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Answered Prayers #6
From the Teeth of Angels
A dying man can suddenly raise the dead... Death visits a vacationer in a dream, ready to make a deal... An actress abruptly walks out on her fast-lane life in Hollywood—and their fates converge in Jonathan Carroll's daring imagination.
212 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
59 people are currently reading
841 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Carroll
131 books1,168 followersJonathan Carroll (b. 1949) is an award-winning American author of modern fantasy and slipstream novels. His debut book, The Land of Laughs (1980), tells the story of a children’s author whose imagination has left the printed page and begun to influence reality. The book introduced several hallmarks of Carroll’s writing, including talking animals and worlds that straddle the thin line between reality and the surreal, a technique that has seen him compared to South American magical realists.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He continues to live and write in Vienna.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
July 6, 2011
There are fantasies that involve swords and elves... and then there are those that quietly document the intrusion of the numinous Other into our everyday lives. The latter is Carroll's specialty, the ground he treads in this and other works, such as Bones of the Moon and Outside the Dog Museum. You can tell from the titles that something unusual is going on here. Can you imagine what it must be like, to be able to come up with the skew and surreal on a regular basis, and then have it relate back so well to our regular lives? Is it a blessing, or a curse? Whichever it is, Jonathan Carroll makes it look easy.
He knows how to get us hooked, too—and not just with titles. His characters are likeable, believable, people you wouldn't mind sharing counter space with at your favorite diner, the one with the really good hash browns, as they begin talking unbidden about their latest brush with Death. Apart from their unusual first names (Wyatt, Arlen, Leland and the like), the people in From the Teeth of Angels are ordinary, really—oh, perhaps they live more elegant lives than yours, take trips to Europe at the drop of a trilby and manage to imbue the most prosaic of breakfast foods with romance. But then Carroll pulls the covering away from the sculpted centerpiece he was hiding in plain sight, all along... and you find out that Death is real, personified, embodied as the guy at the corner newsstand or the woman driving your taxicab, another character who can be argued with, bargained with. Maybe you can cut a deal...
There is both sadness and great joy in From the Teeth of Angels. It will not give you any answers you did not already have. But it may help illuminate what you know. And if there is a reason for our existence as a species, I am sure that it is at least in part so that books like this can exist.
He knows how to get us hooked, too—and not just with titles. His characters are likeable, believable, people you wouldn't mind sharing counter space with at your favorite diner, the one with the really good hash browns, as they begin talking unbidden about their latest brush with Death. Apart from their unusual first names (Wyatt, Arlen, Leland and the like), the people in From the Teeth of Angels are ordinary, really—oh, perhaps they live more elegant lives than yours, take trips to Europe at the drop of a trilby and manage to imbue the most prosaic of breakfast foods with romance. But then Carroll pulls the covering away from the sculpted centerpiece he was hiding in plain sight, all along... and you find out that Death is real, personified, embodied as the guy at the corner newsstand or the woman driving your taxicab, another character who can be argued with, bargained with. Maybe you can cut a deal...
There is both sadness and great joy in From the Teeth of Angels. It will not give you any answers you did not already have. But it may help illuminate what you know. And if there is a reason for our existence as a species, I am sure that it is at least in part so that books like this can exist.
April 29, 2012
Neil Gaiman insisted that all his Twitter followers buy this ebook, when it was 99 cents on Amazon.com. With that kind of recommendation backing this book, I bought the book for my Kindle with incredibly high expectations going in but absolutely no idea what the book was actually about.
In short: Death.
Slightly longer, it's about a group of people actively being messed about by Death. And Death is a total dick.
While Carroll's writing is undeniably beautiful and engaging, I can't say I truly enjoyed this book. Carroll jumped from character to character in each chapter, with little explanation or clear connection between them all. Many times, just as I found myself interested in a character's narrative, the story would jump time, place and person. After a few instances of this, I learned not to get too invested.
The ending itself was also frustrating, simply because it was so lesson-y and on the nose. Almost like a fairy tale in the way it neatly taught a lesson. But since the book up to them reveled on a free form story style, the neat bow tying everything up at the end seemed out of place and lazy.
Sorry, Neil, maybe next time....
In short: Death.
Slightly longer, it's about a group of people actively being messed about by Death. And Death is a total dick.
While Carroll's writing is undeniably beautiful and engaging, I can't say I truly enjoyed this book. Carroll jumped from character to character in each chapter, with little explanation or clear connection between them all. Many times, just as I found myself interested in a character's narrative, the story would jump time, place and person. After a few instances of this, I learned not to get too invested.
The ending itself was also frustrating, simply because it was so lesson-y and on the nose. Almost like a fairy tale in the way it neatly taught a lesson. But since the book up to them reveled on a free form story style, the neat bow tying everything up at the end seemed out of place and lazy.
Sorry, Neil, maybe next time....
February 16, 2014
I read this years and years ago, but had forgotten pretty much everything about it when I pulled it off the shelf this week.
Carroll is clearly a gifted writer, but his stories often feel unfinished to me. I don't mean that they need an extra draft, but more that they end as soon as things get interesting. This is especially the case in his short stories, but I found it to be true here as well. As soon as the concept behind the book is revealed, as soon as the characters have a chance to actually engage in a knowledgeable way with the world around them, the story ends. It isn't that the knowledge comes with the death of the characters, but more that the author isn't particularly interested in exploring that part of their stories.
In particular, the SPOILER ALERT idea in the final chapter of being forced to relive your life with the full knowledge of what everyone thinks of you at every given moment is a startling and interesting one, but all we actually get is a few paragraphs about the thoughts of cells and the root of Arlen's mother's resentment of her. In a more fleshed out book this part of the story could have been at least a chapter... hell, this concept could have filled an entire book as we went through formative incidents in Wyatt and Arlen's lives. Here, it's almost a throwaway moment.
In the same way, Wyatt's newfound "powers" are a fascinating concept that barely get touched on. Why even give him paranormal abilities as a result of his dreams with Death and the not let us explore them with Wyatt? Why not let us discover the disappointment of such useless power or see what Wyatt tries to do with such abilities rather than introduce them and then jump straight to dismissing them?
The book also suffers in my eyes on Carroll's reliance on "telling, not showing." The decision of having us read the story as letters or transcripts, or whatnot served to distance me as a reader. Also, it kind of falls apart at the end, as in the case of Arlen... she's been writing or calling Rose all this time, but Rose is clearly not the audience of the final chapter. So who is? Also, if we are reading journals and correspondence, then I would expect the chapters to read like journals and correspondence... but it never does. The language is too "writerly" to be believed. The voice of the characters is too obviously the voice of the writer, and accusations of Arlen being a bore feel flat when compared to the fairly complex and interesting person revealed in her chapters.
In the end, all I *really* took away from the book is "Death is a dick." This portrayal of Death, as a petty, vicious, sadistic bastard is interesting mostly in comparison to how the personification is treated by authors such as Piers Anthony (On a Pale Horse) or Neil Gaiman (Sandman). In this version of reality, suffering is a direct result of Death's disliking you. Death is not a release, or a natural part of life, but a sick and twisted psychopath.
It's a shame, because despite all this, I admire the way Carroll puts words together. I think that From the Teeth of Angels would have been an excellent character study for the author to help flesh out the population of a more interesting, more compelling book.
Carroll is clearly a gifted writer, but his stories often feel unfinished to me. I don't mean that they need an extra draft, but more that they end as soon as things get interesting. This is especially the case in his short stories, but I found it to be true here as well. As soon as the concept behind the book is revealed, as soon as the characters have a chance to actually engage in a knowledgeable way with the world around them, the story ends. It isn't that the knowledge comes with the death of the characters, but more that the author isn't particularly interested in exploring that part of their stories.
In particular, the SPOILER ALERT idea in the final chapter of being forced to relive your life with the full knowledge of what everyone thinks of you at every given moment is a startling and interesting one, but all we actually get is a few paragraphs about the thoughts of cells and the root of Arlen's mother's resentment of her. In a more fleshed out book this part of the story could have been at least a chapter... hell, this concept could have filled an entire book as we went through formative incidents in Wyatt and Arlen's lives. Here, it's almost a throwaway moment.
In the same way, Wyatt's newfound "powers" are a fascinating concept that barely get touched on. Why even give him paranormal abilities as a result of his dreams with Death and the not let us explore them with Wyatt? Why not let us discover the disappointment of such useless power or see what Wyatt tries to do with such abilities rather than introduce them and then jump straight to dismissing them?
The book also suffers in my eyes on Carroll's reliance on "telling, not showing." The decision of having us read the story as letters or transcripts, or whatnot served to distance me as a reader. Also, it kind of falls apart at the end, as in the case of Arlen... she's been writing or calling Rose all this time, but Rose is clearly not the audience of the final chapter. So who is? Also, if we are reading journals and correspondence, then I would expect the chapters to read like journals and correspondence... but it never does. The language is too "writerly" to be believed. The voice of the characters is too obviously the voice of the writer, and accusations of Arlen being a bore feel flat when compared to the fairly complex and interesting person revealed in her chapters.
In the end, all I *really* took away from the book is "Death is a dick." This portrayal of Death, as a petty, vicious, sadistic bastard is interesting mostly in comparison to how the personification is treated by authors such as Piers Anthony (On a Pale Horse) or Neil Gaiman (Sandman). In this version of reality, suffering is a direct result of Death's disliking you. Death is not a release, or a natural part of life, but a sick and twisted psychopath.
It's a shame, because despite all this, I admire the way Carroll puts words together. I think that From the Teeth of Angels would have been an excellent character study for the author to help flesh out the population of a more interesting, more compelling book.
November 25, 2022
Ogni libro di Carroll sembra essere una sorta di versione in chiave Carroll della Divina Commedia di Dante. Questo in particolar modo. Tanto che ho cominciato a credere che Dante sia stato - in effetti - il primo autore di Urban Fantasy...
Naturalmente il 50%, che dico, l'80% dei significati allegorici di questo libro mi sfuggono, ma, per quel che riesco a capire credo che Carroll sia geniale! E ci sono centinaia di frasi che si dovrebbero citare. Questa è quella che mi è rimasta più impressa, forse perché si trova alla fine, ma soprattutto perché spiega il significato del libro, quindi avverto dello SPOILER. Uno dei protagonisti del libro si rivolge alla Morte:
Naturalmente il 50%, che dico, l'80% dei significati allegorici di questo libro mi sfuggono, ma, per quel che riesco a capire credo che Carroll sia geniale! E ci sono centinaia di frasi che si dovrebbero citare. Questa è quella che mi è rimasta più impressa, forse perché si trova alla fine, ma soprattutto perché spiega il significato del libro, quindi avverto dello SPOILER. Uno dei protagonisti del libro si rivolge alla Morte:
June 11, 2021
You can't go through this book without questioning everything that you believe in (esp. the concept of death)
October 9, 2012
There are some really strong moments in this book that make you really look at your own life and how much you are valuing your small amount of time on Earth. When faced with a fatal illness, suddenly every moment is precious.
What makes this only a "like" instead of a "love" is that it lacks direction. Many of the chapters spend a great deal of time recounting past events (instead of letting them happen in real time through the book) so you read exposition everywhere and the end doesn't quite fit together with some of these tangents.
Worth reading for the analysis of life after finding out about a terminal illness.
What makes this only a "like" instead of a "love" is that it lacks direction. Many of the chapters spend a great deal of time recounting past events (instead of letting them happen in real time through the book) so you read exposition everywhere and the end doesn't quite fit together with some of these tangents.
Worth reading for the analysis of life after finding out about a terminal illness.
February 6, 2017
A typically excellent Carroll offering, filled with vivid characters, wonderful strangeness and a vision of human life that is compassionate, hopeful but fully aware of the nature and persistence of evil. I really wouldn't be able to accept the upbeat ending from a lot of authors other than Carroll. He makes it work because he doesn't overplay the small victories we can win in the face of death and time and other adversaries (and indeed Adversaries).
August 1, 2007
I love love love Jonathan Carroll, as much as I hate him every time I put a book down. You're reading along, enjoying the imagery and dialogue and then WHAM he tosses something in that shifts everything you just read. This one's no different--an interesting novel about death and love; does death=love? or love=death?
March 30, 2025
Ok. So I’m not sure what I just read…
At first I thought it was a bunch of short stories, but then I realized that I recognized a name here and there. 😮
That being said, I. Am. Lost!
Arlen is/was a famous actress.
She is featured in many of these stories.
Wyatt is facing death with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Also, he can somehow see (or understand) things that no one else can…
We bounce back and forth between different time periods and places…
Different points of view, and different aspects of death…
Which I believe is the whole purpose of the book…
But still, I don’t understand it…
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me, for drawing me in and keeping me reading… thinking it would all make sense in the end.
#FromTheTeethOfAngels by #JonathanCarroll. Narrated by #ChristianBarillas; #CarlyRobins and #SarahMolloChristensen.
Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #BrillianceAudio for an ARC of the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.
*** Release date is coming SOON on, 4/1/25, so look 👀 for it on shelves soon !! ***
I also see that it was originally released in 1995… so I guess this new release is for the audiobook… not sure.
You can find my reviews on: Goodreads,
Insta @BookReviews_with_emsr and/or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine
Thanks so much for reading! And if you ‘liked’ my review, please share with your friends, & click ‘LIKE’ below… And, let me know YOUR thoughts if you read it!! 📚⭐️
At first I thought it was a bunch of short stories, but then I realized that I recognized a name here and there. 😮
That being said, I. Am. Lost!
Arlen is/was a famous actress.
She is featured in many of these stories.
Wyatt is facing death with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Also, he can somehow see (or understand) things that no one else can…
We bounce back and forth between different time periods and places…
Different points of view, and different aspects of death…
Which I believe is the whole purpose of the book…
But still, I don’t understand it…
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me, for drawing me in and keeping me reading… thinking it would all make sense in the end.
#FromTheTeethOfAngels by #JonathanCarroll. Narrated by #ChristianBarillas; #CarlyRobins and #SarahMolloChristensen.
Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #BrillianceAudio for an ARC of the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.
*** Release date is coming SOON on, 4/1/25, so look 👀 for it on shelves soon !! ***
I also see that it was originally released in 1995… so I guess this new release is for the audiobook… not sure.
You can find my reviews on: Goodreads,
Insta @BookReviews_with_emsr and/or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine
Thanks so much for reading! And if you ‘liked’ my review, please share with your friends, & click ‘LIKE’ below… And, let me know YOUR thoughts if you read it!! 📚⭐️
March 31, 2025
3 ✨
🇬🇧 Thank you to Brilliant Audiobooks and NetGalley for an early copy of the audiobook.
This was a really interesting book with a promising premise. I indeed liked the way the author has with his words and the story was entertaining all the way through, it just lacked some kind of a spark that would drive it home for me.
Sadly I was not really able to connect with the characters because of the ever-present jumps in time and space, though I really liked Sophie and her storyline.
All in all the book is an interesting take on Death, and how Death can be an a**hole that has their favourites in life… and in death too. The most compelling part of the book was its last chapter and the idea introduced in it, which could have brought more depth to the book, had it been developed further or introduced sooner.
An ok book to pass the time, especially in the form of an audiobook. The narrating is done very well and to be honest might have mostly been the reason why I enjoyed the book.
🇸🇰 Ďakujem Brilliant Audiobooks a NetGalley za kópiu audioknihy.
Toto bola veľmi zaujímavá kniha so sľubnou premisou. Dosť sa mi páčilo ako autor narába so slovami a celý príbeh bol svojim spôsobom pútavý, len mu chýbala nejaká tá iskra, ktorá by celý príbeh nakopla. Žiaľ, sa mi moc nedarilo s postavami spojiť a nacítiť sa na ne, nakoľko sme sa neustále presúvali v čase a z jedného miesta na druhé. No Sophie a jej linka sa mi veľmi pozdávali.
Ako celok je kniha zaujímavým pohľadom na Smrť a ako táto dokáže byť absolútna potvora, ktorá má v živote (aj smrti) svojich obľúbencov. Najzaujímavejšou časťou príbehu bola pre mňa posledná kapitola a idea v nej predstavená. Táto mohla priniesť príbehu oveľa väčšiu hĺbku, keby bola viac rozvinutá alebo predstavená skôr.
Fajn kniha na trávenie času, predovšetkým vo forme audioknihy. Rozprávanie je naozaj veľmi dobré a popravde je zrejme jediným dôvodom, prečo sa mi príbeh tak páčil.
🇬🇧 Thank you to Brilliant Audiobooks and NetGalley for an early copy of the audiobook.
This was a really interesting book with a promising premise. I indeed liked the way the author has with his words and the story was entertaining all the way through, it just lacked some kind of a spark that would drive it home for me.
Sadly I was not really able to connect with the characters because of the ever-present jumps in time and space, though I really liked Sophie and her storyline.
All in all the book is an interesting take on Death, and how Death can be an a**hole that has their favourites in life… and in death too. The most compelling part of the book was its last chapter and the idea introduced in it, which could have brought more depth to the book, had it been developed further or introduced sooner.
An ok book to pass the time, especially in the form of an audiobook. The narrating is done very well and to be honest might have mostly been the reason why I enjoyed the book.
🇸🇰 Ďakujem Brilliant Audiobooks a NetGalley za kópiu audioknihy.
Toto bola veľmi zaujímavá kniha so sľubnou premisou. Dosť sa mi páčilo ako autor narába so slovami a celý príbeh bol svojim spôsobom pútavý, len mu chýbala nejaká tá iskra, ktorá by celý príbeh nakopla. Žiaľ, sa mi moc nedarilo s postavami spojiť a nacítiť sa na ne, nakoľko sme sa neustále presúvali v čase a z jedného miesta na druhé. No Sophie a jej linka sa mi veľmi pozdávali.
Ako celok je kniha zaujímavým pohľadom na Smrť a ako táto dokáže byť absolútna potvora, ktorá má v živote (aj smrti) svojich obľúbencov. Najzaujímavejšou časťou príbehu bola pre mňa posledná kapitola a idea v nej predstavená. Táto mohla priniesť príbehu oveľa väčšiu hĺbku, keby bola viac rozvinutá alebo predstavená skôr.
Fajn kniha na trávenie času, predovšetkým vo forme audioknihy. Rozprávanie je naozaj veľmi dobré a popravde je zrejme jediným dôvodom, prečo sa mi príbeh tak páčil.
February 5, 2020
This is the book I’d like to be remembered for. Says Jonathan Carroll in the Introduction. The Hell, it is. I love this author, I really do. The way he writes, the way he makes you love the two protagonist, the way he makes possible the impossible and the way he finally gets to your heart in this book are impressive. It’s a big fight between the humanity and Death, it’s trying to figure out of where life really stands. In the moments when we really forget about Him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2025
This was an ok book I liked the subject of death that was enjoyable just maybe it wasn't my cup of tea I think it might have been the writing
February 15, 2011
This is a beautifully intricate novel with interconnected characters and relationships, all where death are concerned, embraced, or fought against. Death comes in a variety of guises in this somberly beautiful novel. To Englishman Ian McGann, death comes in a dream, offering to answer all his questions on existence but exacting a high price if he fails to understand. To Wyatt Leonard, a one-time children's TV host dying of leukemia, death appears in a surreal vision of a Los Angeles police officer, then as a friend who has previously passed on. For Arlen Ford, an actress burned out on the Hollywood fast life, death comes as the man of her dreams, a war correspondent just returned from a besieged Sarajevo. Action centers on the intersection of these three as they struggle toward an understanding of final things. The lean prose and formal Viennese settings add to the autumnal atmosphere of this stylish, haunting novel. It's one you wont ever forget and a must have to your collection.
April 15, 2022
Nominated for the 1994 Bram Stoker Award, this is a thoroughly enjoyable tale about a handful of people and how Death impacts on their lives.
Ian McGann discovers that he can ask Death any question he likes during his dreams. If he doesn't understand the answers however, there are consequences. Arlen Ford escapes Hollywood for a life of seclusion in Vienna where she still tries to come to terms with her existence. Wyatt Leonard follows a friend in need to Europe where he discovers some strange talents that Death has given him. The lives of these three intertwine as they attempt to understand their lives and Death's place in it.
I read this book faster than any I can remember and enjoyed every page. It is not a horror story in the typical sense. There are no monsters, no murders and very little blood.
Ian McGann discovers that he can ask Death any question he likes during his dreams. If he doesn't understand the answers however, there are consequences. Arlen Ford escapes Hollywood for a life of seclusion in Vienna where she still tries to come to terms with her existence. Wyatt Leonard follows a friend in need to Europe where he discovers some strange talents that Death has given him. The lives of these three intertwine as they attempt to understand their lives and Death's place in it.
I read this book faster than any I can remember and enjoyed every page. It is not a horror story in the typical sense. There are no monsters, no murders and very little blood.
August 28, 2011
More amateurish writing and less complex themes than his other books, but also more straightforward in a nice way. This book didn't pierce through to the depths of my soul at any points, but I still liked it.
Thanks S, and also thanks for a very accurate book description -- Me: What is this book about? S: (pause) Death.
Thanks S, and also thanks for a very accurate book description -- Me: What is this book about? S: (pause) Death.
September 23, 2010
Giving to si cotic
March 6, 2017
Que libro!!! excelente, a mi parecer, trata muchos temas de una forma que a mi parecer es propia de elogios, en serio, y los personajes > > > > >
September 14, 2020
Boring
This book was extremely boring, I couldn't even finish it. I kept waiting for something interesting but that never happened. It was also hard to follow, all over the place.
This book was extremely boring, I couldn't even finish it. I kept waiting for something interesting but that never happened. It was also hard to follow, all over the place.
June 16, 2025
A good, strange novel of dreamscape and death. Told in some measure through letters. From the Teeth of Angels is only the second Jonathan Carroll novel that I've read. The writing/storytelling is certainly bizarre, and I do intend to read more of his work in the future.
Related Works: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Face
Favorite Passages:
She told that great dream about making the giant omelet for God and going all over the world trying to find enough eggs. Remember how we laughed at that?
______
You teach yourself to be conscious in your night dreams so you can manipulate and use them.
______
. . . she was enchanted. She believes fully in chance encounters, splendid accidents, and loving someone so much right off the bat you can learn to live with their glaring faults.
______
"I think it's intriguing."
"Whaddya mean, 'intriguing'? Don't you believe it?"
"Sure I do. That's been my problem for year - believing. Sometimes I think it's not leukemia that's killing me, but terminal believing. Terminal hope."
______
The best you can hope for is to live in present so full and all-encompassing that you lose any sense of future or past. For those years I lived in that kind of packed Now, and it was enough.
Related Works: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Face
Favorite Passages:
She told that great dream about making the giant omelet for God and going all over the world trying to find enough eggs. Remember how we laughed at that?
______
You teach yourself to be conscious in your night dreams so you can manipulate and use them.
______
. . . she was enchanted. She believes fully in chance encounters, splendid accidents, and loving someone so much right off the bat you can learn to live with their glaring faults.
______
"I think it's intriguing."
"Whaddya mean, 'intriguing'? Don't you believe it?"
"Sure I do. That's been my problem for year - believing. Sometimes I think it's not leukemia that's killing me, but terminal believing. Terminal hope."
______
The best you can hope for is to live in present so full and all-encompassing that you lose any sense of future or past. For those years I lived in that kind of packed Now, and it was enough.
February 10, 2024
For the last few days I've been re-reading From the Teeth of Angels, thirty years after I first read it. I've been saving it, hoping that going back to it, it would move me as much as before. It did. Now, in my seventies, it's taken on even greater meaning. I don't know how many years I have left but, confronting Death in this novel (as all the characters do) makes me feel as if I know how to live the rest of my life. For many years now, I haven't feared dying. I know it will happen one way or another, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps 20 years from now. It makes no difference but what does make a difference, as I've learned from Jonathan Carroll, is to defeat Death means to live one's life to the fullest.
Shortly after reading it the first time, I gave it to a friend who was dying of cancer. I didn't know how he would react to it and I never got the chance to find out. He died shortly thereafter, perhaps never even having opened the book. But, in my heart, I hope he did read it and learned from it, as I have. Thank you, Jonathan Carroll, for your imagination, your wit, your often sick humor. I can think of no one else who could have prepared me so well to live my remaining days.
For me, having read much (or most) of his novels, this one holds a special place. His masterwork.
Shortly after reading it the first time, I gave it to a friend who was dying of cancer. I didn't know how he would react to it and I never got the chance to find out. He died shortly thereafter, perhaps never even having opened the book. But, in my heart, I hope he did read it and learned from it, as I have. Thank you, Jonathan Carroll, for your imagination, your wit, your often sick humor. I can think of no one else who could have prepared me so well to live my remaining days.
For me, having read much (or most) of his novels, this one holds a special place. His masterwork.
October 11, 2019
This book was an engaging read, but it handled such a Big Important ™ topic that I'm not sure it was entirely successful as a whole piece.
Don't get me wrong - the characters were interesting and I cared about where the plot was headed. I was always happy to get a few spare moments to read a bit more. It just kind of...ended, though, and it felt like it kind of went *phhhhhhhht.....* as it did. Like...it wilted at the end and resorted to platitudes.
It's possible that I'm just feeling overly sensitized to the Big Important ™ topic right now, because in this book Carroll personifies Death. I don't know. But I felt like Death's personification feel a little weirdly flat and that Carroll didn't really know what to do once he got enmeshed in the story - he just knew it was time to end the book.
Ultimately it does end on sort of an up note and it gives some food for thought. Like I mentioned before, if I weren't so enmeshed in death myself right now I might have found this more thought provoking. Still, it was a decent read.
Don't get me wrong - the characters were interesting and I cared about where the plot was headed. I was always happy to get a few spare moments to read a bit more. It just kind of...ended, though, and it felt like it kind of went *phhhhhhhht.....* as it did. Like...it wilted at the end and resorted to platitudes.
It's possible that I'm just feeling overly sensitized to the Big Important ™ topic right now, because in this book Carroll personifies Death. I don't know. But I felt like Death's personification feel a little weirdly flat and that Carroll didn't really know what to do once he got enmeshed in the story - he just knew it was time to end the book.
Ultimately it does end on sort of an up note and it gives some food for thought. Like I mentioned before, if I weren't so enmeshed in death myself right now I might have found this more thought provoking. Still, it was a decent read.
January 17, 2023
Kniha z kategorie "pročítám - a likviduji - své staré knihy". Carrolla jsem měl v mládí rád a byl to pro mě patrně předskokan Neila Gaimana (který ostatně jeho knihy vřele doporučuje). Dneska, když jsem to pročítal, už ani netuším, co mě na tom zaujalo. Možná téma - lidé se potkávají se smrtí a mohou se jí zeptat na cokoliv... ovšem když její odpověď nepochopí, pocítí následky na vlastní kůži. Možná jsem byl taky v té době citlivější.
To téma je zajímavé, ale ony jsou všechny ty dialogy se smrtí utajené a většinu času sledujeme jen různé hrdiny, jak se toulají Vídní a uvažují nad životem. Občas mají podivné zážitky, občas vidí mrtvé lidi, ale celé to spíš jen tak pozvolna plyne, bez nějakých zapamatovatelnějších okamžiků a i bez nějakého silnějšího finále. Je to dobře napsané, s citem pro psychologii... ale spíš než toho Gaimana mi to (intelektuálové prominou) připomnělo Murakamiho. Toho jsem taky četl, nebylo to špatné, ale nebylo to nic, co by mě lákalo si to někdy v budoucnu zopakovat.
To téma je zajímavé, ale ony jsou všechny ty dialogy se smrtí utajené a většinu času sledujeme jen různé hrdiny, jak se toulají Vídní a uvažují nad životem. Občas mají podivné zážitky, občas vidí mrtvé lidi, ale celé to spíš jen tak pozvolna plyne, bez nějakých zapamatovatelnějších okamžiků a i bez nějakého silnějšího finále. Je to dobře napsané, s citem pro psychologii... ale spíš než toho Gaimana mi to (intelektuálové prominou) připomnělo Murakamiho. Toho jsem taky četl, nebylo to špatné, ale nebylo to nic, co by mě lákalo si to někdy v budoucnu zopakovat.
October 23, 2024
No me ha gustado nada. Tiene unos temas muy interesantes y los trata de una forma que ni siquiera podría considerarse superficial, se siente más que nada infantil y desestructurada, como si simplemente por nombrarlos ya estuviera considerándose un libro lleno de teoría. Siento que se toma demasiado en serio a sí mismo y cree que expone una reflexión que te hace plantearte todas tus creencias, y realmente no te cuenta absolutamente nada. Me ha costado muchísimo terminarlo porque no sabía ni por dónde cogerlo, y siento que el mismo autor tampoco tenía capacidad para profundizar ni desarrollar en condiciones estos temas. A nivel narrativo tampoco pienso que sea capaz de conectar bien las historias de los personajes y aunque la justificación principal de la historia me parece un buen punto de partida siento que está muy mal ejecutada. Muchísimos cabos sueltos y muchos sucesos muy mal traídos.
January 24, 2019
Uwielbiam książki Jonathan Carrolla. Za własny styl i nietuzinkową wyobraźnie gdzie magia przeplata się z rzeczywistością
Na pastwę aniołów to ciekawa pozycja poruszająca problem życia i śmierci.
Kogóż z nas nie interesuje pojęcie śmierci i tego co po niej następuje?
Smierć u Carrolla nie jest tak sympatyczna jak ta u mojego ukochanego Prathetta
ale też jest bardzo ludzka, ma swoje upodobania, kogoś lubi a kogoś nie .......
Nie czyta sie tej pozycji łatwo ale po zakończeniu na długo pozostaje w pamięci
Na pastwę aniołów to ciekawa pozycja poruszająca problem życia i śmierci.
Kogóż z nas nie interesuje pojęcie śmierci i tego co po niej następuje?
Smierć u Carrolla nie jest tak sympatyczna jak ta u mojego ukochanego Prathetta
ale też jest bardzo ludzka, ma swoje upodobania, kogoś lubi a kogoś nie .......
Nie czyta sie tej pozycji łatwo ale po zakończeniu na długo pozostaje w pamięci
November 15, 2017
What if Death hated you and was an asshole about it? As with all Jonathan Carroll books, the magical realism is only a vector for rigorous discussions about love, pain, life, and yes, death, but the multiple first-person viewpoints proved choppy and, ultimately, unnecessary. The ending also felt rushed and a little too pat, as if Carroll grew tired of the meandering and decided to just barrel on through to the finish, devil—and Death—be damned.
July 19, 2018
A seductive book that doesn't shy away from deep and profound themes. I found myself tugged along, deeply intrigued, and not at all sure what to expect. I'd rather not spoil anything, so I'll just say that I'm glad I read it, and I'd read it again.
January 18, 2022
Co by było gdyby można było spotkać śmierć? Usiąść i zapytać dlaczego, po co, jak? Ja bym chyba nie chciała. Śmierć nas znajdzie tak czy inaczej. Lepiej skupić się na życiu...
Magiczna historia. I kolejna książka Carrolla, która mnie nie zawiodła.
Magiczna historia. I kolejna książka Carrolla, która mnie nie zawiodła.
November 15, 2020
Un libro muy enganchante, te desarrolla el tema de una manera sumamente adictiva que no puedes parar de leer. Una historia narrada increíblemente que no vas a poder dejar de leer. Super recomendada
March 25, 2021
Unlike anything I've ever read before. Quiet, thoughtful, sad and happy, surprising, well-written, and intelligent. Don't really want to tell you what happens. It's something to discover.
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