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    The Marriage of Sticks
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    The Marriage of Sticks
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    The Marriage of Sticks
    Ebook312 pages5 hours

    The Marriage of Sticks

    By Jonathan Carroll

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    This novel of a woman’s breakdown after a high school reunion has “a wonderful strangeness reminiscent of Fellini” (Publishers Weekly).
     Miranda marches into her high school reunion with the confidence of a professional at the top of her field. But inside she is lost, disenchanted with her career, and as alone as a person can possibly be. As a teenager in Crane’s View, she fell in love with unrepentant bad boy James Stillman, and though they never slept together, he thrilled her as no man has since. She returns to her hometown hoping to reconnect with him, but learns at the reunion that he was killed in a car crash years ago. In the weeks that follow, Miranda is haunted by visions of the past. First she sees James, alive and healthy, and more chilling hallucinations follow. Seeking distraction, she dives into an ill-advised love affair that turns darker than she could ever imagine. To find peace, Miranda must learn to walk the razor-thin line that separates this world from the one that follows. This ebook contains an all-new introduction by Jonathan Carroll, as well as an exclusive illustrated biography of the author including rare images from his personal collection.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781453264935
    Unavailable
    The Marriage of Sticks
    Author

    Jonathan Carroll

    Jonathan Carroll (b. 1949) is an award-winning American author of modern fantasy and slipstream novels. His debut book, The Land of Laughs (1980), tells the story of a children’s author whose imagination has left the printed page and begun to influence reality. The book introduced several hallmarks of Carroll’s writing, including talking animals and worlds that straddle the thin line between reality and the surreal, a technique that has seen him compared to South American magical realists. Outside the Dog Museum (1991) was named the best novel of the year by the British Fantasy Society, and has proven to be one of Carroll’s most popular works. Since then he has written the Crane’s View trilogy, Glass Soup (2005) and, most recently, The Ghost in Love (2008). His short stories have been collected in The Panic Hand (1995) and The Woman Who Married a Cloud (2012). He lives and writes in Vienna. 

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    Reviews for The Marriage of Sticks

    4/5

    12 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Romance, ghosts, immortality, and coming to grips with who you are, were, and could be. A little thin and preachy at times, but so much better than the last three of his I've read. It's not quite five-star material, but it's pretty close.

      On reading this now, I suspect that when Carroll wrote The Ghost in Love he was trying to recreate what he did here--like maybe Marriage of Sticks didn't come out exactly as he'd planned so he tried again, only to fail miserably. There's a certain irony to him trying to reincarnate what could be an immortal love story...
    • 5/5
      Author: Jonathan CarrollPublished By: Open RoadAge Recommended: AdultReviewed By: Arlena DeanBook Blog For: GMTARating: 4Review:"Marriage of Sticks" by Jonathan Carroll was a good read that really kept me interested until the end. The novel started out with a high school reunion and then it blooms out with such intriguing characters that were all so welldeveloped only presenting great thoughts only bringing out such creativity only adding to a great read that comes out a little fantastical and even somewhat creepy read. Be prepared for there will be many surprises that are well hidden in the read. I found "Marriage of Sticks" to be 'filled with suspense, horror and even magic.' Now, you may find Mr. Carroll's "Marriage of Sticks" novel may seem somewhat confusing but if you will stick with it till the end it will all come together giving you a mind-blowing fantasy of a read. If you are looking for a good read that will present 'scary, funny sad, weird, and too believable, all at the same time' you have come to the right place for "Marriage of Sticks" and yes, I would recommend this read to you.
    • 4/5
      The Marriage of Sticks slides along the slipstream, as most of his works to. His writing is filled with magical imagery and moments when you can't quite figure out what's going on, but in the end it doesn't matter because Carroll can tell a great story. Carroll's works always manage to live in the ordinary world and in the magical world that lies adjacent. In The Marriage of Sticks this is quite clear as the book moves through its paces and becomes increasingly creepy and fantastical.The main character, Miranda (yes, I thought of Miranda in The Tempest, too), is looking for love and surprised when it finds her through a man who embodies her past, but is only tangentially connected to it. An exploration of love, of memory, and of loss - Carroll draws us effortlessly into a world where characters find happiness only to be driven from it relentlessly. His writing is creative and surprising and his stories unsettling and ambiguous. Lovely read.
    • 4/5
      Jonathan Carroll writes very inventive stories which start off as love stories and turn into fantasy about half way through, but somehow I never believe in his characters. They don't behave like real people and their relationships never ring true to me. But at least this time the protagonist wasn't another man who had a strained relationship with his father.
    • 3/5
      This book came so highly recommended, and yet it left me a bit cold. It is an interesting theme and certainly well written, but things didnt quite fit, and the story seems to jump around and leave lots of gaps. Perhaps I am tougher with this book than I would have been had I not had such high expectations
    • 2/5
      Possible Spoiler Alert:I never got into this book- it highly disturbed me. Mostly I can't deal with thinking about post-death stuff. I also never got into the character- I didn't like her. The only thing I remember liking was that she seemed to be from Darien (I didn't like that, per-say, it was just interesting).
    • 3/5
      Jonathan Carroll's books are always a little strange, and this one is no different. It begins in the style of a romance (chick-lit), but about half-way through the few odd coincidences in the beginning rapidly reveal a more bizarre chain of events.
    • 4/5
      Carroll returning to a favorite theme of his, that of the physic vampire. Great book.