Customer Reviews

The Panic Hand

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I enjoy Jonathan Carroll's novels more than his short stories but this is a good collection. If you haven't read him before this will get you interested in pursuing his other works. The title story is particularly haunting. In his books he writes of death and angels and meeting the devil at a coffee shop in Vienna. His works often start out about ordinary people who slowly find themselves in creepy situations, I usually start getting chills up my spine after 50 pages or so when I realize somthing is going wrong for this poor person. Another interesting thing he does is bring back characters from earlier novels. Panic Hand is highly recommended.

Writers who don't feel like producing the sociological, autobiographical and confessional tracts that dominate the world of American fiction have it tough. Magazines and publishing houses demand an endless stream of stories about sensitive types growing up amidst cornfields; family members dying or just about to; the difficulties of growing up X in a non-X world; and how "Uncle Bert molested me when I was twelve."

To his credit, Carroll will have none of it. Well, he'll have a little, provided he can transform it in his own unique way. Try "Friend's Best Man" (a dog story with a difference), "Uh-Oh City", "The Sadness of Detail", or the hilarious "Postgraduate" (gives new meaning to the term "lifelong learning").

I detect a fairly strong Central European influence, probably owing to Carroll's long residence in Vienna. Some of the stories seem to owe something to Robert Walser or Kafka, and the premise of "Postgraduate" is similar to that of Gombrowicz's "Ferdydurke". All to the good, I think. Not all the stories are first-rate, but writing fiction of this sort requires one to take risks.

After reading three of Carroll's books (I will read more), I feel that only one of them lives up to this writer's lofty reputation as a uniquely gifted magical realist, and it isn't this one. That would be The Land of Laughs, in case you're wondering. The Panic Hand, a collection of stories, features two or three remarkable tales (far and away from the pack is "Friend's Best Man," a deserved winner of the World Fantasy Award in 1987) that pull off this author's trademark legerdemain of snatching the rug out from under realistic premises to reveal a mysterious and sinister world riven with fantastic possibilities. Other stories, and there are a lot of them, are sketchy, gimmick-ridden, flatly written, and somehow smug in their pseudo profundity. And that's frustrating! Carroll is capable of better, as stories like "Friend's Best Man" make plain.

If you've read any of my other reviews of Carroll's books, you'll know I'm a bit of a groupie, so I may have liked these stories more than most. Sure, not every story was perfect, but Carroll is so creative and so bizarre that I could not put this book down. Since I had just finished A Child Across the Sky, I had read two of the stories already as they are contained in that novel. Furthermore, Black Cocktail is published in a separate volume. That still leaves a good 17 stories or so that are "new" and I loved all of them. I think he's better at novels, but I enjoy his stories because he is able to isolate one or two wild ideas into a coherent story rather than jumbling them all together in a novel where they don't always make sense. For some reason, I really liked the "Zoondel" story about a special breed of dog that recognizes werewolves. If you're a Carroll fan, you'll definitely want to see how he translates some of his shorter ideas into short stories.

The Panic Hand is an uneven collection of short stories by one of the best surreal fantasists out there today. For starters, if you're already a Carroll fan and haven't read this yet, buy it -- there are some true Carroll gems here.

If you've never read Jonathan Carroll before, then this is the wrong place to start. You've got to slowly slide into his work and sync with his quirky rhythms to start to appreciate his work. For Carroll initiates, you can't go wrong by starting with his novels Land Of Laughs or Bones Of The Moon.

This book is a must read, so why did I give it only three stars? When Carroll is on, there is nobody better. When he strikes out, it's a bitter disappointment because his other work sets such high expectations. The Sadness of Details and Friend's Best Man are just monstrously good stories. Other yarns like Uh Oh City are also good, but suffer from a common Carroll issue of taking half the story to ramp up and start to really cook. The Jane Fonda Room was cute, but ultimately felt like an empty piece of fluff. And The Fall Collection and Waiting To Wave are, quite honestly, snooze fests.

A must for Carroll fans, otherwise you're better off trying one of his novels if you're unfamiliar with his work.

I was fortunate to trip across this book and I'm now a fan of Carroll's work. He blends engaging storytelling with often thought-provoking subject matter akin, in some cases, to the work of Richard Bach. (Think: "Illusions" if it was written by Stephen King.) His characters are vividly portrayed, the stories original and the lessons learned from them unique.

Not all the stories in "The Panic Hand" deserve this praise, and he can leave a reader hanging with his sometimes abrupt closers, but all in all this is an excellent compilation of his short stories.

I found "The Panic Hand" to be one of the most original collection of stories I've read in some time. Jonathan Carroll's imagination both stuns and fascinates. At times, I dreaded knowing how a story would end, but I could never put the book down without finishing that story. My senses were chilled and delighted. Mr. Carroll is similar to Stephen King and Rupert Thomson in his use of imagery and horror. I eagerly await more of Mr. Carroll's work