The Panic Hand [Import] [Hardcover]

Jonathan Carroll (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 000224540X
• ISBN-13: 978-0002245401
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,097,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Biography,free downloadable stories, screenplays, daily blog and other relevant information available at

www.jonathancarroll.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Time Between, December 20, 2000

By 

Pauline Woodfin (Albany, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Panic Hand (Hardcover)

If you are a Carroll fan, there is this void between his last book and next that can be filled by reading the Panic Hand. If you are not yet a fan, time's a wasting, get thee to a Carroll book! The stories in here are little vignettes of Carroll's creative mind: there are stories here that can be novels, movies, dreams and poetry. This book is a good text for the beginning writer--the plots and prose are well-crafted. Some of he stories--Sadness in Detail, being one--are best left as it is in the book-- a short story: what if God is forgetting the details? This and many of the stories question the reader and sometimes invite a brief journey into strange realms. I have stopped trying to place Carroll into a genre; I love his stories and that is enough.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wild and Wonderful Fare, January 28, 2003

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Panic Hand (Hardcover)

I hate to harp on it, but Jonathan Carroll has problems ending stories. I would like to say I don't care because even a partial story by Carroll is enough, but the truth is that I'm always left with a craving that you get when you read a story and you're wrapped up into it and you require completion. Supposedly American audiences require a "happy" completion, but I hope I'm beyond that. "Uh-oh City" has all the things that are quintessential Carroll: characters who are intrinsically interesting, a doozy of a "weirdness," and the, unfortunately, open ending. The premise is that there are 36 people who are God, but not individually, but collectively. One-thirty-sixth of God is still pretty much amazing, though, and when God(sub36) tells you that they are dying and you are next in line to become part of the 36thhood, what can you say? Complications ensue, as they usually do, and things are never as they seem in a Carroll story, but after the final twisty turn we reach the last sentence and we are still on the precipice of understanding, and need a final push to put us over...and it never comes.

The other stories here are more of the same wild, wonderful fare. THE PANIC HAND was originally published in Germany with a slightly different table of contents. I own a copy of that book, but being unable to read German was slightly hampered in trying to understand the stories. Carroll's better at the long form--his favorite literary device is the untrustworthy narrator, and it takes at least 50 pages to set up a story with one of those that won't annoy the reader. Even still, his tendency for the twist and his incredible way of creating characters that you would like to know in a few sentences is enjoyable even in the short form.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carroll at his top form, March 12, 2006

By 

Aleksandra Nita-Lazar (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Panic Hand (Hardcover)

This is a treat for Jonathan Carroll fans. If you like his special style (I know, not everyone likes him, but I do. I guess people either love him or hate him), you are in for a treat. The short stories in this collection are exactly what the readers like about him. The intriguing details of people's lives in the world where everyone has something special about them, be it a hobby, a phobia, a secret, a way of thinking; the magic springing out of nowhere, and the whole parallel supernatural universe created in his own, irreproducible manner. The same themes as in his novels are developed in more concise manner. The dogs, as always, are very significant and mysterious creatures. The dark corners of the characters' souls, where even they go only reluctantly, in dreams or in extreme circumstances, are explored. Death, childhood fantasies, painful and pleasant memories all form the unique mosaic of Carroll's world. All the stories are superb, although my absolute favorites are "Mr. Fiddlehead" (the last dialogue couldn't be better). "The Jane Fonda Room" and "My Zoondel". I like Carroll especially when I want to get away from the mundane surroundings and at the same time think about some universally important issues. I recommend this collection.