- Hardcover
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1 edition (May 1984)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 003062861X
- ISBN-13: 978-0030628610
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 12.4 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,576,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
A vivid, imaginative piece of sci-fi. A smart adventure/thriller with dead pan humour and a cast of eccentric characters. You'll visit the 'Barge of the Mad', meet Hammadryad 'the tree of knowledge' and save the world's sanity. There are plenty of mythological echoes and despite an underlying serious question about whether censorship is necessary, the plot zips along.
The peculiar sci fi names are a bit naff but the story transcends them and carries you into a wonderful vision of the future with an amazing degree of detail. It is probably my all time favourite novel. Pretty rare to find a copy these days so I won't be lending you mine, in case I don't get it back!!
The peculiar sci fi names are a bit naff but the story transcends them and carries you into a wonderful vision of the future with an amazing degree of detail. It is probably my all time favourite novel. Pretty rare to find a copy these days so I won't be lending you mine, in case I don't get it back!!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Morrow's first great book
22 Feb 1999
Format:Paperback
Anyone who has caught up with James Morrow in the 90s, as I have, will want to check out this earlier work. This book shows the same skewed sense of humor he later put to more acclaimed effect in BIBLE STORIES FOR ADULTS and TOWING JEHOVAH. The story concerns Quinjin, a reviewer of dreambeans--sort of a virtual reality device you consume. Someone has created a dreambean so horrible that the dreamers get trapped in the fantasy world, including Quinjin's daughter.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A good read once you get past the first 30 pages
1 April 2006
Format:Hardcover
The Continent of Lies deals with a futuristic society where entertainment has evolved to an extreme level. Rather than watch TV or movies, you simply eat a "cephapple" and experience the story as a dream into which you are inserted as the main character. The cephapple--also known as a dreambean--is like a real apple (without seeds), and Morrow provides many examples that run the gamut of genre and type.
The central character, Quinjin, is a dreambean critic who comes across a bean so sinister that it has the potential to enslave humanity. He sets off on a quest to destroy the tree from which it sprang, along with his teenage daughter, his hedonistic "rich boy" friend, and his psychobiologist/dreamweaver girlfriend (not to mention a robot that longs to be a James Bond type secret agent).
Like his other books, CoL is funny, clever, and fairly well-plotted. I was put off, however, by the extensive "sci-fi-ish" vocabulary early in the book, and I almost put it down around page thirty. In fact, if I hadn't been a fan of Morrow's other works (especially Towing Jehovah), I probably wouldn't have continued. Still, once I got absorbed by the story, it was hard to put down, and there were enough twists and turns that I found I couldn't really predict what was going to happen.
All in all, a worthwhile and fun read, if not as "thinky" as some of his other books.
The central character, Quinjin, is a dreambean critic who comes across a bean so sinister that it has the potential to enslave humanity. He sets off on a quest to destroy the tree from which it sprang, along with his teenage daughter, his hedonistic "rich boy" friend, and his psychobiologist/dreamweaver girlfriend (not to mention a robot that longs to be a James Bond type secret agent).
Like his other books, CoL is funny, clever, and fairly well-plotted. I was put off, however, by the extensive "sci-fi-ish" vocabulary early in the book, and I almost put it down around page thirty. In fact, if I hadn't been a fan of Morrow's other works (especially Towing Jehovah), I probably wouldn't have continued. Still, once I got absorbed by the story, it was hard to put down, and there were enough twists and turns that I found I couldn't really predict what was going to happen.
All in all, a worthwhile and fun read, if not as "thinky" as some of his other books.
Amusing, but half-baked.
10 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback
James Morrow has been on my to-read list for quite a while. I picked Continent of Lies up in a used book store. Reasonably entertaining. Also, fairly disappointing. The concept of dream apples is interesting as is their potential for disuse. The critic-as-hero, Quinjin, is an interesting sketch. I quite liked him as a kind of slouching anti-hero. I wish that the rest of the characters had been as interesting. The female characters were particularly flat, and frankly grating. Quinjin's daughter was little more than a prop designed to behave like a teenager and be at risk.
My biggest complaint was with the plot-- there were gaping holes in the logic and story. I kind of get that the plot is not precisely the point, but still. Morrow is largely known for his sardonic humor and tone. That definitely comes across in Continent of Lies. I think that I would prefer it in the context of subject matter where it seems more applicable-- Towing Jehovah sounds as though it would be more up both his alley and mine.
My biggest complaint was with the plot-- there were gaping holes in the logic and story. I kind of get that the plot is not precisely the point, but still. Morrow is largely known for his sardonic humor and tone. That definitely comes across in Continent of Lies. I think that I would prefer it in the context of subject matter where it seems more applicable-- Towing Jehovah sounds as though it would be more up both his alley and mine.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
