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A prize-winning architect is pursued by the wealthy Sultan of Saru, who wants him to design a billion-dollar dog museum. After a devastating earthquake, the Sultan is assassinated, and his son wants the museum built in the Austrian Alps. The author's cult novels include A Child Across the Sky.Tags
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Member Reviews
This was such a great book! It has been so long since I've read a book by Jonathan Carroll that it was sheer delight to return to his captivating story-telling.
This book is part of a series, but I don't remember much of the previous books in this series since I read them so long ago. However, the contents of the previous books were not necessary to fully enjoy this story.
Carroll has this mischievous way of introducing surreal elements into his stories at times when the reader would least expect it. He also has this penchant for inserting a bull terrior into each of his books, and this novel was no exception with the character of Big Top.
The story was of Harry Radcliffe, a womanizing, egotistaical, famous architect who was given a show more rather strange assignment of building a Dog Museum for the Sultan of Saru. Saru is a middle eastern country, one that neither you nor I have heard of until Jonathan Carroll created it for this story.
I f you like conflict, you'll find it in this book. There is plenty of conflict between the Sultan and his brother as well as conflict between Harry's two women, Fanny and Calire. Well, I'll let you read the story for yourself.
Be prepared to meet lots of colorful characters (I wrote notes on them to keep them straight) and vociabulary words (which I also wrote down) in more than one language. Since part of the action takes place in Austria, you'll find a sprinkling of German words in the text. Nothing earth-shattering, but I looked them up because I am fairly familiar with German and love learning new words.
Some quotes from this book seemed particularly noteworthy to me. Here are a few.
"Both of us hated to cook. As a result, meals at the Radcliffe home were either vile, bizarre, or not at all."
"Whenever I’m reading, I mark words I don’t know, copy them down, and look them up the next time I’m near a dictionary."
"I gave the Radcliffe theory on horror films, which was, Society is so jaded that nothing normal entertains people anymore so we’ve moved to the next level down, which is to choke, maim, and electrocute."
"If this old nutbag stood on a corner in New York saying the things he said in his interview, people would take one look and steer around him PDQ. But here was Cthulhu leading a successful revolution against the government of Saru."
I'm ready to read more works by this author, but I want some time in between to digest what I just read. If you are unfamiliar with this author, try this book if you like intelligent works of character development with a sprinkling of fantasy. show less
This book is part of a series, but I don't remember much of the previous books in this series since I read them so long ago. However, the contents of the previous books were not necessary to fully enjoy this story.
Carroll has this mischievous way of introducing surreal elements into his stories at times when the reader would least expect it. He also has this penchant for inserting a bull terrior into each of his books, and this novel was no exception with the character of Big Top.
The story was of Harry Radcliffe, a womanizing, egotistaical, famous architect who was given a show more rather strange assignment of building a Dog Museum for the Sultan of Saru. Saru is a middle eastern country, one that neither you nor I have heard of until Jonathan Carroll created it for this story.
I f you like conflict, you'll find it in this book. There is plenty of conflict between the Sultan and his brother as well as conflict between Harry's two women, Fanny and Calire. Well, I'll let you read the story for yourself.
Be prepared to meet lots of colorful characters (I wrote notes on them to keep them straight) and vociabulary words (which I also wrote down) in more than one language. Since part of the action takes place in Austria, you'll find a sprinkling of German words in the text. Nothing earth-shattering, but I looked them up because I am fairly familiar with German and love learning new words.
Some quotes from this book seemed particularly noteworthy to me. Here are a few.
"Both of us hated to cook. As a result, meals at the Radcliffe home were either vile, bizarre, or not at all."
"Whenever I’m reading, I mark words I don’t know, copy them down, and look them up the next time I’m near a dictionary."
"I gave the Radcliffe theory on horror films, which was, Society is so jaded that nothing normal entertains people anymore so we’ve moved to the next level down, which is to choke, maim, and electrocute."
"If this old nutbag stood on a corner in New York saying the things he said in his interview, people would take one look and steer around him PDQ. But here was Cthulhu leading a successful revolution against the government of Saru."
I'm ready to read more works by this author, but I want some time in between to digest what I just read. If you are unfamiliar with this author, try this book if you like intelligent works of character development with a sprinkling of fantasy. show less
Carroll's stuff is always entertaining, but often leaves me wondering, "What was the purpose?". The plots are very odd and rather thin, and in this book I felt like that was more obvious because he kept slipping into little mini stories that really seemed needed in order to add some excitement to the main plot line. At 2.5 stars I'm thinking I'll probably not read much more of his stuff. Just don't have the time anymore.
Just not enough at stake here, and I think I may just need to stop reading books whose narrators/protagonists are callow contemporary American white guys for a while. Literarily, they form a remarkably narrow type that has been so completely over-explored to so little resulting revelation that I simply don't CARE about what happens to them anymore, whether or not there's magic involved, or biblical fairy tales, or whatever. There, I've said it. I thought of trying another of Carroll's books, but since he apparently recycles a lot of his characters and his tropes, not sure if there's much point.
I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible for [a: Jonathan Carroll|23704|Jonathan Carroll|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1222900262p2/23704.jpg] to write something that I won't enjoy.
I came upon [b: The Ghost in Love|2997253|The Ghost in Love|Jonathan Carroll|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311993428s/2997253.jpg|3027737] like a starving person, devouring every word and finding myself ultimately unsatisfied by the end of the book. The dissatisfaction did not come from disappointment in the story, the characters, or the writing - it was instead a devastating realization that the book was done. From that moment on I've been looking for these books madly, reading them all as they cross my path and anticipating more with an eagerness show more that borders on madness.
So, having a few Carroll books that I've yet to read in my possession I asked the equally insane
I found Outside the Dog Museum to be a more straightforward Carroll book than I'm used to. It followed a more linear path than many of his other works, and in the end, made a bit more sense than I was expecting. As karen has stated before, Carroll's books tend to have somewhat weak endings. I thought that Outside the Dog Museum bucked that trend rather nicely, wrapping things up in a way that was appropriate for the story and not altogether unexpected.
This book was ultimately quite a beautiful experience, and I already know someone I'm eager to get to read it. Not necessarily lend the book to, as I'm rather proud of the first US edition that Jonas got me...
Also, how inappropriate is this cover? It looks a bit like [b: Atlas Shrugged|662|Atlas Shrugged|Ayn Rand|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405868167s/662.jpg|817219] in one edition or another. It doesn't even have a bull terrier on it. Did someone read this and thing a bull terrier was a bulldog somehow? show less
I came upon [b: The Ghost in Love|2997253|The Ghost in Love|Jonathan Carroll|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311993428s/2997253.jpg|3027737] like a starving person, devouring every word and finding myself ultimately unsatisfied by the end of the book. The dissatisfaction did not come from disappointment in the story, the characters, or the writing - it was instead a devastating realization that the book was done. From that moment on I've been looking for these books madly, reading them all as they cross my path and anticipating more with an eagerness show more that borders on madness.
So, having a few Carroll books that I've yet to read in my possession I asked the equally insane
I found Outside the Dog Museum to be a more straightforward Carroll book than I'm used to. It followed a more linear path than many of his other works, and in the end, made a bit more sense than I was expecting. As karen has stated before, Carroll's books tend to have somewhat weak endings. I thought that Outside the Dog Museum bucked that trend rather nicely, wrapping things up in a way that was appropriate for the story and not altogether unexpected.
This book was ultimately quite a beautiful experience, and I already know someone I'm eager to get to read it. Not necessarily lend the book to, as I'm rather proud of the first US edition that Jonas got me...
Also, how inappropriate is this cover? It looks a bit like [b: Atlas Shrugged|662|Atlas Shrugged|Ayn Rand|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405868167s/662.jpg|817219] in one edition or another. It doesn't even have a bull terrier on it. Did someone read this and thing a bull terrier was a bulldog somehow? show less
There are times when I'd like to punch that hamster in my head, that one that wakes me up in the middle of the night to start spinning its stupid little wheel or causes every action to be immediately followed by a paralyzing few hours of second-guessing, did I say the right thing or wouldn't it have been better if I had done that instead ohgodletmegobackintimeandredoit! It reminds me a little of that Calvin&Hobbes strip where the dad points out angular velocity to Calvin and the last panel shows Calvin in bed, little hands clutching his pillow with bloodshot eyes and knit brows, hah! Sigh. That hamster has been making a move on my enjoyment of reading, its squeaking and incessant running-in-place preventing the slow fade and melt into a show more book where I lose track of the time and awareness of my surroundings...I miss that. I'm tired.
This would be an easy one to stutter through, stopping to think overmuch about significance and parallels. I wish I could be as effortless in that as certain others! I am put to shame. But I'm glad Carroll is a skilled enough storyteller that it was possible to read this with the hamster in a chokehold. I admit, I didn't attempt to fold this into my own life though it's always tempting to find ways to put me in the center of the universe. :) There was stuff about communication, meaning of life, selfishness, and a surprising thread of Biblical that appeared towards the end. But, also, magic dogs!
I finished this while shivering outside a cafe, the sun failing to break through to let me look at it. People were walking by with their labs, setters, poodles, but just one, some kind of terrier with a pushed-up nose, sniffed my hem. The lady said he likes you (more likely, I need to do laundry). That warmed me a little bit. Later, as I rounded the corner to leave, I saw this lady with her dog waiting for her companion. She asked about this book and laughed when I told her it involved dogs. She said if it's on the NYT best-seller list she probably wouldn't like it. I gave her the book. It seemed appropriate. I hope she likes it. show less
This would be an easy one to stutter through, stopping to think overmuch about significance and parallels. I wish I could be as effortless in that as certain others! I am put to shame. But I'm glad Carroll is a skilled enough storyteller that it was possible to read this with the hamster in a chokehold. I admit, I didn't attempt to fold this into my own life though it's always tempting to find ways to put me in the center of the universe. :) There was stuff about communication, meaning of life, selfishness, and a surprising thread of Biblical that appeared towards the end. But, also, magic dogs!
I finished this while shivering outside a cafe, the sun failing to break through to let me look at it. People were walking by with their labs, setters, poodles, but just one, some kind of terrier with a pushed-up nose, sniffed my hem. The lady said he likes you (more likely, I need to do laundry). That warmed me a little bit. Later, as I rounded the corner to leave, I saw this lady with her dog waiting for her companion. She asked about this book and laughed when I told her it involved dogs. She said if it's on the NYT best-seller list she probably wouldn't like it. I gave her the book. It seemed appropriate. I hope she likes it. show less
Six weeks later, and I think I know even less about what I thought of this book than I did when I read it. It's a literary novel, with some magical realism thrown in for good measure, centering around an architect who's a bit of a jerk. It reminds me of Martin Amis's Money: A Suicide Note in that it satirizes the 1980s gain-obsessed culture (at least, that's what everyone says the 1980s were like; I was only there for five years and don't really remember), which I suspect was a lot more interesting back then. Now I'm all, You mean self-centeredness is bad? Gee whiz! There are some good lines, a few funny jokes, a lot of unexplained nonsense, and a Middle-Eastern terrorist named Cthulu. A lot of it sort of waffles on indeterminately. And show more then... okay, whatever that ending meant. Or middle. A fairly promising start, actually, that never really went anywhere. show less
This rated only 2.5 stars really, rounded up to 3 in view of the unlikeable protagonist whose eventual realisation of how horridly he has treated his two girlfriends is rather too little and too late. This is the story of Harry Radcliffe who was mentioned in 'Sleeping in Flame', an arrogant and conceited architect who has a mental breakdown then recovers and is engaged to build a museum to honour dogs by the progressive sultan of a fictional Middle Eastern country.
The story is a mishmash of various characters from other Carroll novels, odd stories the character overhears such as the story of the retreating German soldiers in WWII which has absolutely no bearing on the book's narrative, and weird magic things which don't really amount to show more anything. The inclusion of the subplot about the sultan's murderous brother and resulting civil war which prevents the museum being built in the Middle East adds some action, but some is pointless such as the protagonist having to go to the place where the museum would have been built only to be told he has to build it in Austria. There's a lot of stuff that is just plain daft even for a Carroll story such as the incredible shrinking car, and dog lovers may find one scene upsetting. Then certain characters turn out to be aspects of the protagonist and he is rebuilding the Tower of Babel . The book is well written as a work of literature but without being able to identify with or have sympathy for the characters, it comes across as quite a cold academic exercise. show less
The story is a mishmash of various characters from other Carroll novels, odd stories the character overhears such as the story of the retreating German soldiers in WWII which has absolutely no bearing on the book's narrative, and weird magic things which don't really amount to show more anything. The inclusion of the subplot about the sultan's murderous brother and resulting civil war which prevents the museum being built in the Middle East adds some action, but some is pointless such as the protagonist having to go to the place where the museum would have been built only to be told he has to build it in Austria. There's a lot of stuff that is just plain daft even for a Carroll story such as the incredible shrinking car, and dog lovers may find one scene upsetting. Then certain characters turn out to be aspects of the protagonist and
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Author Information
48+ Works 10,027 Members
Jonathan Carroll was born in 1949 in Dobbs Ferry, New York, to two artistic parents, Sidney Carroll, a screenwriter whose film credits include The Hustler, starring Paul Newman, and June Carroll, an actress and lyricist. The family migrated between the east and west coasts, while Carroll was growing up, finally enrolling him in a boarding school show more in Connecticut. He developed an interest in writing while in high school and graduated cum laude from Rutgers University. He next pursued a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Virginia. Carroll's first novel, Land of the Laughs, was published in 1980 and was followed by Voice of Our Shadow. His novels are difficult to classify into one genre. The novels are full of fantasy and imagination, yet remain profound. His work inspires cult followings and is especially popular in France and Germany. An expatriate since the 1970s, Carroll lives in Vienna. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1991
- People/Characters
- Harry Radcliffe; Venasque; Big Top
- Epigraph
- We cannot take a single step toward heaven.
It is not in our power to travel in a vertical direction.
If however we look heavenward for a long time,
God comes and takes us up.
He raises us easily.
-- Simone... (show all) Weil - First words
- I'd just bitten the hand that fed me when God called, again.
- Quotations
- Both of us hated to cook. As a result, meals at the Radcliffe home were either vile, bizarre, or not at all.
Whenever I’m reading, I mark words I don’t know, copy them down, and look them up the next time I’m near a dictionary. (p. 222)
I gave the Radcliffe theory on horror films, which was, Society is so jaded that nothing normal entertains people anymore so we’ve moved to the next level down, which is to choke, maim, and electrocute. (p. 217)
If this old nutbag stood on a corner in New York saying the things he said in his interview, people would take one look and steer around him PDQ. But here was Cthulhu leading a successful revolution against the government of ... (show all)Saru. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Ssh. Watch now."
- Blurbers
- Gaiman, Neil; Straub, Peter; Lethem, Jonathan
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 643
- Popularity
- 44,882
- Reviews
- 17
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- 5 — English, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 16
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 5
