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Product Description
Library Journal
"A strange and wonderful novel… this book is a masterpiece of Surrealistic fantasy, combining rich symbolic suggestion with a gripping narrative."
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
The Hearing Trumpet is the story of 92-year-old Marian Leatherby, who is given the gift of a hearing trumpet only to discover that what her family is saying is that she is to be committed to an institution. But this is an institution where the buildings are shaped like birthday cakes and igloos, where the Winking Abbess and the Queen Bee reign, and where the gateway to the underworld is open. It is also the scene of a mysterious murder. Occult twin to Alice in Wonderland, The Hearing Trumpet is a classic of fantastic literature that has been translated and celebrated throughout the world.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
When Carmella gave me the present of a hearing trumpet she may have foreseen some of the consequences. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
When Carmella gave me the present of a hearing trumpet she may have foreseen some of the consequences. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Hearing Trumpet is deliciously funny and irreverent; Surrealist painter/author Leonora Carrington's apocalyptic tale is filled with gems such as "Darling, don't be philosophical, it doesn't suit you, it makes your nose red." Filtered through the eyes and ears of Marian Leatherby, a 92 year-old inmate of a Spanish old folk's home (run by the cultlike Well of Light Brotherhood), the tongue-in-cheek tone and hilarious chracters make this book a refreshing surprise. Every copy I've ever owned has been stolen! From the first paragraph, the reader will see that Marian Leatherby and her friends are NOT LOL's (Little Old Ladies), and Leonora Carrington is not your average author. (She's truly hilarious, for one!) Read this book for its wacky imagery (a trompe l'oeil "furnished" tower, a pair of murdering religious quacks, termite engineering, wigs, marijuana-stuffed needlepoint pillows, and a 92 year-old lady swarming down ten stories of rope, for starters), then hide your copy from your well-read friends...or buy them their own!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Leonora Carrington's dream like tale of Marian, a plucky ninety-five year old, straddles the boundary between mad fantasy and insightful social commentary. Far from being a dry philosophical tome, it is a quick and thoroughly pleasurable read, yet it addresses issues of female identity with imagery that has become part of a sort of neofeminist canon. The image of the wolf sister and particularly the discovery of the Queen Bee will resonate with anyone who is interested in women's spirituality or related studies. The best thing about this book, however, is that it is so fantastically engaging that people of many ages and backgrounds will enjoy it thoroughly.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Wonderful. A fantastical, surreal fable that begins when a 92 year old lady is given a hearing trumpet by a friend and then overhears her family planning to dump her in an old people's home. Off she goes to a home where a collection of old women live variously in shoes, mushrooms and towers, and they are at the will of Dr Gambit, a man who preaches that they must discover inner Christianity during their stay. This, and what follows, is a hilarious, surreal, illuminating and quietly philosophical tale, the most obvious (and possibly least important) themes of which are age and perception. It's heart-warming, eccentric, and makes you glad to be alive. It turns into a stranger tale than I was expecting it to, but I would wholeheartedly recommend this: a unique and piercing little piece of fiction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Pure Genius
With this short novel Leonora Carington has truly produced something that is pure genius, and the tale itself is timeless. Read more
Published 10 months ago by M. Dowden
Worth reading, brilliant at times but ultimately flawed
This is a rather wonderful little book, which my 3 stars rating may give the impression of not being. Read more
Published 19 months ago by R. Newton
Crazy Old Ladies in a Crazy Old Tale
Marian Leatherby is given a hearing trumpet from her best friend (and the absolutely wonderful) Carmella. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
Illogically unhinged
A book by an authoress who appeared at a posh cocktail party clad only in a sheet which she then dropped, and at another time had to be rescued from a lunatic asylum in Madrid by... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Dr. J. M. Dace
Excellent story
I have read this story before but thoroughly enjoyed reading it again. Prompt delivery.
Published on 12 May 2010 by Iain Gilbert
One reality of older persons care
I came to this book with some knowledge of care homes and some knowledge of the surrealist movement and so I was interested in the subject matter from two angles. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2007 by Pillowtail
Too surreal and too disjoint
Although parts of this book are very amusing I found the whole book too disjoint and surreal for my liking. Read more
Published on 3 April 2006 by Mr. Robert E. Quirk
The Hearing Trumpet
Marian Leatherby, a 92 year old, not quite antiquated woman. Is given a gift of a hearing trumpet, only to uncover her scheming family have every intention of committing her to an... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2006 by Ruby Adams
like a wild fairy tale
Leonora Carrington is awsome as an author - she doesn't let her imagination be chained by convention or by anything. What a vivid, strange world these characters live in. Read more
Published on 15 July 1998
A surreal tale of an old woman, yet not this at all.
Perhaps known to more as an artist, Leonora Carrington also
happens to be a superb writer. Few adult novels would dare
to accomodate their main character in a house... Read more
happens to be a superb writer. Few adult novels would dare
to accomodate their main character in a house... Read more
Published on 4 Jan 1997
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