|
What a mess. A glorious mess, in parts, but ultimately a failure, much as I loved some of it.
I liked the "kitchen sink" aspect of it, where Carroll would briefly touch on a topic and move on without exploring it - time travel paradoxes, for just one example. I loved the political satire although it's sadly a little too apropos; I was entranced by the opening in medias res, "Less bread, more taxes!" I liked the shifts in state and the questions that posed about realities and whether or not others are experiencing the same thing. I loved the antic humor and the absurdist dialogue. In short, I think the more experimental aspects of the book were the ones he pulled off.
But, oh my! The awfulness of Bruno, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Sylvie. The turgid religious tracts, phrased as an inquiry (and not a particularly honest or rigorous one). The tedious love triangle and who didn't know where that was going?
The first volume was good enough that I hoped Carroll would return to what I perceived as his strengths there and end on a high note. The exact opposite happened; he lost the humor, the shifts between realities, the playful language, for a much higher proportion of ickle fairies and a romance steeped in sacrifice and renunciation. I couldn't wait to get back to Outland, but even there Carroll disappointed; a king-of-fairies ex machina, so to speak, and everything was righted. I think Uggug was treated rather unfairly at that, when everyone else got off scot-free.
|