Customer Reviews

Love and Sleep

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first sequel to AEgypt, Love & Sleep chronicles lovelorn and adrift Pierce Moffett as he stands upon the cusp of a magical change in history. Simultaneously, we view the brief encounter between Giordano Bruno and John Dee at Mortlake in the late 16th century, Pierce's own childhood in the Cumberland mountains, and begin to see deeply into the lives of Pierce's two roses (Rose Ryder and Rosie Rasmussen). This book seems to have been unpopular with some Crowley fans, perhaps because it almost entirely lacks any sort of action, and is instead a lyrical, brooding meditation on change and age. It is also true that some of the Renaissance scenes are over-long, windy, and at times do not quite ring true. Further, it is a sequel, and what's more will have two more sequels of its own; the third book in the series, Daemonomania, is already out, but who knows when book 4 will appear? Although I would grant all these criticisms, it is Crowley's graceful prose that makes this book such an extraordinary achievement. AEgypt was a bit unfocused, seemingly unsure where it was going; Love & Sleep takes wing and soars. Crowley's ear for modern speech is exceptional, and he also manages to clutch us emotionally without ever dipping into maudlin or pathos. Furthermore, the way he weaves together oddities of Renaissance magical history and mythology with the modern world is breathtaking --- Bobby Shaftoe's werewolf father is hauntingly real, human, and deeply felt. For me, this is Crowley's best book since Little, Big, but it's certainly not for the quick reader. Love & Sleep requires a good deal of effort and time from the reader, and we must be prepared to surrender to the homely, slow pace of the prose.

Volume two of Crowley's vast novel "Aegypt": I alternated between rapture and discomfort while reading this. The first third, relating some episodes from the main character's childhood, is exquisite by any standard; but the rest of the book suffers as a reading experience from jagged transitions and maddening enigmas. Great set-pieces and superb bits of writing are to be found in it--as well as a jaw-dropping shock for anyone the tiniest bit prudish--but the overall impression is that the book is adrift. There is no specific flow or flavor to "Love & Sleep" as a whole, like there is in "Aegypt"'s astonishingly great first volume.

These were my thoughts, reading it. I went on with reluctance to "Daemonomania", only to find it wonderful. In addition, it provided enough perspective on the events of "Love & Sleep" to make them wonderful for me in hindsight.

Here's the thing: this is not a "tetralogy". It is ALL ONE BOOK, one already somewhere between "War & Peace" and "Clarissa" in length. There are certain organic divisions within the book, but they don't always neatly match the cut-off points of the volumes. The latter two-thirds of "L&S" flow right into "Daemonomania", and most of the many mysteries introduced in it are developed to fullness in that volume.

The tone of "L&S" is purposely difficult: the characters are lost, their worlds fragmented. "Aegypt: The Solitudes" is something of a book of youth, of discovery and gathering power; "Love & Sleep" deals with setbacks, detours, bafflements. "Daemonomania" continues these but shows people gradually putting themselves together within the chaos, and discovering ways of coping with a reality that does not love them. The book ends with the foot finally back on the path, and knowing, finally, how to stay on it.

Crowley takes ridiculous artistic risks, especially in writing depression depressingly, but they all pay off: he deserves your trust and patience. This volume haunts me as much as the others of this amazing work. I expect it will reread exquisitely.

I must say that these other reviews are not too terribly helpful to a prospective reader who has perhaps just heard of Crowley, wonders what all the to-do is about and has chanced across this webpage. This review is directed at such a reader, as indeed I myself am, still, having now finished three of Crowley's works.

Righto, the first thing to which one has to accustom oneself here is this notion, elaborated and elaborated upon herein with no end of abstruse patented Crowleyan hermetic lore, that probably everyone with any imagination has at one time had: What if, say, two seconds ago, the world as we now know it just came into being complete with a history etc., quite different from what it was two seconds ago? This is the simplest way I know to put this fixation of Crowley's (or of Pierce Moffett's). But, what if, also, and this is the catch, the driving force behind the entire Crowley enterprise, there might be some way to get back that other world before everything changed in.....name your date and time?

Here is Pierce's declaration upon the subject, at one point in the book:

"He had read to this conclusion once, and then he had pondered it for a long time before he saw what he had here, which was an explanation for the history of magic that answered every need, solved every historical crux, satisfied the skeptic and the ardent seeker both, and had only the one drawback of its complete absurdity."

And of course it is absurd, complete twaddle. Parts of this book truly make one want to tear one's hair out! So - I hear my hypothetical prospective reader asking - why do you bother, should I bother, reading Crowley? The answer, I should say, is that, despite the twaddle, Crowley's work is lovely, meditative and deeply hypnotic. It's just not quite like anything else to be found, though you search long.

Here, for instance, is a lovely passage on memory, rivalling that of the famous one of Saint Augustine:

"But isn't that what memory is always doing? Making bricks without straw, mortaring them in place one by one into a so-called past, a labyrinth actually, in which to hide a monster, or a monstrosity?"

And there are wistful reflections on his quest's futility, poignant as anything written:

"But if that moment of possibility was gone (was not anything but illusion now, and therefore had not ever been anything but illusion) then what was it that had come close to him in his sitting room as he looked out at the roses? What had brushed by him and touched his cheek?
Only the wind of its passage away."

I'm quite sure that many of us have had numinous moments like this, moments of enchantment, wonder, a sense of being between two worlds. This book plumbs the depths of those moments you very likely dismissed. I should hasten to add that much of this ends up concerning dreams, love and relations between the sexes. This is what makes Crowley magical and well worth the read - despite all the hermetic humbug.

A 4 book work in progress, starting with "Aegypt". Dealing with 2 plots, one in the current time (Pierce Moffat), one in the past (Bruno). Bruno discovers, in the middle ages, the 20th century explanation of how the universe works, speaks out about it and gets persecuted by the Inquisition. John Dee talks to an angel thru his "shew" stone.

The sections for the books are the latin names of the houses of the zodiac. We can therefore look forward to another 2 books with 3 houses each. This is a hurculean effort. Lets hope John Crowley doesn't run out of plot before he runs out of houses. It took about a decade between the publishing of book one and two. Lets also hope that he will not need 40 years to finish the story. The quality is too good.

I loved Crowley's Aegypt, a wonderful compound of life, art, and magic (specifically hermeticism.) Although written in Crowley's beautiful style this novel was a severe disappointment. The lyrical life-affirming optimism of the preceding novel was wholly absent, replaced by a dismal elegaic pessimism. The book's structure is kind of clumsy too - it's a loosely related set of chunks of stories which while interesting in themselves don't flow well together. It's interesting to speculate that the novel's grim tone is related to the murder of Crowley's friend and professor of hermetic studies Ioan Culianu, who was assassinated, evidentally for political reasons, in 1991. Giordano Bruno, the Renaissance hermeticist, is a principal subject of Crowley's novel and his life bears parallels to Culianu's.

This book and its predecessor, "Aegypt", are much more weighty than Crowley's master works, "Little, Big" and "Engine Summer." Some might see these larger works as "meaty", but I just got weighed down. It took me a long time to finish this, and I didn't get any sense of completion when I did.

Although this is supposed to be book two of a four-part book, I think perhaps Crowley has gotten a little bit too ambitious. This book has the speed of a snail, though given its weight the inertia of it along with that of "Aegypt" may cause the series to move more quickly towards the end!

Crowley is such a master wordsmith that I can't give any of his books a BAD rating, but I certainly don't see this as one of his best.

I had read this book when it first came out, after reading "Aegypt" twice. I had read that Crowley made minor changes when the fourth volume came out. As with "The Solitudes" (new name for the first book in the series) The Solitudes (The Aegypt Cycle), "Love & Sleep" seems to be a much fuller book. It adds more to the characters and to the development of Crowley's themes than the original book. Reading through the full cycle is a much richer experience now, one that is freshly entertaining and compelling.

Name your field - real or pseudo - and you'll find it explored, and maybe explained, in this tetrology. Pierce Moffett, our main character is still searching for that mystical power from the past that is still around today - perhaps.

We journey into the past, into the spiritual, and a present that may not be our present. We meet philosophers, priests, professors , the prayerful and the perplexed. We study the mysteries of life and the hope of resolution.

Memory systems are investigated. I've sensed while reading this series that it has the feel of something else I've read. Just now it came to mind: Hermann Hesse's Magister Ludi (aka The Glass Bead Game). Of course, I don't know if it influenced Crowley, but the mental acrobatics I've had to perform in reading both authors are eerily similar.

This is not a stand alone novel. The four books in the Aegypt Cycle are merely physical separations of one story. I've been highly entertained by the first two and I heartily recommend them.

I loved the Appalachian lore worked into the intricate plot and the window into Pierce's childhood. It is constantly surprising, rich in detail, and beautifully written throughout.

On Book 1 of 3

I rate this book 4 out of 5 based on my own (apparently) limited abilities to keep the line of thought straight in my head. I had to re-read so many lines that I decided to simply keep reading the words and if I caught the meaning....well,....great. It's obvious John Crowley is a brilliant writer and an incredibly fast typist to write in "stray thought form".

This story tends to jump around a bit too much. It jumps from place to place, from past to future and back and a solid timeline for whats taking place isn't easy to grasp. I don't mind working my mind a little but I also don't want it to be a dreaded chore.