Customer Reviews

Cold Heaven

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having read many recently published books and not found many that I would give a rave review, I asked myself what book WOULD I rave about and thought about "Cold Heaven", which I read several years ago yet remember as vividly as if it were yesterday. The novel pulled me in with its unique, "Twilight Zone" plot, then deftly introduced other themes on the nature of love, sanity, spirituality and Catholicism. It is truly a gripping, haunting book, and a good introduction to Moore, who has written several other superb novels--although none, in my opinion, as memorable as this. One final note: avoid at all costs the film based on the book, a botched job if there ever was one

This is the second Brian Moore novel I've read and if there is a pattern emerging it is that his books are intensely readable. I defy you to read the first ten pages of this book and try to set it down. It isn't going to happen. That said, though, the book does not completely succeed from an artistic standpoint.

The story starts off as a simple mystery. An American woman is vacationing in France with her husband. She wants to separate from him and is indeed planning to announce this to him when he is involved in a boating accident and killed. The following day, she returns to the hospital to which he was taken, and is told that his body has disappeared.

Pretty gripping, admittedly, and sure enough, the reader finds himself happily engaged in discovering what this mystery is all about. But very quickly, we sense something unusual about this woman. Her thoughts and actions do not seem normal; in fact, they become somewhat bizarre. It is then that we learn that there is something else going on here; something much larger than the mystery at hand. We realize that the husband's disappearance is only a minor element of this other aspect.

I cannot reveal what it is; it would ruin the experience of the earlier mystery. Let me just say that there is a supernatural element which leads to a thought-provoking theme: what is it that we want from this life? Salvation? Freedom? Privacy? It would appear that not all of us are involved in a lifelong, soul-searching quest for enlightenment, even when it is handed to us on a silver platter. And that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

My complaint with the novel lies in the fact that not all the pieces fit together. There are several threads which are begun and left in the air and one gets the disturbing sense that this was deliberate. They are red herrings meant to deceive us. What were the husband's notes, for example? Much time is spent in showing us his writing them and her searching for them. And then they are never mentioned again. What was that about? And the fat man with the dogs. He appears out of nowhere, seems to have a malevolent presence at several significant events, then vanishes. Why is he even there? Of course, the entire beginning subplot steers us in the wrong direction to begin with.

Clearly, these things are intentional, and I'm not sure why. Leading the reader into blind alleys does not advance the novel thematically or in any other way. But it is nevertheless an enjoyable book, and will inspire at least a little thoughtful introspection on the part of the reader.

I can't understand what all the fuss is about Brian Moore. Am I reading the wrong novels? The book jacket says he was Graham Greene's favorite living author. Graham Greene is my favorite author, but I don't care for Brian Moore. The story idea is so interesting, as was The Magician's Wife. Vactioning in Europe, a woman's husband is fatally injured in a boating accident, but his body is missing from the morgue. She returns to find his things missing from their hotel. I don't won't to spoil any mystery, so I won't say what happens from there, only that she is struggling with visions she doesn't want to believe are from God. Such an interesting idea. However, so much is repetitive. She goes through the same struggles over and over again, never learning any lesson or benefiting from her experiences. She complains--a lot. I didn't find the ending satisfactory at all. I kept reading, dying to find out if she would have some miraculous discovery, but in the end it was as empty as The Magician's Wife. If you want suspense and moral inquiry (as this book jacket promises) read Graham Greene instead: The End of the Affair, The Heart of the Matter, or A Burnt-out Case.

Moore asks, how we would we react, today, to a religious vision? I'd run like hell, and so does the heroine. All of Moore's books are fascinating, but I think this is his best. And the ending is perfect. (By the way, the movie was dreadful.)

I've never read any of Brian Moore's work previously and honestly plan not to read him again. This book left me hanging in suspense and unsatisfied eventually. The ending was a huge disappointment, Marie's dilemma extremely repetitive and qutie honestly I just didn't get it. Perhaps not being a Catholic made this novel a muddled mass of seemingly unrelated incidents to me. I did not understand the accident and near-death of Marie's husband in relationship to her visions. It left me cold and wanting to return to what I consider better works.

I had read this when it came out originally, since a book review had set up the main plot--which since it is mentioned on this site in summary, it will not be a spoiler now--what if Mary appeared to you and you said, basically, forget it? Fantastic idea, and not a bad book. Moore occupies the space between popular and literary novelist, and this book shows his skill and his shortcomings. The former qualities outweigh the latter. But you gain little sense of people in this work, with oddly some of the minor characters like Sister Anne, Herb Luddington, or at times Father Niles. The supporting cast generally seems, however, there to only advance the maddeningly circular direction of this book.

As a related aside, I have seen the very convent that Moore borrows for his novel. The convent's set off memorably on the inland side of the highway from Big Sur as it nears Carmel, yet the drama of its riparian location and nearby Point Lobos is felt here only sporadically. The sensation of place that needs to be so powerful as to haunt Marie and entice ourselves comes fitfully and intermittently. Instead, we get lots of information about who ordered what from the lodge's waitress or rectory housekeeper or attending nun. These details add little to the novel, and they detract attention from the more disturbing undertow that sweeps Marie along. That is what matters in the story, and this is why we're reading it. Not to find out which characters had what for breakfast.

Luckily, after over 20 years I had forgotten the details that convey what pace or suspense the novel needs to build in order to convince us. Rereading it, I wondered how Moore would carry the ending off, and he delays enough information to keep you curious until he reveals all the details of what Mary said, how she said it, and when. Marie's predicament's kept up to the last line of the novel rather skillfully. Still, the cumulative impact of the novel adds up to less than a sum of the parts: "unbelieving adultress" is how the visionary-protagonist describes herself. Certainly promising material. However, after the initial apparition to Marie's related, the rest of the novel's more concerned with filtering her reactions to the apparition through those she suspects are shadowing her--both seen and unseen messengers of God's will.

A deity neither all-loving or all-merciful, apparently. As in other modern visionary accounts, the divine visits upon the seer a vengeful presence that--and Moore does not raise what would have been a more appropriate context given 20c Marian visions--often threatens doom upon those who do not heed warnings from above. Moore sidesteps any durable connection between what Marie recalls and what others claim they see, and this lack of interest by the omniscient narrator saps the novel's latter half of much potential energy. She's not a very sympathetic character, and while this is appropriate for how the novel progresses, it does leave the reader with nobody else to identify much with.

The whole apocalyptic-vs.-restorative nature of the message Marie reports barely registers. Surely this aspect, given Marie's evident unease, would spark more reactions than the Monsignor's rather sophisticated one. Not that I disagree with this cleric's advice to Marie. It's just that she needed more counter-arguments to heighten the impact of her message and its predicted ramifications. [For two other non-fiction studies since then (both written in the aftermath of the Medjugorge apparitions which began in 1985; intriguingly those claimed of "moving statues" in Moore's native Ireland began also just a couple of years after this novel appeared) see Randall Sullivan's The Miracle Detective and Sandra Zimdars-Swartz' academic but accessible Encountering Mary. For some reason, the same error repeats in Sullivan and Moore: spelling the Mexican site of Guadalupe by the French island's name of Guadaloupe.]

Still, this is a thoughtful, if rather quickly written (so it seems to me in the massive amount of mundane detail and plot points entered into but not fully explored), theological thriller. Not that it's scary in the obvious sense or half-baked like certain more currently famed novels on Catholic skulduggery. It does get under your skin if you let it, despite its flaws. The central theme's so inherently interesting that it allows you as a reader to cut the novel some slack. So, in spite of an uneven pace and too many underdeveloped scenes "Cold Heaven" manages to remain rather plausible in its main character's arc. A feat to be discounted in our determinedly secularized yet stubbornly irrational era!

This is a failed novel, but a pretty good book. It doesn't really have a plot, but is instead a story designed to illustrate how perceptions shape individual realities.

A woman and her husband vacationing in the south of France have their trip cut short by his fatal accident - well, sort of. Seems he just won't stay put in the morgue. She thinks it has something to do with a vision of the Virgin Mary she once had - even though she long ago renounced her Catholicism. He implies (though never outright states) that he understands why he isn't dead, and doesn't want to be discovered until he has "recovered" from his rigor mortis-ish condition, for fear that he will be regarded as a freak. A nearby convent gets involved in the wife's reluctant vision quest, which she avoids because she doesn't want to attract publicity to her hiding husband or her own affair with another man.

The story is almost a black comedy as written by Dean Koontz. (In fact, Koontz has used variations of these plotlines in his books, namely Strangers, Shadowfires, and Mr. Murder, to name a few.) Nothing is clearly answered or resolved by the end of the story, though there are strong implications made in a number of different directions as to why the bizarre phenomena are occurring. In essence, the reader fills in his own blanks and virtually writes the story of his choice according to whose perceptions he agrees with. It's almost a Rorschach blot for belief systems.

It's also quite a good read. It will definitely not be to everyone's tastes. If you're looking for a comprehensive, standard novel, you'll be horribly disappointed. If you simply want to spend a while walking the line of Faith, examining it from every different angle and psychologically exploring the different human mechanisms of belief, you'll be endlessly fascinated.

Brian Moore was Graham Greene's favorite living novelist and this book gives a reader several reasons why Greene was a fan of Moore. Only a major emergency could have drawn me from the book after the first chapter. But Moore is more than an engaging mystery writer.

As in all his novels, Moore's main characters struggle with belief and doubt and the knowledge of sin. He offers no easy answers, but he provides a rich meal for any reader anxious for both nourishment and pleasure.

Reading this book is like being caught in a nightmare. The tale is intensely gripping - an emotional roller coaster. Moore is a storyteller without peer. His language is clear, and draws no attention to itself. He simply puts you right into the head of his protagonist, and carries you along with her, as she battles with her conscience, her fear, death, and, ultimately, heaven itself. Beautifully done.

This was my first electrifying experience with Brian Moore. More Moore!

This is the first of Moore's books I've read, although I'm certainly familiar with Black Robe. The book's ambiguities may be off-putting for some but I simply accepted them along with all the other unanswered questions of life. What I liked best about it was that Moore was not the least preachy and there was no Hollywood denouement. There were two funny glitches which some copy-editor should have pounced upon; aside from those, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who doesnt' have to know everything, including all the jots and tittles.