop reading this review and go read lanark, already...

jonathan carroll can be summed up in two words: death and dogs.
not your gritty noir alsatians snarling over an abandoned corpse, but generally affable dogs involved in some way in a character's meditations or experiences with death and what comes next: bull terriers who are either sentient or symbolic, but are carroll's literary stamp as recognizable as any of lynch's recurring visual details/tics.

carroll has a few major themes; mostly ideas of life and death and karma and the afterlife and man's responsibilities to man and woman and ghosts and film. they are philosophical/moral/spiritual journey stories but in a playful, not didactic way. "spiritual journey" should in no way conjure up images of coelho, redfield, or martel. take those thoughts to go, please.

land of laughs is a really good introduction to jonathan carroll. the ending? shrug, not the best, in my opinion. but it honestly does not matter, because it's such an incredible story throughout. his endings are pretty consistently weak, but it almost becomes an adorable quirk, like when kids can't say "spaghetti" or something that people think it is cute when kids do.

at the end of the day, he is just a good storyteller, and like the opening credits for amazing stories, isn't that the foundation our littry appreciation should be built upon?

come to my blog!

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

real review of book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

review of this spectacular edition:

ohhhhhh A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!



after missing out on buying this very limited print run edition of The Land of Laughs because i couldn't justify, at this financial point in my life, spending $85 on a book i've read many times and already own many many different editions of in different languages or with different covers, i had the mopes, but then LO!

connor got me a copy for early christmas!

and it's signed by carroll and the three illustrators and numbered (111 is a wonderful number):



it is beautiful! and HUGE!

look how much bigger it is than a dime!



or fizzgig



or even oogie boogie



and it's illustrated all over the place.

here is the back cover



and the dust jacket flaps





and then there are full color illustrations at the beginning:





and tons of internal illustrations throughout:





kids, go to bed!



I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!

maggie loves it, too!





and maybe, just maybe, it cures cat cancer.

we will wait and see how big of a christmas miracle this book is.

but i have high hopes.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, CONNOR!!!

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morbid and unsettling, even though extremely ingenious. Obsessions, talking dogs, infidelity, diaries of doom, freedom vs fate, writers of destiny, ... what the fig?
Q:
Why couldn’t a woman be marvelous for once? Not winky, not liberated, not vacuous … (c)
Q:
Don’t they scare you?”
“No more than you do, my dear.”
That was that. Five minutes later she was gone and I was putting some of the linseed oil on another mask. (c)
Q:
“The Land of Laughs was lit by eyes that saw the lights that no one’s seen.” (c)
Q:
I sang it constantly to myself in that low intimate voice that children use to talksing to themselves when they’re alone and happy. (c)
Q:
After I had the book I noticed that it had been neatly rewrapped in a piece of paper that must have been a copy of some old handwritten sheet music. It was a nice touch, but all I wanted to do was tear it off and begin reading the book again. I knew that’d be rude, but I was thinking about how I’d do it when I got home. Grind some beans in the Moulinex, make a fresh pot of coffee, then settle in the big chair by the window with the good reading light … (с)
Q:
“I know it’s none of my business, but why on earth would you pay a hundred dollars for that book?”
How do you explain an obsession? (c)
Q:
I wondered then for the first time if France really appealed only to weirdos like us: puppet-obsessed little girls in hospitals and analyzed-since-five boys whose fathers’ shadows were stronger than the kids’. (c)
Q:
About a week later I stayed up one night to get some reading done. For once it was nice to be in my mouse-hole apartment because one of those winter storms was blowing outside that go back and forth between mean, hard rain and wet snow. (c)
Q:
It’s fun working in the library and trying to pull out things on someone you love. (с)
Q:
She’d be hugging a copy of Kafka or Kierkegaard to her chest. I kept getting the impression that she carried them title out so that whoever looked her way would be sure to see what she was reading. (c)
Q:
Needless to say, it pretty depressing at first to hear that the author of my favorite book in the world was kept on at the job because he cooked a mean lasagne. (c)
Q:
Reading a book, for me at least, is like traveling in someone else's world. If it's a good book, then you feel comfortable and yet anxious to see what's going to happen to you there, what'll be around the next corner. But if it's a lousy book, then it's like going through Secaucus, New Jersey -- it smells and you wish you weren't there, but since you've started the trip, you roll up the windows and breathe through your mouth until you're done. (c)
Q:
“That’s the one thing that you’ll have to get used to around me, Thomas: wherever I go, I always carry my life around with me.” (с)
Q:
Her hands were folded in her lap, but mine still gripped the steering wheel. I felt like ripping it off and handing it to her. (c)
Q:
She stood in the middle of the room, beaming, and told us to come in and sit down. I say “told” because whatever she said sounded either like an order or a definitive statement. She was not an insecure person. (с)
Q:
The feeling passed, but its echoes didn’t. (c)
Q:
It was a strange assortment, too — Richard Halliburton’s The Magic Carpet, the notebooks of Max Frisch (in German), Aleister Crowley, Gurdjieff’s Meetings with Remarkable Men, a French priest who fought for the underground in WW II, Mein Kampf (in German), the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Three on a Toothbrush by Jack Paar. (c)
Q:
As soon as I started eating, I knew it was going to be a long, long meal. I wondered why I was damned to eat horrible food from the hands of interesting women. (c)
Q:
In fact, she not only stopped, her whole face shut down like an airport in a snowstorm. (c)
Q:
I have a bad habit of judging people as soon as I meet them. Unfortunately I’m wrong about them a lot of the time. (c)
Q:
There were crosses on top of crosses. Jesus bled all over the room from fifty different places, each showing him suffering some new kind of agony. (c)
Q:
I felt like I’d float right up out of my chair and around the room on the slightest breeze, My mind lay down and put its hands behind its head. (c)
Q:
A Queen of Oil from Anna, a Marshall France from Saxony, my chapter done, and the fall had just about arrived — my favorite season of the year. (c)
Q:
Naturally I still have that paranoia, but you get used to living with anything after three years, even that. (c)
Q:
The moon was a werewolf’s delight … (с)
Q:
All the things that I knew were a little weird about me stood up, took a bow, and started walking around inside me at top speed… (c)
Q:
“Are you frightened?”
“Yes. Where are my pants?” (c)
Q:
I felt like taking a nap at the bottom of the ocean. (c)

[Maciek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jonathan Carroll is a writer whose name I have been hearing over the years, but whose fiction I've never tried. An American living in Vienna for many years, he has developed a quiet but steadfast cult following - much like the city itself, with its with its unlimited supply of quiet coffee houses - the famous Viennese cafés, described by UNESCO as places "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill". Legend has it that soldiers from the Polish-Habsburg army found sacks full of strange beans while liberating Vienna from the Turks in the 1600's. They initially wanted to burn them as they thought that they were camel food, but Polish king Jan III Sobieski gave them to one of his officers, who recognized what they were and soon started the first coffee house. Many Viennese cafés hang the picture of the officer - whose name was Jan Franciszek Kulczycki - in their windows.

The Land of Laughs is Carroll's debut novel, published in 1980. It's both a fan favorite and a cult classic, having been reprinted by Orion Books in 2000 as the ninth volume of their Fantasy Masterworks series. The Orion edition brough it back to print, as it has fallen out of it for a number of years, and became a reason for despair for many Carroll fans who couldn't get their hands on their favorite author's debut, which grew in value and expectations. Of course now the age of digital publishing has largely eliminated such problems, as the Kindle immortalized hundreds of thousands of volumes which would otherwise share the same fate - which is both a blessing and a curse: the blessing being an eternal digital life of novels, with readers not fearing that their favorites will go out of print and that they will be unable to read them, as there is no print to speak of - but also a curse, resulting decreasing sales of paper books made of trees in favor of their Kindle counterparts made of ones and zeroes. I fear for independent mom-and-pop book stores going out of business, places where you could walk in and browse the books and talk with the owners about them. I would very much miss such places, as I would miss the paper book - with its smell and feel and history. Most of my books come from second hand, and I always wonder about the previous readers and owners. Where did they get it? How did they like it? What was the book's journey before it reached my part of the world? Sometimes readers would inscribe short notes on the book, a dedication to someone they gave it to - and I wonder, what made that person to give it away?

I hope that you'll excuse this longish introduction, which I felt was appropriate for Carroll's novel, which also deals with books. It's narrated in the first person by Thomas Abbey, a man famous for being the son of his father - a famous actor. Thomas is a man stuck in a limbo - he teaches English in a prep school in Connecticut and feels that his life is as interesting as watching grass grow. Desperate for a change, Thomas decides to do something which is interesting to him - write a biography of his favorite writer, the late Marshall France. France wrote children's books which Thomas loved when growing up, and remained very much interested in. Although France was renowned for his imaginative and unique work, almost nothing is known about his personal life. Motivated by curiosity about France's life and staleness of his own, Thomas sets out on an ambitious project which will take him to the small midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, where France was born and lived. He will be accompanied by Saxony Gardner, a fellow France-fanatic whom he met by chance in a bookstore while shopping for a rare book by his idol. With their combined efforts they hope to convinve France's surviving daughter, Anna, into letting them her write father's biography. To their surprise, Anna welcomes them warmly and find her excited about their proposal - even eager to have the biography written as soon as possible. But it won't be long before Thomas and Saxony will discover that in Galen not everything is what it seems.

Carrol doesn't hesitate to use all the tropes: a troubled male protagonist and a female sidekick, a mysterious woman and a town with its own secrets, and the last but not least - books full of wonder. Who could resist such a mix? Beginning The Land of Laughs feels like sitting down to relax in an old and comfortable armchair - a personal favorite, creaky and wobbly but still very relaxing. But in Carroll's case the armchair is filled with holes, and its arm rests dangle dangerously, threatening to fall apart at any moment.

Published in 1980, the book is charmingly dated with having no contemporary technology which we grew so used to - forget about cell phones, personal computers, iPads and Facebook. To do his research Thomas has to go to a library, and actually browse through huge volumes. But the sheer fact that he was so obsessed with a writer's work and never in all these years developed any interest in learning anything about his life seems wildly implausible - even if he had no Google. (imagine if he had a Kindle - so many problems solved! But then you can't hit anybody on the head with a Kindle. Well, you can, but the thing is so light and thin that it'd break in two and would feel like a mosquito bite, so what would be the point?).
I did not find any of the characters likable, and found Thomas to be
unsympathetic, ungrateful and boring. None of the characters was paricularly interesting and all of them were very undeveloped - especially both women. Anna is presented as little more than a mysterious minx, and Saxony never rises above the label of the devoted nerd. There's a ton of sex scenes in this book which it really could have done without, which made it seem as if they were the only reason for inclusion of two female characters. This smelled strongly for sexism, even for an 80's fantasy novel. Perhaps the biggest flaw is that along with technical aspects the plot itself has dated - after so many versions of a similar story done in film, television and literature I did not find any of the developments particularly surprising, and the sudden and unsatisfying end left me feeling let down.

The Land of Laughs was praised by Neil Gaiman, who also chose it as his selection for Audible. Pat Conroy has described Jonathan Carroll as a "cult waiting to happen", and it has happened indeed - but I would never have guessed it from this rather weak and predictable debut. I do not understand why Orion books chose it as a representation of a Fantasy Masterwork, and why it's considered a cult classic - it reads more like a clunky creative writing assignment commisioned to a young writer, fresh out of college. The plot is largely predictable, the characters and their relationships shallow, and the sudden resolution lets any tiny amount of suspense swoosh away quickly like air from a punctured balloon. Perhaps his later novels are better - I sure hope so - but only in the eighties could anyone begin a longlasting career with an effort like this.

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no clue what to expect of this novel, and cannot even remember where I encountered it already many months ago.

FROM THE BLURB

Have you ever loved a magical book above all others? Have you ever wished the magic were real? Welcome to The Land of Laughs. A novel about how terrifying that would be.

Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wants--in life, in love, or in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life nothing has touched him so deeply as the novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four.

Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they're surprised to find France's daughter warmly welcoming instead. But slowly they begin to see that something fantastic and horrible is happening. The magic of Marshall France has extended far beyond the printed page...leaving them with a terrifying task to undertake.

If I have read the blurb or reviews, I would probably have skipped it, since I am not overly keen on magical realism. Some people define this novel as modern fantasy, but while reading it I kept on thinking about Gabrial Garcia Marquez. An then I thought about Neil Gaiman's works. Sela, in the end this author, who developed his own cult in the end, was indeed hailed by Neil Gaiman as one of 100 best magical realism authors in the world. The book was first released in 1982, but became so popular that it was released again in 2010.

With that said, the story fitted perfectly into the surrealistic world of magic meeting reality in Galen, Missouri.

The story is written in the cultural language of the early Eighties, with all the elements of the times present, such as women as sidekicks for mostly salacious purposes, and the music of the times forming the background noise of the plot ( I actually enjoyed that). Small town America functions perfectly in the scheme of things with little indication of what was to be expected in what seemed to be a perfectly normal smalltown life.

As the story progresses, things change and weirdness creeps into the lives of all the inhabitants. Nobody has any other dogs but bull terriers in town. Everyone seemed to be weirdly happy even in the most inexplicable moments.

The magical realism allowed for the gobsmacking, surreal ending.

I don't want to say much about the plot, since it will spoil the surprise for someone who might want to read this book. I found this book strangely mesmerizing. Although it was a bit too creepy for my taste, I still kept on reading until the very end. Gripping, mysterious, compelling, and totally out of my comfort zone. Still I felt connected and invested in this magical experience. From the beginning there were ants running down my spine, and they relentlessly increased in numbers till the last sentence in this very well written book.

It's not for everyone, but I do believe it will be a thrill for the right reader. I won't become one of the groupies, but certainly appreciated the rattling of my comfortable reading cage. It was the perfect choice for this purpose :-)) Just over 240 pages it was a perfect read.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Cover painting by David Mattingly)

What at first seems like a quirky, lighthearted tale with mild fantastical elements soon shifts to all out weirdness and terror, as narrator Thomas Abbey moves to a small Missouri town, the hometown of his hero, a reclusive children’s book author whose whimsical fantasies greatly affected Thomas when he was a boy. He and his girlfriend/assistant are there to do research for a biography he’s planning on the late author, and they notice right away that things are off in this town. A sudden tragedy occurs soon after they arrive, and the people react…oddly. Almost as if it was expected, in a way. What’s with all the bull terriers everywhere? And did Thomas just hear one talk?

I won’t say more so as to not give anything away, but I will mention that the only thing holding me back from giving this 5 stars is the narrator himself. He’s a grade A prick, totally insufferable. It’s not necessary for the main character to be 100% likable and relatable for me, but any fear or unease I felt concerning his well-being would entirely dissipate once I remembered that I really couldn’t care less whether he lives or dies. Still, I was able to get past that and soon became enveloped in this surreal, insane nightmareland. The imagination and creativity on display were more than enough to carry me through, not to mention its…unpredictable-ness.

Plus, I just love me some creepy small town stories.

(ETA: As an aside, I just wanted to mention the fact that I always think of Jonathan Carroll as British for some reason. Every so often I’ll read up on him, maybe deciding what book of his I want to try next, and every time I’m surprised to rediscover that he’s in fact American. There’s something about his writing style that brings to mind English fantasists like Gaiman or Graham Joyce more so than any of his fellow countrymen. Even while reading this book I had to constantly remind myself that it takes place in Missouri. And that’s all I have to say about that.)

[seak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Abbey has always loved the books by Marshall France, you may even say he's obsessed with them. He has a copy of just about every book written by the famed (and fictional) author and has an inheritance from his famous father that allows him to pay big bucks for even the rarest publications.

Abbey, who is also a school English teacher, decides he wants to write a biography of his favorite author even though he's never written anything in his life. He manages to run into a fellow France-obsessed fan in his endeavors and they proceed to visit the mysterious town where France did the majority of his writing and where he escaped the limelight.

The Land of Laughs is really a book for book lovers. I'm sure if you've found yourself here on Goodreads, you may have been borderline obsessive about an author or two in your life and even currently, so this book is extremely easy to relate to in that respect.

If this doesn't make perfect sense to you, I don't know what will:

“Reading a book, for me at least, is like traveling in someone else's world. If it's a good book, then you feel comfortable and yet anxious to see what's going to happen to you there, what'll be around the next corner. But if it's a lousy book, then it's like going through Secaucus, New Jersey -- it smells and you wish you weren't there, but since you've started the trip, you roll up the windows and breathe through your mouth until you're done.”

Then again, I've gotten over my need to read through everything I start. Life's way too short for that.

The Land of Laughs is considered a fantasy, but most of the book has almost nothing fantastical about it. It could also very easily be described as a horror, at least just as much as it can be considered fantasy because there were some truly spine-tingling scenes toward the end that are worth the read alone.

What impressed me almost immediately is that this is Carroll's debut novel and he's writing about a fictional author who's legendary in this novel he's created. Naturally, you have to prove at least to some degree why this person is such a beloved author. I guess you don't have to necessarily, but it would be much harder to make it believable. And yet, some of the lines from this fictional author are beautiful and therefore completely believable in all respects.

Similar to Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, The Land of Laughs is a book of many other books. Many of the famous books that are fictionally written by Marshall France are explained and even plotted even though never written in real life. Carroll even gives us lines from the books which are splendid and as I said above, purvey the beauty of France's writing.

The eponymous book is actually France's most famous book:

"The eyes that light The Land of Laughs was lit by eyes that saw the light's that no one's seen."

There were a few lines like this that just made me smile and enchanted me to no end. I wish I could find more of them right now because they're excellent and really do provide a magical quality to the story and writing both.

In addition, the rest of The Land of Laughs is written in a clever way that resonated really well with me. The first person narrative of Thomas Abbey is clever, but in a self-depricating way. In a book where I should have been bored by the slow start, I was enamored from the beginning.

This story has that magical aspect to it that makes reading an experience. Neil Gaiman doest this to me as well with the same sort of wit and charm. Add to that the twist at the end and this is one of those books that's impossible to forget.

4 out of 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is copy 40 of 300 copies signed by:

Jonathan Carroll
Ryder Carroll
Michelle Lopes
David Mattingly

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by a good friend and I will forever be grateful to her for that because I couldn’t have loved this book more. In fact, I’m ready to dive head first into the world of Carroll’s writing! This book is just pure perfection, it has everything you could want as a reader; stunning writing, amazing characters and a truly fascinating storyline. And it’s the most beautiful mix of fantasy, horror and magical realism I’ve ever had the luck to read! Trust me, you need to read this book!

[Bülent Ö. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hayran olduğunuz bir kitap, bir yazar varsa, Kahkahalar Ülkesi'ni okuyun mutlaka.

Bu hayranlığı çok güzel tanımlayan bir hikaye anlatıyor çünkü. Yazmanın, en güzel yaratım süreci olduğunu düşünüyorsanız, mutlaka okuyun bu kitabı. Çünkü bu kitap, yazma sanatına harika bir saygı duruşu.

Aşkın gerçekçi bir sunumunu görmek istiyorsanız mutlaka edinin bu kitabı: Tutku mu, huzur mu?

Çok garip, olağandışı bir kasabada aylar geçirmek isterseniz hiç kaçırmayın bu kitabı.

Gülmek istiyorsanız, şaşırmak istiyorsanız kesinlikle geçin bu kitabın başına.

Sönmez Güven'in harika çevirisi, Jonathan Carroll'ın müthiş kalemi okunmayı bekliyor.

Bal çalalım dimağınıza:

İngilizce öğretmeni Thomas Abbey, en sevdiği yazar Marshall France'in biyografisini yazmayı aklına koyar. Bu uğurda, yine Marshall France'e duyduğu hayranlık sayesinde tanıştığı ve çok hoşlandığı kuklacı Saxony Gardner ile Marshall France'in doğduğu kasabaya, Missouri eyaletinde bulunan Galen'a gider.

Kasabadan, önceki biyografi yazarlarına gösterilen tepkiye benzer bir tepki göreceğini düşünse de tam tersi olur: Marshall France'in kızı Anna France başta olmak üzere, tüm kasaba ona iyi davranır ve biyografiyi yazması için destek çıkar. Kasabada bir ev tutan çift, bir yandan Marshall France'in hayatına dair detaylara ulaşmaya çalışırken diğer yandan kasabada meydana gelen garip olaylara alışmaya çalışırlar.

Tüm garip olaylarıın açıklaması, büyülü bir sonla bize ulaşır, kitabı ağzımız açık kapatırız.

Yıllar sonra düzelti: Çok özledim bu kitabı.

[kimera · Rating 1 out of 5]

sexist feedle-faddle wannabe literature

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Laughs: Weird things are afoot in small-town Missouri
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
The Land of Laughs was written back in 1980 and I wonder how many readers know about it now. It’s written by Jonathan Carroll, who has written a number of offbeat modern fantasies, and I only know about it because it was selected by David Pringle for his Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. Even that is probably not enough to put it on most radars, but Neil Gaiman also chose it for his “Neil Gaiman Presents” series of audiobooks, so I listened to it during a series of long walks along Tokyo Bay in Rinkai Park. It’s narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, who does a nice job of capturing the strange events of the story.

The Land of Laughs is the story of Thomas Abbey, son of famous film actor Stephen Abbey. He teaches English at a small Connecticut prep school for rich kids, and tries to avoid the huge shadow that his famous father casts over him. Dissatisfied with teaching The Scarlet Letter to bored teens, he decides to take a sabbatical to pursue his greatest passion — writing a biography of his all-time favorite writer, Marshall France, a renowned creator of quirky children’s fantasies in the mold of Lewis Carroll. France was a secretive man who lived much of his life in the small town of Galen, Missouri, and when Thomas runs into another obsessed female fan of Marshall France named Saxony Gardner, they strike up a relationship and decide to take an extended road-trip to Galen to research a biography of their beloved author.

When they arrive in small-town Galen, they are unsure how the townspeople will react, and even less so the famous author’s daughter Anna, a mysterious woman who they have been warned will be hostile but turns out to be extremely welcoming and offers to help with their research. They meet many of the townspeople, attempting to gather as much material as possible about the life and influences of Marshall France. But the longer they stay, the more they notice a number of strange and disturbing incidents in the supposedly idyllic small town, which seems to have an overabundance of bull terriers…

The Land of Laughs may sound like a familiar set-up, with dark undercurrents lurking beneath the surface of a quiet Midwestern town, but this is as much about the obsessions of Thomas and Saxony and the intensity with which they idolize their favorite childhood author. As we learn about their pasts, we come to understand why they have been so strongly drawn to the quirky fantasy worlds of Marshall France. All lovers of fantasy worlds are likely to recognize that sentiment, even if not to this degree. And as the emotional lives of Thomas, Saxony, and Anna get tangled with the life of Marshall France, things get deliciously twisted.

The revelations of the power of Marshall France’s imaginary worlds and how they have influenced the town of Galen are eye-opening. And though there are moments of discomfort, this story is far more humorous than horrifying, at least until the final chapters (which felt a bit rushed, and less than fully satisfying). The Land of Laughs could have been played as an Amityville-style horror story, but really it’s more about obsessions and how they shape our lives, as well as the overwhelming influence that parents can have on their children. It also is a tribute to the godlike powers of the author to create and shape worlds to his/her liking, but a warning of the responsibilities that come with that. It is a very entertaining and thought-provoking tale, and not like anything else I’ve read before.

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book twice. Both times I was satisfied and amazed. And I am going to do it again.

[Phil Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Review originally posted on my author website, Write Right Now)

Jonathan Carroll has developed an almost cult status as a slipstream author, and it was with his contemporary fantasy reputation in mind that I picked up a copy of The Land of Laughs, part of the Fantasy Masterworks collection. It had incredibly high praise from a number of reputable critics and authors, including Neil Gaiman, and comes with claims that if you’re new to Jonathan Carroll then his debut is a great place to start. Such build up can go two ways with a book; it can give it an advantage making you love it before you’ve even begun, or it can set you up for great disappointment.

In this case, it was not what I had hoped for in one major way. For a fantasy masterwork with such strong endorsements, it was remarkably light on fantasy. In fact until the final third (if that) you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a relationship drama. Except it was remarkably light on drama, too.

In short, this is the story of a rather uninspiring teacher, Thomas Abbey, who sets out to write a biography of his favourite writer, Marshell France. His journey to the town France lived in reveals a series of inconsistencies that suggests more is going on than anyone’s admitting. The problem is there isn’t that much more going on – much as it heads to a rather crazy reveal it is, despite its extremity, rather predictable and doesn’t generate much in the way of tension or excitement. It’s scarcely a spoiler to say, for example, that the sinister overtones of details such as whether or not France changed his name amounts to precious little nothingness.

In fact for a good 200 or so pages of the 240 page book what you’re actually treated to is the meandering tale of a man trying to navigate the standard challenges of biography writing against the background of meeting an adoring geeky girlfriend and the seductive daughter of his idol. Given the rather unlikeable nature of the protagonist, whose greatest challenge in life is having a famous father, it’s the handling of these two female characters that is to make or break the plodding story.

And the handling of the adoring girlfriend, in particular, is a misogynistic mess.

To say the book feels dated is an understatement; its almost glacial pace is one thing, its attitude to the girlfriend, portrayed as a perfectly selfless and undeserving victim, should have been laid to rest centuries ago. The protagonist’s male entitlement is bold and unashamed, though, to the degree that his cheating is not only accepted without much in the way of judgement it’s also forgiven without any kind of atonement. I was waiting for terrible things to happen to Abbey, whose arch appeared only to become increasingly irritating and self-important. Sadly, he never changed, and was scarcely even threatened.

Carroll is known for combining various genres, and I was in hope of feeling a sense of dread or horror – even just conflict – that I persevered. The only feeling I got from The Land of Laughs, though, was shock at the handling of the protagonist’s philandering. Which was presented dismissively (despite a few vacuous comments that he felt pretty bad about it, but kept doing it) and was ultimately inconsequential.

It’s a shame, as in all I could sense the building blocks of the greatness others see in Carroll here – it’s testament to his writing ability that I managed to finish the book despite any particular interest in the plot or characters. And the ideas in there hinted at his ability to create interesting new worlds. It just all felt too lacklustre, too lacking in pace and drama and, most unforgivingly, too accepting of its main characters flaws.

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дуже дивна проза яка мені, втім, соподобалась. Багата фразеологізмами та відсилками до поп-культури мова, багато образів, що так і нагадують англійського товариша із ідентичним прізвищем. Напевно, одна із найцікавіших книг, що я прочитав цього року.
Читав е-бук з 600 е-сторінок, і до сторінки так 400-ї не було жодної ясності чи прозоро фентезійної містичності.
Магічним реалізмом у Джонатана і не пахне, але от Борхесівською химерною прозою ще й так віддає. Той дух перебиває лише слабкий душок белетристики, у яку, я так зрозумів із анотацій на пізніші книги Керрола, він скотився із головою. Белетристика тут у недоеротиці, у слабкості жіночіх персонажів, у ось-це-так-поворот!-ності.
Та навіть із тим книга є хорошою, гарним прикладом якісної контркультури. Будь моя воля, і підлітки-недопанки читали б Керрола замість Паланіка чи (мазохісти!) Берроуза (і це тут не про чуваків із джунглів у дранті навколо геніталій).

Хочеться чогось неформатного, проте емоційно та стильово якісного? Прошу - ось вам Джонатан Керрол.

Пи. Си.: і з його цікавою мовою мені капець як хочеться побачити, чи можна його адаптувати українською

[Joanna Slow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ponowna lektura „Krainy chichów” potwierdziła, że nie da się wejść dwa razy do tej samej rzeki. Młodzieńczy zachwyt, którym postanowiłam zarazić moje nastoletnie latorośle. Niewiele pamiętałam poza gadającymi bulterierami i zaskakującym pomysłem ciekawie wplatającym magie w codzienność. Wyparłam straszliwy seksizm bohatera i narratora, często żenujące poczucie humoru i straszny, bliski grafomanii język. Nic się nie uratowało, może tylko fascynacja fragmentami z opowieści Marshalla France’a.

[Brent Legault · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's what I think: it has a lot of "Boy, howdy!" dialogue. Sometimes the narration reads like an eager family newsletter and is infested with as many tired phrases. The plot and its "twists" are no more interesting or serpentine than an episode of The Twilight Zone or a Stephen King short story. Someone (An editor, perhaps. Did this book have an editor?) should have suggested that Carroll look up "elegant variation" in Fowler's. Much or most of his sentences are just careless, thoughtless, rushed. I often had to check the spine of the book to make sure I wasn't reading something that had been published by a vanity press. Many scenes are simply overwrought, almost all of them are overwritten. The main character talks often about rewriting but I don't get the impression that Carroll thinks much about it. I don't know how I read this book to its awful, awful end.

[Ramazan · Rating 4 out of 5]

hayran olduğumuz yazarlarla ilişkimiz çoğu zaman sıkıntılı geliyor bana. en azından kendi açımdan. şöyle bir düşününce kişisel olarak hiç tanımadığım bolano’ya örneğin ya da vonnegut’a, calvino’ya dünyanın en iyi insanı muamelesi etmem, edebiyatı dışında bir sevgi beslemem, nerden baksak biraz yanlış. bir zararı yok tabii çoğunlukla ama eserle kurulan bu sevgi bağının mahiyeti her anlamda tehlikeli bir yandan. sırf bu sebepten elimde imkan dahi olsa (bolano hariç :d) o yazarlarla yaşarken tanışmak istemezdim sanırım düş kırıklığına uğramamak için. kahkahalar ülkesi tam da bu fikrin filizlendirdiği bir roman işte. takıntı halinde sevilen bir yazarın biyografisini yazmak adına peşine düşen bir çiftin bradbury romanlarından fırlamış bir kasabada yaşadıkları. türdeşlerinden ilk farkı bu kez zayıf bir başlangıca sahip olması. ancak ilerleyen bölümlerde yalnızca seksenlerin kalburüstü nostaljik polisiye-gizemlerinden birini değil, teknik olarak çok da sağlam bir roman yazdığının gövde gösterisini yapıyor carroll. çok tatlı roman, kitaplıkta özel kısma konan nostaljisi yeten kontenjanından.stephen king’in sadist’i de benzer mevzuya odaklanan çok iyi bir roman. zaten king’in de çok sevdiği bir kitapmış. borges de okusa ucundan severdi bence, zaten ficciones’deki bir öyküden de esinlenme var.

[Robert Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dear friend who knows me well pressed this book on me and said, "Read it, you'll love it." She told me nothing about the Land of Laughs, and I'm glad. She loaned me her old paperback copy, which, unlike later editions, has no Neil Gaiman intro. I'm also glad about this, as I'm sure NG, who I love, divulges some plot points because he can't help himself.

The passing of this book from hand to hand was one of those times when a friend's enthusiasm was all it took for me to give it a shot. While I didn't LOVE it, I found it really enjoyable and original, with some golden WTF moments that somehow, amazingly, work. All told, time well spent in Jonathan Carroll's head.

As I said, I'm glad she didn't give me any details, and I'm doubly glad I didn't read any of the reviews on Goodreads (or anywhere else) before I settled in. In the ensuing review, I will endeavor not to spoil any of the surprises of Land of Laughs. And there are quite a few surprises. I was going to list a few hugely successful books that owe JC/LoL a debt, but even that would give you some clues and spoil some of the fun.

One of the aspects that drew me in was Carroll's ability to create characters who are petty, obnoxious, and selfish, yet somehow magnetic. Narrator Thomas Abbey (great names all over this tale) is the son of a famous deceased actor Stephen Abbey. Thomas is an unfulfilled English teacher obsessed with children's book author Marshall France, who died unexpectedly at age 44, some years before. Thomas and fellow France devotee Saxony Gardner - damaged, shoot-from-the-hip, high maintenance and my favorite character - travel from NYC to France's hometown in the Midwest - Galen, Missouri - so Abbey can write France's biography and Saxony can edit it. France's editor has told them it's a fool's errand - France's daughter Anna is impossible - but of course they go anyway. Absolute madness eventually ensues. The book you finish is not the book you begin.

For me, it was quite a "meta" experience, as the kids say. At times I was thinking, "I am reading a book about the unparalleled pleasures of reading a book, inhabiting a world in which deeply flawed people discuss inhabiting a world invented by deeply flawed people." That sounds unappetizing, maybe a little heady, but, when combined with the sharp, economic details of the landscape, the Galen townspeople, and the gradually unfolding craziness, I was engaged, especially for the last 1/4 of the book. I just wish the craziness could've unfolded a little sooner. But still, a nice payoff.

Sometimes I loathed Thomas Abbey and actually wanted something bad to happen to him, but when bad things did happen to him, I felt for him, which is a trick only a great writer can pull off. I never wanted anything bad to happen to Saxony.

The Dead Dad Dilemma is the soul of Land of Laughs, and frankly, I've never read a story that handles it in such an original way. The two Dead Dads - Marshall France and Thomas Abbey's father, Stephen - haunt the book and, it turns out, drive the narrative, though you only gradually come to realize it.

Another aspect that kept me glued is Carroll's ability to fuse dream reality with "real" reality. In fact, when you put down Land of Laughs, you'll experience that feeling of half-wakefulness, when a receding dream still seems real, for a few delicious, or horrifying, moments.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Laughs is a tricky book.

I thought it was pretty close to perfect, until the last ten pages or so; I walked away from the ending dissatisfied -- distressed, even -- and am still trying to work out whether it was a failure on the level of expectation or of writing. Was I thrown because I assumed the narrative would follow traditional, comforting fantasy logic? Or did Jonathan Carroll just write a careless, pulpy, trainwrecky ending?

The novel starts out full of nostalgia and metafiction. Two very odd people, Thomas (narrator) and Saxony (love interest; firey, tactless, vulnerable, stubborn, and adorable!) are drawn together by a mutual obsession with Marshall France, author of the whimsical children's books they fell in love with and never quite let go of. The plot unfolds quickly and engagingly. Thomas and Saxony become involved, and involved in a project to write France's biography. They end up in Galen, France's hometown, meeting his daughter and the people he used to live amongst. And then things get really fucking weird, shifting the emphasis to the "magical" half of "magical realism."

There's a lot of fun in the middle section of the book, and wonder, and exploration of the magical power of words. Without spoiling anything, I'll say -- the shiny surface of the town disintegrates. Think Disney on psychoactive drugs. Pay close attention to the cracks, Reader, and don't make the mistake of expecting a traditional happy ending, like I did; Carroll is much more subversive than that.

There's no doubt that he's good. Carroll writes with a light, sweet touch which I really enjoy, especially after my recent binge on too much ponderous postmodern stuff. He carries the narrative with a concise mixture of smart dialogue and internal narration, and leaves the boring bits out, so scenes come through like little detailed pictures in sharp, bright colours. The book's actually written in first person -- but in a personable, colloquial sort of first person, which makes it feel as if the narrator's a good conversationalist who's chatting with you.

I will read Jonathan Carroll again. I might even read this book again. But I'll probably skip the last ten pages.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll end up with a slew of Carroll novels--this one came out in America in 1980, so is one of the early ones. Check out Carroll's website www.jonathancarroll.com . Neil Gaiman, who admires Carroll greatly, wrote an introduction for the website which says:

"Jonathan Carroll's a changer. He's one of the special ones, one of the few. He paints the world he sees. He opens a window you did not know was there and invites you to look through it. He gives you his eyes to see with, and he gives you the world all fresh and honest and new. In a bookstore universe of bland and homogenised writers and fictions, the world that words from Carroll's fountain pen is as cool, as fine and as magical as a new lover, or cool water in the desert. Things matter. You can fall in love with his women, or his men, worry when they hurt, hate them when they betray or fall short, rejoice when they steal a moment of magic and of life from the face of death and eventual nothingness."

LAND OF LAUGHS deals with the idea that a writer can bring people back to life, which is a sentence that Carroll fleshes out in his amazing, quirky, fantastical magical realism style. He lives in Vienna, where many of his novels are set. I'd start with LAND OF LAUGHS--and see if you're ready for his dark magic.

[Pax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun. Twisted fun. Like a fairy tale on drugs.

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book most definitely would have deserved 5 shining stars had it not been for the weakest love line ever (and the author should have revealed a bit more about the female bookish-nerdish sidekick, I got a feeling as if she's got a lot to hide).
(and I wish the main character hadn't been such a self-important jerk sometimes!)

Apart from it, it's almost perfect. What I liked the most was the ending, which was beautiful and scary and cool. I liked the whole 80's gadgetless atmosphere, when people actually had to go to libraries to do research and shuffle through all yellow pages of newspapers, when they couldn't just call each other from the middle of nowhere crying for help, and had to stay at home for a week to take a long-awaited phone call. Hey, when they actually visited and talked to people. This is so, so old-fashioned and at the same time familiar it makes me want to shed the tears of joy:)

Surely enough, the central idea of getting lost in a magic world created by a book is not less familiar, and the point of finding out everything about the guy who created the world is as well deeply felt by me. Thank you, Mr Carroll, for me being 14 again.

In a nutshell, this book is really cosy and it would be a blessing to the adults who, like Thomas, spent their childhood wrapped in an old blanket, hugging a book and hiding a flashlight from preoccupied mothers. Hey mom, I'm just gonna finish this chapter real quick!

[Teri Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nearly gave this novel fives stars - it was so close! The omission of that fifth star was purely based on dialogue. The story was five star, the narrative was five star, but sometimes (not all of the time) the dialogue did not flow naturally, like real conversation. It's a cleverly written book, very enjoyable and holds your attention in that delectable way the best stories do. Land of Laughs was written in 1980 and published in 1982, which was really fun because reading the story reminded me what it was like to live before the technology explosion of the 1990's. It was like a time-travel back to those yesteryears that I sometimes miss. Miss a lot! But, I wouldn't part with my iPhone, no.

I'm not one to outline plots in my reviews as so many others have done that before me. Instead, I like to say things about the book that made me particularly happy or annoy me in some way. In Land of Laughs, the mystery Carroll sets up and gradually reveals made me very happy. The crafting of the female characters annoyed me just a tad. We have come a long way baby, as things that were acceptable in 1980 make me cringe now! I do, however, stand by my stars, and suggest you read this novel. It pulls you in and keeps you there and lingers after you are done.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite type of fantasy novel. The story starts out seeming entirely probable. Thomas Abbey is bored with his school teacher job and decides to quit and pursue a writing career. He heads to Galen, Missouri to research a biography on Marshall France, his favorite writer. Marshall France had written “The Land of Laughs” a magical children’s book. The town of Galen is populated with quirky characters, including Anna, Marshall’s daughter. (Marshall had died several years earlier.) The townspeople seem a little strange and some of their actions a little odd. And things just keep getting stranger and stranger. I hate to say much about the plot, because I don’t want to give away any surprises. The ending had 2 surprise twists that provide a perfect ending.
I enjoyed the 1980’s setting. Thomas and Saxony (his girlfriend) searched in bookstores instead of online for rare books. And had phone calls on telephones with cords. Even though this book is almost 35 years old, I hadn’t heard of it or Jonathan Carroll until recently. I’m looking forward to reading more of his fantasy novels and hope they are all as entertaining as The Land of Laughs.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Jonathan Carroll's The Land of the Laughs. I have this book in Hardcover, First Edition. Inscribed and signed by Jonathan Carroll "To ___These Laughs are just for you." That being said, this is the only Jonathan Carroll book that I liked. I don't like fantasy or science fiction. The Land of Laughs came out in 1980. So I disagree with some of the negative reviews. I was utterly transfixed by the narrative and the ending blew me away. This was a chilling, albeit fantasy genre that I could not put down and read in one sitting. Highly recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman. This book was reread by me and knowing the ending did dampen things the second time. It remains to be an all time favorite read.

[Fantasy boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Land of Laughs, just take a look at the tile it seems The Land of Laughs is a happy story. No! It's not a happy story,no exceptional from the beginning to the end. yes, It has some humor in the tone of the protagonist Thomas, Abby but still doesn't cover the gloomy atmosphere the story was built gradually by Jonathan Carroll. I like how interesting things happened as the story pacing, even it isn't merry ,still intrigued for me.

[Outdoors Nerd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting to enjoy this but... I didn't its a horror story not scifi and for most of it I spent time with characters I really didn't connect with. A weird loner arsehole of a man and a cliched needy woman who lets him treat her like crap.

Standard Stepford Wives village and an obvious outcome. I liked the dogs though.