Apologies to Jonathan Carroll: I am a terrible ambassador for your books.

Have been telling my friends about a novel I just finished that I loved. It’s called Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll. For some reason, I have not effectively communicated the wonderfulness of this book. One friend, who reads Vampire Slut Novels, told me (very snootily) that if he wasn’t reading VSN, he only read very good science fiction novels. The women in my book club (ok, wine and gourmet dinner club) said oh, sounds interesting, and then chose to read some other book, that I had dismissed ages ago as crap. Then I have a conversation with my trusty sidekick (ala Ren and Stimpy) via Yahoo Messenger™ and tell her all about it:

(I, Oceangal, am ‘O’, my friend is ‘H’, for Honey )
O: Have just finished a book I liked very much called Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll.
H: The moon has bones?
O: In Rondua they do
H: Is that an island?
O: Better
It’s a dream world
H: Ah.
a bony dream world?
O: No- A wonderful dream world in which whoever possessessesess the five bones of the moon will rule Rondua
A kid named Pepsi is Rondua’s next ruler
H: So a handsome lad and ?? sets out to collect plot coupons?
And meet tribulation on the way?
?? = plucky dog?
Pet hen?
O: Lad is 5 years old and is accompanied by his mum
H: Magic hairpiece?
Oh, magic mum.
O: a giant dog wearing a bowler hat is one companion. His name is Mr. Tracy
H: Did you make that Up?
hang on…
O: Nope Jonathan Carroll did.
N: Okay, so plucky woman accompanied by magic boy and bowler hatted dog set off to gather five plot coupons.
It sounds very nice, but not my sort of thing.
(I’m back)
O: Only she’s not very plucky, and she’s dreaming about a world that when she was a child, she almost ruled, but didn’t because she wasn’t brave enough.
It’s got a great villain….
H: Darth Maul?
O: Jack Chili
H: The opposite of Jack Frost?
O: Mean as hell, I tell you.
H: I like good villains.
O: The dream world spills over into her real life of being a New York housewife with an infant daughter. Frightening things happen
H: That’s too scary.
O: There is a very terrifying bit that I couldn’t read fully, and the end made me cry.
I love a good ending
H: The dog lost his bowler?
O: Yes amongst other things
H: Did it have a razor’s edge like Steed’s, so he could throw it and disembowel or disemhead the baddie?
Or was that James Bond?
O: That was from a James Bond flick, bowler belonged to one of the baddies
H: It’s a good trick though.
O: Been done though.

The conversation then disintegrated into discussions on hats as weapons and implements of giants. It was fascinating to us, but only us, I won’t bore you with it. She probably won’t read it off my recommendation, but she would like it. I’m sure of it.

Sorry Mr. Carroll, I loved Bones of the Moon. Your playfulness with words, your imagery, made me laugh and sigh. The absurdity and tension and warm fuzzies you created thrilled me. But evidently I suck at telling people what made this book great so I’ll stop talking about it.