Holy Smoke [Hardcover]

Anna Campion (Author), Jane Campion (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1999

In Holy Smoke, sisters Anna and Jane Campion have fashioned a novel of fierce originality. The story begins in late November 1998, with an Australian familys decision to rescue their daughter Ruth from the attentions of an Indian Guru. Feeling overwhelmed, they invest in the services of an American cult specialist, PJ Waters. Two days later, out in the Australian bush, the balance of power has slowly shifted between counselor and client. What starts as a spiritual struggle about the nature of belief becomes an erotic and disturbing tale of sexual obsession, forcing Ruth and PJ to explore a relationship neither had wanted to make.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sisters Anna and Jane Campion (the Australian directors responsible for such films as Loaded and The Piano) have collaborated on this intriguing though rambling first novel. Twenty-year-old Ruth Baron is dragged back from India, where she has joined a bizarre cult, to her parent's home outside of Sydney. Once there, her family forces her to undergo an intensive "exiting" process meant to de-program her from the insidious influence of the cult's leader, Chidaatma Baba. The expert recruited for the job is P.J. (John) Waters, a world-weary fellow in his mid-50s who flies in from New York and secludes himself with the rebellious young woman for the three-day intensive treatment. At first, they circle each other suspiciously; John is aggressive, and Ruth fights him every step of the way. Soon, distrust gives way to a dangerous and undeniable mutual passion. Other characters in this heaving, breathless novelARuth's vague, teary mother, older brothers and bumbling sister-in-lawAseem to function as clueless comic foils for the burgeoning intensity between Ruth and John. The authors successfully demonstrate the seductive pull of cults and are at their best when transforming Ruth's need for spiritual guidance into her psychosexual delirium. The narrative, told from the alternating points of view of John and Ruth, has a hazy, druggy quality, which is ambiguous and confusing. The fact that this tale is the book version of an upcoming film starring Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet contributes to the reader's likely awareness that thenovel is a sketchy, early version of its more fitting cinematic manifestation.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Boundaries blur in this novel by the sisters Campion. Both are writers and directors, with Jane the better known for her film The Piano (1993). Their collaboration is being published under the new imprint of Miramax Books in anticipation of the release of the movie version starting Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel, and because this entertaining if facile tale is the basis for a screenplay, its style is overtly camera-ready. Ruth, the heroine, is a young and feisty Australian who came under the influence of an unscrupulous guru while traveling in India. Her panicked family hires a cult specialist from New York, P. J. Waters, to bring her to her senses. Ruth and P. J. are sequestered in a small hut on the sunbaked outback, where Ruth easily deflects P. J.'s lame strategies, and instigates a far more intimate form of therapy. The dialogue is amusing and the setting dramatic, but the writing is uneven, and the story, concocted purely for its potential cinematic eroticism, is kitschy. Donna Seaman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Miramax Books; 1st edition (May 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786863498
• ISBN-13: 978-0786863495
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,638,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally worth reading!, December 29, 1999

By 

Tessa Stephens (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Smoke (Hardcover)

I didn't think "Holy Smoke" would be that good, but I was mistaken. This book is a perfect read for anyone who's interested in light psychology. The book messes with your mind just a little bit, not enough to make you want to put the book down, but enough to make you think about what's going on. The book is sexy (the entire story is based around the sexual encounters between a young woman and her "deprogrammer") and smart, good enough to be in the making for a major motion picture starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel. Good enough for me, I would recommend this book to anyone in the mood for a smart, sexy romp in the psychological world of cults.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, June 13, 1999

By 

Sarah Packard "abbagirl" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holy Smoke (Hardcover)

Being a rabid fan of Kate Winslet, I of course got myself a copy of this in anticipation of the upcoming film version...(I'm also keen on Jane Campion.) Anyway, it's excellent! Dramatic, thought-provoking (spirituality, sexuality, love, this one runs the gamut), with some intriguing characters and motivations...I definitely can't wait for the film now! Kate is sure to be a perfect Ruth...and Harvey Keitel, well, um...he'll do, I suppose. :)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An appealing plot hiding something?, June 12, 1999

By 

Domitille ([e-mail]) (FRANCE/USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Smoke (Hardcover)

I was first appealed by this book because I'm really a fan of Kate Winslet and I've read all the books that relate to the movies she did (thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure", Esther Freud's "Hideous Kinky" etc...).I also have seen most of Jane Campion's movies so I really wanted to know what the story was all about before confronting the movie (Holy SMOKE is said to open fall 1999) I think that the themes of "Holy Smoke" themselves are thrilling: a prohibited love relationship mingled with the search of spirirituality, all of this set in Australia. This is how the story goes: Ruth, an Australian young woman who fell under the spell of a guru and his cult in India is brought back in her country by her family in hope of deprogramming her. This family, which by the way is more wacko then Ruth , hires PJ Waters (a professional in deprogramming) from New York. All along the book Ruth and PJ develop a strong sexual attirance between each other which ends in a delirious erotic relationship. From this moment we know that this relationship cannot lead to something serious or even to love. I think that that's where this story looses its charm. I know that Anna campion wrote the best part of the book(especially the erotic passages) so it seems to me that we learn more about her than about Ruth and PJ.Moreover it seems that the story's only purpose is to show that PJ and Ruth become slaves of their perversities. However, this book was made as a support, a form of screenplay of the movie, so let's say that the movie will be better than the book (hopefully).