- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Legend paperbacks; New edition edition (19 July 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099709503
- ISBN-13: 978-0099709503
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 579,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
When a film-maker commits suicide, his legacy to his old friend is to solve the riddle of his death and to complete his final, flawed horror movie. This thriller transcends reality into the world of fantasy where the living and the dead intermingle.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is the third of the six volume series that John Clute has called the "Answered Prayers" sequence. None of the six require the reading of any others but reading them all in sequence does give rise to understanding of some subtleties and can assist your own postulation of what might be going on underneath the higher levels of story.
We follow the story of Weber Gregston who is in many respects the running thread that connects answered prayers having been a supporting character in the first book (Bones of the Moon) and having had a walk on part in the second book (Sleeping In Flame). Weber is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie Director who has semi-retired to run a theatre group in New York. His ordered world is disrupted when his best friend and fellow Director (albeit of slasher films) Peter Strayhorn commits suicide. Weber receives a video from Strayhorn that requires him to investigate the circumstances of his death, a video that only plays so far and no more until Weber makes progress in the investigation. Then there is a short story "Mr Fiddlehead" the ending of which changes over time. Gradually Weber gets drawn into remaking Strayhorn's final incomplete movie in order to set right ills caused by its subject. The ending is unclear and leaves you uncertain just which "side" Weber was working for but we should not expect easy answers from Carroll and there are, after all, some more books to come...
A Child Across The Sky uses many of the trademarks of a great Carroll novel, sucking us in with believable characters and great storytelling. With subtle shifts of scene and story we gradually move from the world we know into one decidedly disturbing and different but because of the starting position it remains very believable. There are moments here when even the most liberal free thinker and supporter of free speech might find themselves thinking hard about some of our popular culture and feeling a little disturbed.
A Child Across the Sky is one of Carroll's more demanding works given the opacity of its plot in places but it is well worth the effort required. It is also perhaps the one book of the Answered Prayers sequence that benefits from having read the previous ones first and is also leads in many ways into the six book, From The Teeth Of Angels.
We follow the story of Weber Gregston who is in many respects the running thread that connects answered prayers having been a supporting character in the first book (Bones of the Moon) and having had a walk on part in the second book (Sleeping In Flame). Weber is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie Director who has semi-retired to run a theatre group in New York. His ordered world is disrupted when his best friend and fellow Director (albeit of slasher films) Peter Strayhorn commits suicide. Weber receives a video from Strayhorn that requires him to investigate the circumstances of his death, a video that only plays so far and no more until Weber makes progress in the investigation. Then there is a short story "Mr Fiddlehead" the ending of which changes over time. Gradually Weber gets drawn into remaking Strayhorn's final incomplete movie in order to set right ills caused by its subject. The ending is unclear and leaves you uncertain just which "side" Weber was working for but we should not expect easy answers from Carroll and there are, after all, some more books to come...
A Child Across The Sky uses many of the trademarks of a great Carroll novel, sucking us in with believable characters and great storytelling. With subtle shifts of scene and story we gradually move from the world we know into one decidedly disturbing and different but because of the starting position it remains very believable. There are moments here when even the most liberal free thinker and supporter of free speech might find themselves thinking hard about some of our popular culture and feeling a little disturbed.
A Child Across the Sky is one of Carroll's more demanding works given the opacity of its plot in places but it is well worth the effort required. It is also perhaps the one book of the Answered Prayers sequence that benefits from having read the previous ones first and is also leads in many ways into the six book, From The Teeth Of Angels.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
a bit less of a masterpiece than his others
15 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
Okay, maybe I'm being picky because I'm on this Jonathan Carroll streak right now and just finished four of his other books before this one. Like his great books, this one has brilliant scenes, concepts and wild plot devices, but I found that it didn't hold together as well as his others. At times, it seems like even Carroll might have lost one of his own threads. This book made me appreciate how great his new one, Marriage of Sticks, is. If you haven't read anything by Carroll before, I'd stick to his others first. If you're a Carroll freak like I am, you'll want to search this one out. Rondua appears in this one too and you may recognize Finky-Linky and some of the usual suspects.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
not his best
19 Mar 2002
Format:Hardcover
I agree with the previous review, that this isn't the best book with which to acquaint yourself with Carroll. THE LAND OF LAUGHS might be the best place to start - or try his last book, THE WOODEN SEA. Truth be told, A CHILD ACROSS THE SKY falls far short of his other works. Its highlights are two short stories, both of which can be found in his terrific collection, THE PANIC HAND. The plotting of CHILD feels rushed and forced, and its themes slightly convoluted. Carroll's distinctive voice is very much present - and as always a pleasure to listen to. This just didn't hit the mark like so many of his others.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
He's still one of my favorite authors
3 Sep 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
For some reason I wasn't able to sink fully into the world of Jonathan Carroll like I usually can...but here were a few lovely quotes:
"Whatever, it took an hour of hard walking in the blue lead cold of a New York December for me to really hold in the palm of my mind the fact my best and oldest friend was dead."
And speaking of being dead...
"There is a life review, of course, but it was so much more interesting than I had ever imagined. For one thing, they show you how and where your life really happened. Things you didn't experience or weren't ever aware of, but which dyed the fabric of your life its final color."
And as always, his take on life speaks right to mine: "What more American tradition is there than the turnpike rest stop? I don't mean those Mom and Pop pretty-good-food one-shot places somewhere off the interstate that sell homemade pralines. I'm talking about a quarter-mile lean on the steering wheel that curves you into the parking lot the size of a parade ground, fourteen gas tanks, toilets galore and Muzak. The food can be pretty good or pretty bad, but it's the high torque ambiance of the places that make them so interesting, the fact that no one is really there - only appetites or bladders, while eyes stare longingly out the window at the traffic."
Only appetites or bladders, indeed.
And I think I will end with this, because Carroll has a way, in nearly every book, at getting the reader to examine his or her own life as the characters do...looking back over the small pieces and huge events that shape who we are. The huge events are easy to remember, but sometimes it's the small pieces that give life its flavor.
"No matter how old or jaded you are there will always be something exciting and cool about cruising around at three in the morning with a bunch of good friends. All the old duds are asleep but you're still awake, the windows are down, the radio's glowing green and playing great music. Life's given you a few extra hours to horse around. If you don't grab them, they aren't usually offered again for a while."
See? So I honestly don't know why I couldn't sink into his words, his world. He creates characters that life the truest of lives in the most fantastical of circumstances. I can't point to anything in particular that caused my interest to wander.
I love Jonathan Carroll and his books...and I look forward to my next trip to his world.
"Whatever, it took an hour of hard walking in the blue lead cold of a New York December for me to really hold in the palm of my mind the fact my best and oldest friend was dead."
And speaking of being dead...
"There is a life review, of course, but it was so much more interesting than I had ever imagined. For one thing, they show you how and where your life really happened. Things you didn't experience or weren't ever aware of, but which dyed the fabric of your life its final color."
And as always, his take on life speaks right to mine: "What more American tradition is there than the turnpike rest stop? I don't mean those Mom and Pop pretty-good-food one-shot places somewhere off the interstate that sell homemade pralines. I'm talking about a quarter-mile lean on the steering wheel that curves you into the parking lot the size of a parade ground, fourteen gas tanks, toilets galore and Muzak. The food can be pretty good or pretty bad, but it's the high torque ambiance of the places that make them so interesting, the fact that no one is really there - only appetites or bladders, while eyes stare longingly out the window at the traffic."
Only appetites or bladders, indeed.
And I think I will end with this, because Carroll has a way, in nearly every book, at getting the reader to examine his or her own life as the characters do...looking back over the small pieces and huge events that shape who we are. The huge events are easy to remember, but sometimes it's the small pieces that give life its flavor.
"No matter how old or jaded you are there will always be something exciting and cool about cruising around at three in the morning with a bunch of good friends. All the old duds are asleep but you're still awake, the windows are down, the radio's glowing green and playing great music. Life's given you a few extra hours to horse around. If you don't grab them, they aren't usually offered again for a while."
See? So I honestly don't know why I couldn't sink into his words, his world. He creates characters that life the truest of lives in the most fantastical of circumstances. I can't point to anything in particular that caused my interest to wander.
I love Jonathan Carroll and his books...and I look forward to my next trip to his world.
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